About us

The Asia Science Mission (ASM) is Asia’s first mission-oriented, multi-country platform accelerating resilience and sustainability through science–policy–community partnerships. It is led by Future Earth Asia, supported by the International Science Council, and implemented with regional partners including the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), and the Australian National University (ANU).

ASM is officially endorsed by UNESCO as a Project of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD)—recognising its regional importance and contribution to mission-driven sustainability science.

ASM convenes scientists, governments, communities, Indigenous and local knowledge holders, and young leaders to co-design practical pathways for water, food, climate, biodiversity, health, and livelihood security—moving from research to real-world impact.

Phase 1 (2025–2027) focuses on a set of flagship demonstration initiatives that will prototype and test scalable mission pathways across Asia.

Connecting knowledge across fields and regions

Involving the people who are most affected

Making data and science useful for decisions

Grounding action in real-world sites across Asia

Our Vision

To build a sustainable, resilient, and just Asia where knowledge systems are integrated, communities are empowered, and science informs transformative action at all levels.

Our Mission

To co-design and deliver transdisciplinary science that supports real-world solutions, inform policy, and systems-level learning through collaboration, local engagement, and innovation across Asia’s socio-ecological systems.

What will the Asia Science Mission do?

Over the coming years, the Mission will:

Develop and run demonstration initiatives to test, refine, and scale solutions for water, food, climate, ecosystem, health, and livelihood resilience
Co-design mission pathways with local and regional partners, ensuring solutions are context-driven and community-owned
Build capacity among youth, scientists, practitioners, and decision-makers to strengthen systems thinking, innovation, and action
Create a regional learning and knowledge platform for shared data, tools, modelling, and policy engagement
Support countries to align policies and investments with mission goals through evidence, dialogue, and feedback loops
Reframe sustainability and resilience indicators to better reflect Asian socio-ecological and health realities

How we work

The Asia Science Mission is explicitly designed to operate where Asia’s sustainability system consistently underperforms at the intersection of high uncertainty, chronic underinvestment, and institutional fragmentation. ASM functions as a catalytic science by identifying where targeted early-stage actions can unlock disproportionate downstream impacts across socio-ecological and governance systems. These actions include institutional capacity building, data and diagnostic integration, community-embedded experimentation, and co-design of shared sustainability mission priorities.

Rather than only funding solutions directly, ASM creates the enabling conditions for solutions to emerge, mature, and scale—reducing uncertainty before large capital or policy commitments are required.

Why Asia? Why Now?

Asia is home to:

59% of the world’s population
54% of global economic activity
9 of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots

Yet Asia also faces some of the world’s most severe and interconnected sustainability and health risks—from accelerating climate impacts, water scarcity, and deforestation to air pollution, heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food insecurity, and rising inequality. These pressures are compounding and disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.

Environmental and climatic changes are increasingly translating into health crises—through heat stress, poor air quality, unsafe water, malnutrition, and disease outbreaks—making integrated science essential.

Despite decades of research and investment, progress remains fragmented and too slow.

Asia needs mission-oriented, cross-sector solutions that align science, policy, health systems, and community action—moving beyond isolated projects to coordinated pathways that deliver real-world impact on goals such as:

What’s the Problem?

Too often, efforts to address Asia’s sustainability and health challenges are fragmented and disconnected:

Data, evidence, and local knowledge are scattered across institutions
Sectors operate in silos—environment, health, agriculture, water, climate, disaster risk, each planning separately
Indigenous and local knowledge is undervalued and underused
Scientific insights fail to reach the communities and decision-makers who need them most
Solutions remain project-based and short-term, unable to address systemic risks

The result? Missed opportunities, duplicated efforts, rising health and environmental risks, and systems that cannot adapt to rapid and complex change.

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