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WHAT WE DO

Mission and Vision

 

  • Collaborate in the conduct of research and applied projects that explore key basic principles, theories, and concepts that undergird the notion of sustainable development;

  • Juxtapose and critically investigate the intersections between natural scientific and 
    social scientific approaches to understanding and pursuing sustainable development;

  • Understand sustainability issues, prospects, and solutions on their own terms, often using islands as lens to understand sustainability for other environmental and economic contexts;

  • Rethink traditional cultural and often romantic notions and understandings of 
    islands, island society, and island peoples, and challenge the common view that
    island sustainable development demands the altruism of non-island societies and states.

Objectives

 

  • Conduct basic research at the intersection of development and sustainability;

  • Assist governments with the design and application of policies and economic development strategies aimed at boosting local prosperity and economic competitiveness while preserving and enhancing environmental assets;

  • Pursue applied research and hands-on teaching activities that focus on developing solutions to environmental challenges, infrastructure development, city planning, social issues and economic-development issues that are faced by developing societies, with a  focus on tropical island contexts;

  • Advise in the creation of field stations which can facilitate active scientific research and teaching initiatives in the environmental sciences, marine sciences, geology, microbiology, biotechnology and ecology, by local and invited institutes, scientists and researchers;

  • Use applied research projects as test-beds for international, interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to research and teaching that integrate environmental and earth sciences, the life sciences, social and urban planning and economic development;

  • Advise in the creation of demonstration, training and teaching centers from which to practically transfer applied know-how to people involved in agriculture, rural development, tourism and related services, and professional education;

  • Strive to optimize developing societies’ self-sufficiency and independence, in producing agriculture and marine/fisheries food products, that are necessary to support their development.

HOW WE ACHIEVE OUR MISSION

SEED CONSORTIUM: Sustainable Social, Economic, and Environmental Development

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