Our History

The ideas behind this project had been on the minds of many of the core and associated researchers for some time before the project officially kicked off. We all felt the need for exploring what options there were for positive futures, and not only negative ones, and a strong desire to understand how sustainability transformations might be generated.

In 2014, we had the opportunity to apply for funding from Future Earth for a “Fast Track Initiative” for two years of funding to kick off a global aspect of the project. The aim was to (A) better understand what makes a ‘good’ Anthropocene according to a variety of leaders around the world, (B) identify and analyze existing elements of a good Anthropocene, and (C) use the results from Part A and B to develop a set of coherent visions of positive futures for people and the planet.

We were able to supplement this core funding with additional funding that allowed us to do more regionally focused work (see associated projects). For instance, the GRAID project funded a synthesis of how the Seeds could help achieve the SDGs in Africa, and also helped pioneer a new bottom-up scenarios methodology based on the seeds, which has now also been used in the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) process.