PROGRAM: K-2
Title:
FUTURE EARTH AND WDS – COLLABORATION AT INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL LEVELSAbstract:
Future Earth, an international research platform for global sustainability, is one of major science programmes of
International Council for Science (ICSU). Future Earth aims to encourage synthesis of knowledge by
collaboration across scientific disciplines and also by co-creation with stakeholders in the society, and to
accelerate actions for transformation for sustainability of human life and the environment on the Earth.
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary researches are actively conducted through Future Earth Global Research
Projects (GRPs) and networking activities are even more encouraged by launching Knowledge-Action Networks
(KANs).
Future Earth “Data Task Force” aims to serve for Future Earth science communities and also for data users in the
society, Toward this end, the Data Task Force has initiated a survey to understand the needs and current
situations of GRPs, which will be presented with the details by Dr. Kiko Yamada during this Conference. It also
prioritizes collaboration with other data-related organizations and initiatives such as ICSU World Data System
(WDS). At SciDataCon 2016, Future Earth organized a session with a title of “Future Earth Network for
Scientific Information (and data) to support Sustainability (FENSIS)”, co-chaired by Prof. Mario Hernandez
representing Future Earth Data Task Force. In that session, PAGES and GMBA, both Future Earth GRPs,
discussed on data crowd-curation for collaborative paleoscience and the GMBA Mountain Portal towards a
global map of mountain biodiversity, respectively. In January, 2017, the Data Task Force organized
“International Co-Design Workshop on Earth Observation in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals –
The Case of Urban Areas in Asia” in Tokyo, together with WDS, GEO, The University of Tokyo and several
other organizations.
Japanese national academy, Science Council of Japan (SCJ) is a national member of ICSU, and has played key
roles in establishing globally-distributed secretariat of Future Earth, and now it hosts one of five Global Hubs
supported by Future Earth Japan Consortium (should be Japan National Committee at the time of Conference)
which composed of more than 20 research and non-research organizations in Japan, including Research Institute
of Humanity and Nature (RIHN) in Kyoto that hosts Future Earth Regional Center for Asia. SCJ has also been
collaborating with WDS since the launching of its International Programme Office (IPO) at National Institute of
Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Tokyo in 2012. At various public events, SCJ invited
representatives from WDS IPO, and IPO members have been active in SCJ’s Committee for Promotion of Future
Earth and those related to Informatics. SCJ has been supporting both SciDataCon and Co-Design Workshop
financially and logistically.
The collaboration of Future Earth and WDS are expected to be the basis for wide range of interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary researches and should be even more valuable when applied at regional and national levels. The
presentations and exchange of knowledge and experiences at WDS Asia-Oceania Conference, 2017 are believed
to be invaluable opportunities for both initiatives to find out and mobilize useful tools and common vehicles for
collaboration in the both communities in Asia and in each country.
References:
Future Earth:
http://www.futureearth.org/
Future Earth Open Network:
http://network.futureearth.org/home