In order to address sustainability challenges, we posit that knowledge generation needs to move rapidly from a disciplinary linear ‘tree’ model to an interdisciplinary ‘web’ model. We show how such a shift is useful by looking at case studies in the context of water management.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Training the next generation of plastics pollution researchers: tools, skills and career perspectives in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field
Microplastics and Nanoplastics Open Access 01 November 2023
-
Role of urban vegetation in air phytoremediation: differences between scientific research and environmental management perspectives
npj Urban Sustainability Open Access 12 April 2023
-
Dynamic adaptive engineering pathways for mitigating flood risks in Shanghai with regret theory
Nature Water Open Access 13 February 2023
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
World Commission on Environment and Development Our Common Future (Oxford Univ. Press, 1987).
United Nations Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015).
Goudie, A. S. Human Impact on the Natural Environment 8th edn (Wiley, New Jersey, 2018).
DeFries, R. & Nagendra, H. Science 356, 265–270 (2017).
Irwin, E. G. et al. Nat. Sustain. 1, 722–724 (2018).
Vörösmarty, C. J., Pahl-Wostl, C., Bunn, S. E. & Lawford, R. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 5, 539–550 (2013).
Edelenbos, J., van Buuren, A. & van Schie, N. Environ. Sci. Policy 14, 675–684 (2011).
Sivapalan, M. et al. Earth’s Future 2, 225–230 (2014).
Gong, J., Cheng, G., Zhang, X., Xiao, H. & Li, X. Adv. Earth Sci. 17, 491–496 (2002).
Qi, S.-Z. & Luo, F. Environ. Monit. Assess. 108, 205–215 (2005).
Cheng, G. et al. Natl Sci. Rev. 1, 413–428 (2014).
Li, X. et al. Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc. 94, 1145–1160 (2013).
Srinivasan, V. et al. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 19, 1905–1917 (2015).
Patil, V., Thomas, B. K., Lele, S., Eswar, M. & Srinivasan, V. Irrig. Drain. http://doi.org/czn3 (2018).
Bawa, K. & Balachander, G. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 19, 144–152 (2016).
Acknowledgements
The idea of this paper originated from discussions held during the International Forum “Re-thinking interdisciplinary research for global sustainability” organized on 14–16 January 2018 in Beijing by Nature Sustainability and Tsinghua University. J. L. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41625001); the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA20060402); and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91425303; 41571022). D. D. is supported by a Future Leader Fellowship from the Heart Foundation Australia, and a SOAR fellowship from the University of Sydney. We thank M. Obersteiner from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria; P. R. Lankao from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, United States and D. Guan from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom for sharing their discussions in Beijing and during the writing process of this paper. We also thank V. Srinivasan and R. Seidler for discussions and comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, J., Bawa, K.S., Seager, T.P. et al. On knowledge generation and use for sustainability. Nat Sustain 2, 80–82 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0229-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0229-y
This article is cited by
-
Training the next generation of plastics pollution researchers: tools, skills and career perspectives in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field
Microplastics and Nanoplastics (2023)
-
Dynamic adaptive engineering pathways for mitigating flood risks in Shanghai with regret theory
Nature Water (2023)
-
Role of urban vegetation in air phytoremediation: differences between scientific research and environmental management perspectives
npj Urban Sustainability (2023)
-
Identifying the driving factors of water consumption from water-energy-food nexus in the Yangtze River Delta region, China
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2021)
-
Collaborating constructively for sustainable biotechnology
Scientific Reports (2019)