Global Change and Sustainable Development: Towards an Integrated Conceptual Model

Abstract

A global integrated assessment model TARGETS is being developed dedicated to analysis and assessment of the linkages among social and economic processes, biophysical processes, effects on ecosystems and humans. The objective of this global scale model is to better understand the complex interrelations between increasing pressure on the environment, the impacts on biogeochemical cycles and the human society. Strategies for a sustainable development can be derived, based on sustainability indicators to be defined or selected, when using this integrated assessment model. The presentation of information generated by the model is of crucial importance for the communication between science and policy-making and between natural and social sciences as well. Various scientific and cultural perspectives are incorporated into the model to reflect different understandings of sustainability.