Research Systems for a Transition Toward Sustainability

Sustainability concerns have occupied a place on the global agenda since at least the Brundtland Commission’s 1987 report “Our Common Future” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987; Clark 1986). The prominence of that place has been rising, however. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reflected a growing consensus when he wrote in his Millennium Report to the General Assembly that “Freedom from want, freedom from fear, and the freedom of future generations to sustain their lives on this planet” are the three grand challenges facing the international community at the dawn of the 21st century (Annan 2000). Sustainability has become a “high table” issue in international affairs.