The Earth Stewardship Initiative and the need for multi-disciplinary practice

Background/Question/Methods: Earth Stewardship is an initiative of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) to provide the research and outreach needed to actively shape trajectories of social-ecological change to enhance ecosystem resilience and human well-being. Knowledge needed to inform stewardship must draw upon the interdisciplinary observations, skills, and creativity of a wide range of natural and social scientists, practitioners, the arts and humanities, and civil society. New questions and solutions will emerge when these groups work together to formulate the issues, design the research, co-produce and translate the observations, knowledge, and concepts that form the basis for solutions. In this talk, we invite scientists, practitioners, artists and other stakeholders from multiple disciplines and backgrounds to join with ESA to co-define the science and strategies needed to foster Earth Stewardship of our rapidly changing planet.

Results/Conclusions: Moving towards goals of Earth Stewardship requires simultaneous attention to multiple scales and issues: consideration of linked ecological and socioeconomic consequences; alignment of incentives with stewardship behavior; strengthening peoples’ connections to valued places; and using demographic transitions as new opportunities for stewardship. Past experience provides some guidelines. Early attention to sustainable pathways before problems emerge generally provides more cost-effective solutions than attempting to remediate entrenched problems. Defining sustainable pathways by assessing tradeoffs among alternative options requires careful attention to fine-scale processes, interactions, and feedbacks and to larger-scale controls and constraints. Many opportunities occur locally, through development of practices that match the properties of resources with the needs of their users. Substantial challenges remain at larger scales, including maintaining the diversity, productive capacity, and resilience of nature, which are essential for long-term human welfare. The goal of Earth Stewardship is not to protect nature from people; rather it is to protect nature for human welfare.