Enhancing International Earth System Scientific Capacity is essential to ensure and promote global science-policy coordination and establish “early warning” systems which can inform and warn policymakers of the consequences and dangers of crossing Planetary Boundaries and global tipping points.
The UN High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB) has recommended that UNEP and its governing body, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), be resourced to support a Science-Policy-Action Network (SPAN) as a forum for information exchange and consolidation, connecting to a policy clearinghouse.
SPAN could also track climate and progress, “in real time,” and issue country-specific reports designed to improve policy decision making, connecting to other scientific bodies assessing the condition of the Earth System as a whole, across Planetary Boundaries.
SPAN could suggest science-driven policies on how best to ensure that these boundaries are restored, maintained and not further compromised. It could work with a proposed rapporteur group with mandates to investigate compliance with obligations under Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs), and it could also support a global hub to preserve and transfer Indigenous knowledge.
SPAN could also establish semi-autonomous, small, and more nimble Earth system risk task forces/working groups which could address gaps not addressed by existing bodies, and emerging or tipping elements requiring a high degree of technical expertise.
In addition to SPAN, other proposals must be considered including the development of formal multilateral “early warning” systems and an integration of Planetary Boundary considerations into global policymaking.