The Geophysical Sustainability Atlas: Mapping geophysics to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Geophysics is enhanced if the value it adds to society, economic systems, and the environment is assessed, understood, and communicated. A clear value proposition can inspire new generations of scientists to pursue careers in geophysics and motivate current geophysicists to expand their activities and utilize their skills in ways that could enable their long-term employability or entrepreneurship. One way to position geophysics and geophysicists as value creators is to map geophysical applications and practices to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. A Geophysical Sustainability Atlas was developed to illustrate how geophysics contributes to each of the SDGs and to provide examples of specific applications and collaboration strategies. The atlas aims to facilitate an understanding of the value geophysics brings toward achieving each SDG, providing geophysicists and stakeholders with a sense of being frontline contributors in the pursuit of these objectives and, at the same time, providing a visualization of current and future opportunities related to the sustainability of our world and our profession.