Rapid environmental and social changes – such as climate change, population explosion, urbanisation and globalised economics – are posing urgent practical, moral and political challenges across the globe. Consequently the core development challenges of alleviating poverty and inequity are increasingly complex.

How might pathways to sustainability – linking environmental integrity with social justice – be built in today’s complex, dynamic world? How might African farmers meet their needs in the context of climate change, for instance? How can we understand and address emergent epidemic diseases? And how might poor people access water in the expanding fringes of Asia’s megacities?