Understanding and Solving Environmental Problems of the 21st Century: Towards a New, Integrated Hard Science Problem

Author: (USA) Costanza R. (USA) Jorgensen S.E. Xu Zhongmin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The purpose of writing this book and the services it provides to readers are as follows: (1) For academic societies, as an evaluation of the new developments in integrated environmental science and the relationship between environmental science and solving real-world problems; (2) For managers, policymakers, and the informed public, as a reference to understand the state of science and the consensus among scientists on key environmental issues. This book was produced from the Second Ecosystem Summit held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, from June 18 to 22, 2000. The goal of the Ecosystem Summit was to deepen the understanding of complex environmental issues and promote the integration of natural and social sciences with policy and decision-making circles, which is the necessary foundation for sustainably addressing environmental problems. The summit focused on the following six themes: (1) Integrated models and assessments; (2) Complex adaptive hierarchical systems; (3) Ecosystem services; (4) Science and decision-making; (5) Ecosystem health and human health; (6) Quality of life and the distribution of wealth and resources. To achieve the purpose of understanding and solving environmental problems in the 21st century, these themes were all essential to discuss, and the agenda for each theme was well-prepared in advance of the summit. During the summit, meetings were held in six working groups, each addressing one of the above six themes.