Diversitas will focus on synthesis, integration, and global-scale issues of environmental science. The program will emphasize the planning and implementation of the global biodiversity information network (GEO BON) that is expected to provide sound scientific underpinnings for resolution of the above issues. Diversitas will continue to organize its efforts in four core projects ? bioGENESIS, bioDISCOVERY, bioSUSTAINABILITY, and ecoSERVICES) ? and five cross-cutting networks ? on mountains, landscapes, freshwater, eco-health, and invasive species. These projects and networks will promote integrative science in applied areas such as biodiversity conservation and possible links between biodiversity changes and human health. Diversitas will work towards convening another open science conference to carry its synthesis activities further, to engage more developing country scientists, and to fill gaps related to the scientific basis for adaptation to climate change. The ESSP will encourage the Earth system research community and the broader stakeholder community to identify the most important decadal-scale Earth system research questions that are most relevant to the needs of decision-makers concerned with global environmental change and human well-being. The ESSP will help to shape the Earth system science agenda for the next decade, especially by serving as a virtual organization for Earth system science and continuing to advance its joint programs in such areas as water, carbon, food and health.
Both Diversitas and the ESSP will also work to assure that the results of the research they support is communicated effectively to decision/policy makers (.e.g., through development of robust biodiversity indicators, global data bases, and science-policy assessments.
