Future Earth activities in China: Towards a national sustainable development

This article provides an overview to Future Earth activities carried out by the Chinese National Committee for Future Earth (CNC-FE). Future Earth is an international research programme which aims to provide critical knowledge to face the challenges posed by global environmental change and to identify opportunities for a transition to global sustainability. CNC-FE is the main body devoted to implementing the Future Earth programme in China. Incorporating Future Earth themes and national science needs, CNC-FE has identified 14 priority areas. Since its establishment, it has conducted an array of activities to fulfill its missions, including implementing projects, convening international meetings, translating and publishing Future Earth and CNC-FE related documents and promoting Future Earth and CNC-FE on various outreach occasions. CNC-FE closely follows Future Earth's development and meanwhile integrates its themes with Chinese practice. It is hoped that implementing Future Earth in China can boost global environmental change including climate change research in China and also have positive implications for developing countries who are trying to adapt to climate change and address the challenges for the national sustainable development.