28 September 2026 – A group of leading scientists and scholars, authors, policymakers and institutions from across the world have endorsed A Time of Great Consequence: A Manifesto for Bridging Knowledge and Action, launched today by UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University and the Club of Rome.
The manifesto argues that humanity has never understood so much about the transformations reshaping the Earth system, nor anticipated their consequences so clearly, yet the world’s collective response remains profoundly out of step with what is known. It traces this gap to economic inequality, social fragility, deepening political divisions, institutions increasingly out of step with today’s realities, and knowledge itself that has become too fragmented to act on at the scale and with the urgency required.
The Manifesto asserts that there is nothing inevitable about this situation. Its central claim is that no single knowledge system, discipline or institution can meet the crises of this era alone. Meeting them requires bringing together the full spectrum of human knowledge, scientific, humanistic, cultural, Indigenous, professional and lived, and reorienting the institutions that connect knowledge with action.
“The barriers to knowledge are political, cultural and gendered, and for too long, that knowledge has been produced by a narrow circle and directed at everyone else. This manifesto names those barriers and commits us to placing the social sciences and humanities at the heart of how we govern, for the benefit of all.” said Najat Vallaud Belkacem, former minister for Education, France and an endorser of the manifesto.
The manifesto calls for:
- knowledge systems that work together rather than apart, bridging science, humanities, culture, Indigenous and lived knowledge to help humanity navigate an interconnected world
- the conditions for diverse communities to deliberate, learn and collaborate across their differences, building trust and shared purpose
- renewing institutions to learn with the people they serve, connecting knowledge with action and cultivating unrealised human capacities
“Future generations will judge us not by what we knew, but by what we did with that knowledge. This manifesto offers a compelling vision for bringing together diverse perspectives, strengthening our institutions and turning understanding into the collective action needed to build just and sustainable futures.” said Derek Walker, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and an endorser of the manifesto.
Endorsers of the manifesto include Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and member of the Club of Rome, Carlos Lopes, Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town, and Janez Potocnik, Co-chair UNEP International Resource Panel, among other endorsements, spanning research, policy, civil society and international institutions.
The manifesto is published ahead of the 2026 MOST Forum, taking place in Paris on 29 and 30 September 2026, where policymakers, researchers and practitioners will begin translating its principles into a practical toolkit for policymakers. An accompanying policy framework has also been submitted with the Manifesto to the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations programme ahead of its extraordinary session on 1 October.
The full text of the manifesto and the list of endorsers is available here.
Read the call to action
