Future Earth names Leena Srivastava and Johan Rockström as co-chairs of its new Advisory Committee

This news release originally appeared on the Future Earth main website on 18 December 2017.

See our web page for the Future Earth Advisory Committee here.

Today, Future Earth announced two co-chairs to its new Advisory Committee:  Leena Srivastava, Vice Chancellor of TERI School of Advanced Studies in New Delhi, India, and Johan Rockström, Executive Director of Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden.

“We are very pleased to have two outstanding co-chairs for the Future Earth Advisory Committee. As we move ahead into the new phase of the Future Earth programme, it is so important to have their wisdom and judgement leading our Advisory Committee,” said Jakob Rhyner and Gordon McBean, co-chairs of the Future Earth Governing Council.

Professors Srivastava and Rockström are internationally recognised scientists committed to Future Earth’s mission of accelerating transformations to global sustainability through research and innovation. They have, over their careers, dedicated themselves to connecting science with society, providing guidance to policy-makers at the national and international levels working on climate change and other sustainability challenges.

Future Earth is a major international platform bringing together networks of tens of thousands of researchers, innovators and professionals across the globe working to accelerate a transition to a sustainable world. The new co-chairs will help guide Future Earth’s research and innovation projects and act as ambassadors for the organisation’s mission.

“We are thrilled to welcome Leena Srivastava and Johan Rockström to lead our new Advisory Committee. They bring with them not just decades of experience in scientific research but a commitment to turning knowledge on sustainability into on-the-ground action,” said Amy Luers, Executive Director of Future Earth.

“I see Future Earth as an initiative that is about creating a science-based sustainable world, dissolving boundaries of every kind – geographical, disciplinary, class, species, to ensure that life on Earth is able to thrive forever,” Leena Srivastava said.

“The health of the planet is at stake, and it determines the health of people and our societies. Nothing less than a transformation to global sustainability is needed to meet the Paris Climate target and the Sustainable Development Goals. Future Earth provides ground-breaking research on the state of the planet and critical insights and links between science and society internationally for societal transformations. I really look forward to being a part of Future Earth during this critical period,” Johan Rockström said.

The newly-formed Advisory Committee will succeed the Future Earth Science and Engagement Committees, which played an important role in guiding the organisation through its initial start-up phase between 2014 and 2017. Rockström and Srivastava will work together with the leadership team of Future Earth to build the full Advisory Committee. This committee will be drawn in part from members of the original Science and Engagement Committees and from additional selections based on nominations from the Governing Council.

Dr. Leena Srivastava is Vice Chancellor of TERI School of Advanced Studies in New Delhi, where she has worked for over three decades on policy research in the areas of energy, environment and climate change. She has worked with a host of international science-policy organisations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and is a member of the President’s Advisory Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development at the Asian Development Bank.

Dr. Johan Rockström is well known for leading the team of international scientists that presented the Planetary Boundary framework, which has helped to shape the thinking of governments around sustainable development in the Anthropocene. He also co-led the transition team that established Future Earth. Dr. Rockström is currently director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and a professor of environmental science at Stockholm University

About Future Earth

Future Earth is an international platform of research, innovation, and collaboration to support and accelerate transformations to a sustainable world. It operates from five global hubs – in Montreal, Stockholm, Colorado, Paris and Tokyo – and is connected to over a dozen regional and national offices across the globe. The Governing Council of Future Earth is composed of the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the Belmont Forum of funding agencies, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations University (UNU), Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the STS forum and the World Meteorological Organization.

For more information please contact: Alistair Scrutton, Global Communications Director