Sustainability. Systems integration for global sustainability.

BACKGROUND: key global sustainability These include air pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, and food security, disease spread, species invasion, and water shortages and pollution. They are interconnected across three dimensions levels, space, and time) are often separately studied and managed. Systems integration — holistic approaches to integrating various components of coupled and systems social-ecological systems and human-environment all is necessary to address complex interconnections and identify effective solutions to sustainability challenges. Global sustainability challenges, from maintaining biodiversity to providing clean air and water, are closely interconnected yet often separately studied and managed. Systems integration — holistic approaches to integrating various components of coupled human and natural systems — is critical to understand socioeconomic and environmental interconnections and to create sustainability solutions. Recent advances include the development and quantification of integrated frameworks that incorporate ecosystem services, environmental footprints, planetary boundaries, human-nature nexuses, and telecoupling. Although systems integration has led to fundamental discoveries and practical applications, further efforts are needed to incorporate more human and natural components simultaneously, quantify spillover systems and feedbacks, integrate multiple spatial and temporal scales, develop new tools, and translate findings into policy and practice. Such efforts can help address important knowledge gaps, link seemingly unconnected challenges, and inform policy and management decisions.