Abstract

In times of environmental crisis and climate emergency, the relevance of the geosciences to societal challenges has arguably never been greater. Technological developments and a digital revolution – including AI, models and datasets – increasingly enable grand hypotheses to be tested and enable data-rich predictive science to tackle complex problems and support sustainable decision making. Paradoxically, the widespread rise of populist movements implies diminished public appreciation of the urgency of the climate crisis or the role of science in providing solutions. The attack on institutions and dismantling of agencies, funding and environmental enforcements in the US, debilitate scientific research and the science community. Elsewhere, a turn towards STEM threatens to undermine momentum in community science and outreach and the ‘soft science’ connections with policy makers and interdisciplinary networks. Nature-based Solutions (NbS)– a term first used by the World Bank in 2008- are interventions inspired by natural processes and ecosystem functions that address societal problems and provide multiple benefits. Tracking the development of NbS concepts, particularly in relation to water resource management and the Blue-Green City initiative, examples from China and Southeast Asia will illustrate evolving applications towards disaster risk reduction, water scarcity and wider health benefits. Progress made towards developing communities of practice, however, can be derailed in uncertain times when barriers to governance and planning systems are reasserted and public engagement weakens. Our universities and learned societies can rise to the challenge. Standing “shoulder to shoulder”, geoscience societies will fight to protect the scientific enterprise, champion discovery and solutions to deliver on our mission to promote geoscience for the benefit of humanity.