Different approaches to the future in the works of the Forecasting Committee

Papers on Global Change was a journal published annually by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Since 2017 (since issue 24/2017), our journal itself has been experiencing a process of significant change, in connection with the fact that the IGBP drew to a close, marking an end to the related activity conducted by the Polish Academy of Sciences. It was initially uncertain whether journal would continue. In the end, we decided that the title and the issues raised in it should survive, but in a slightly different form. Instead of a journal, we decided to maintain a series of monographs devoted to global problems. The initial result you are now holding in your hands.
The process of change is not yet complete, however, we believe that this new form will suit your expectations. Nevertheless, a new direction for the Papers on Global Change future has been set by linking it to the work of the “Poland 2000 Plus” Foresight Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS). The first and most visible change is in the form of publishing. The journal became a book. The subject matter of the journal will also be altered slightly, as is demonstrated by the contents of this issue. This certainly does not mean that the topics discussed in the 25 issues of the journal will be abandoned – publishing articles on global change will indeed remain the guiding principle of the book. We will in addition be focusing on issues of the future, so that our articles point out the opportunities and threats related to the future of the world.
At the same time, we wish to expand the thematic scope of our publication. In addition to the environmental issues that the notion of sustainable development has mainly been used to address in recent years, we also want to publish articles about other facets of this important concept, i.e. social and economic problems. Often, these topics will be interconnected. The articles will not have to refer directly to sustainable development, and they may indeed even point out the consequences of unsustainability, i.e. to what may happen if the current paths of economic and social development are continued. The goal is to reflect on the direction in which the modern world is heading.
( Foreword)