Johan Rockström was Executive Director of SEI from 2004-2012.

He is an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability issues, where he, e.g., led the recent development of the new Planetary Boundaries framework for human development in the current era of rapid global change.

He is a leading scientist on global water resources, and strategies to build resilience in water scarce regions of the world, with more than 15 years experience from applied water research in tropical regions, and more than 100 research publications in fields ranging from applied land and water management to global sustainability.

Rockström serves on several scientific committees and boards, e.g., as the vice-chair of the science advisory board of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact research (PIK) and he chairs the visioning process on global environmental change of ICSU, the International Council for Science.

He was awarded the title “Swede of the Year” in 2009 for his work on bridging science on climate change to policy and society. He was ranked the 2nd most influential person on environmental issues in Sweden 2010, and was recently, in August 2010, given the “Social Capitalist Award” by Veckans Affärer.

Publications

• Assessing impacts of agricultural water interventions in the Kothapally watershed, Southern India (Journal article - 2012)

• GEO-5 Chapter 7: An Earth System Perspective (Book chapter - 2012)

• Assessment of strip tillage systems for maize production in semi-arid Ethiopia: Effects on grain yield, water balance and water productivity (Journal article - 2012)

• Up-scaling potential impacts on water flows from agricultural water interventions: opportunities and trade-offs in the Osman Sagar catchment, Musi sub-basin, India (Journal article - 2012)

• Yield and soil system changes from conservation tillage in dryland farming: A case study from North Eastern Tanzania (Journal article - 2011)

• Global food production in a water-constrained world: Exploring 'green' and 'blue' challenges and solutions (Book chapter - 2011)

• Potential impacts of water harvesting and ecological sanitation on crop yield, evaporation and river flow regimes in the Thukela River basin, South Africa (Journal article - 2011)

• Solutions for a cultivated planet (Journal article - 2011)

• Reconnecting to the Biosphere (Journal article - 2011)

• The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship (Journal article - 2011)

Complete list of publications »