Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013

Although alarming news are accumulating by the day on the impact of human activities on biodiversity, ecosystems and climate change, the response by the international community has not yet been up to the faced challenges. The pursuit of self-interest has often been pointed out as a major obstacle to reach the much-needed global or regional agreements to tackle these problems. Another difficulty in dealing with these issues is that they are of the long-term variety and involve a high degree of uncertainty. Indeed, the severity of some threats made to the environment and to biodiversity is not yet fully understood, while changing consumption patterns, finding less-polluting technologies, for instance, require time and resources. This means that dealing with global environmental (in a large sense) issues requires a long-term perspective, which contrasts with the typical views and interests of short-term lived governments and corporations. In this respect we may learn from solutions found in nature for surviving and evolving.