Author Description

The rapidly-evolving world of the 21st century faces tremendous challenges of economic, ecological, social, cultural and global dimensions to be handled by citizens with an increasing self-consciousness. Naming just some of the challenges provides immediate insight into their magnitude, nature and diversity: reduce and prevent international instability, reduce over exploitation of earth resources, respond to the greenhouse threat, meet the needs of a rapidly growing global population, create a fairer distribution of wealth, guide rural and urban development. These are just some of the interrelated and interacting challenges of developing sustainably in a highly dynamic and interconnected world. They are characterised by the need for long-term approaches, the involvement of many stakeholders with conflicting interests and the fact that their approach demands parallel routes on different scales.