Earth science research contributing to sustainability of our home planet

Abstract

At the anniversary of launching All Earth as a new open access forward-looking and broad-science journal publishing in all disciplines of Earth sciences, it is important to emphasise that All Earth is dedicated to research development in all spherical perspectives and to address interconnected research and management challenges. Land, air and water are the most precious resources that sustain life and civilisation. Natural and anthropogenic forces have been and continuously imposing changes on the Earth’s land, air and water systems and biomes and bringing consequences and societal impacts. The complexities of individual and interactive processes of different spherical components and forces in atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, planetary change and paleosciences, so as Earth observations through the lens of sensors on orbits, are among the most amazing challenges that we strive to reveal and understand about the past, present and future of our home planet. We recognise the importance of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research in contributing to improved understanding of the complexity of coupled spherical systems with advancements of science and technology. All Earth invites and welcomes manuscripts in original research, reviews, rapid communications and commentaries in regular and special issues and special collections. The sustainability of our home planet depends upon efforts and actions from all sections of the society. The most recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report imposes a dire warning about the well-being of natural world and humanity with information on concluded irreversible changes. With challenges ahead, it becomes more important and urgent in science communication, evidence-based policy advice and data-driven decision-making, so as implementation of responsible and measurable actions. To this perspective, it is exciting to share that All Earth offers authors the option to publish a secondary abstract, called ‘Key Policy Highlights’, as part of their paper. The optional Key Policy Highlights, with 3–5 bullet points and 100‒150 words, provide authors the opportunity to emphasise the main policy implications of the paper for non-academic and broader scope of audiences. Highlighting the policy relevance will facilitate uptake of original research into decision-making, in particular, in addressing climate crisis and taking actions. The open access nature of All Earth serves well for the connection with societal impacts in information and data sharing. All Earth is committed to support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for positive societal impact and to provide a platform for reaching policymakers and professionals who are tackling today’s problems. In particular, interests of All Earth are relevant towards improved understanding and implementation of SDGs, such as Good Health & Wellbeing (SDG 3), Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG 6), Sustainable Cities & Communities (SDG 11), Responsible Consumption & Production (SDG 12), Climate Action (SDG 13), Life Below Water (SDG 14) and Life on Land (SDG 15). As the theme of Earth Day 2022 suggests, it is high time to invest in our planet. I hope that All Earth can contribute to the efforts towards sustainability of the home planet that we all share.