Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) was an international interdisciplinary partnership established to promote integrated study of the Earth system and the interactions between environmental and human processes. [1] The partnership brought together four major global change programmes: DIVERSITAS, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). [2]
ESSP aimed to transcend disciplinary boundaries by integrating natural sciences and social sciences to improve understanding and prediction of global and regional environmental change, and to inform sustainable responses. [3] Its strategy emphasised systems-level observations, interdisciplinary modelling, regional studies, and engagement with stakeholders and policy communities. [4]
ESSP coordinated a small set of interdisciplinary “Joint Projects” addressing societally relevant themes: carbon (through the Global Carbon Project), food systems (GECAFS), water systems (GWSP), and global environmental change and human health (GEC&HH). [5] These projects combined existing scientific networks, regional studies (for example the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study, MAIRS), and capacity-building activities to link local-regional research with global synthesis. [6]
ESSP operated as a partnership among the sponsoring programmes with coordination provided through a scientific committee and Secretariat functions, and it was periodically reviewed by ICSU and partner funding bodies to assess progress, governance and policy relevance. [3]
Following an independent review and planning processes, ESSP underwent a phased transition into the initiative known as Future Earth which formally began to absorb and reconfigure ESSP activities from 2012 onwards; this shift sought a broader sustainability focus and new modes of co-design between science and society. [7] [8] ESSP’s principal legacy is the operational model of interdisciplinary joint projects and regional synthesis, which informed successor efforts and many active research networks. [9]