On 23 May 2026, the Joint Scientific Symposium of Chinese National Committee for Future Earth and Earth Commission was held in Beijing, China. The symposium brought together representatives from the Chinese National Committee for Future Earth, the China Meteorological Administration, the Earth Commission, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the China Association for Science and Technology, and International Project Offices of Future Earth Global Research Networks. Overviews of Future Earth and Future Earth in China were presented by Wendy Broadgate and Wenjie Dong, respectively.
On behalf of the IMBeR International Project Office (IPO), Fang ZUO presented the latest progress and key outputs of IMBeR. The presentation highlighted scientific synthesis results under IMBeR’s Grand Challenges, major IMBeR-branded activities and milestone events, as well as the vision and initial concepts for its third decadal planning.
The Earth Commission, convened by Future Earth, introduced its main workstreams, including Safe and Just Boundaries, Transformation Pathways, and the Translation of Boundaries for Actors such as companies and cities. The symposium also provided an outlook on the Commission’s second phase, which will further update assessments of all nine planetary boundaries, including climate change, ocean acidification, biosphere integrity, freshwater systems, biogeochemical flows, and other critical Earth system processes.
The symposium highlighted recent advances in Earth system science in the context of climate change, with discussions focusing on risk governance, resilience, interdisciplinary innovation, and mechanisms for international scientific cooperation. Updates were also shared on several international initiatives, including the Asian-Australian-African Monsoon (AAAM) International Programme and the ongoing development of Cryosphere Science initiatives.
Further information:
Earth Commission: https://earthcommission.org/about/
Chinese National Committee for Future Earth: https://atmos.sysu.edu.cn/cncfe/