The Belmont Forum is a high-level group of the world’s major and emerging funders of global environmental change research and international science councils. It aims to accelerate delivery of the international environmental research most urgently needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources. The aims of the Belmont Forum are detailed in a White Paper, and encapsulated as the Belmont Challenge: “To deliver knowledge needed for action to mitigate and adapt to detrimental environmental change and extreme hazardous events.” In order to make progress against the Belmont Challenge and help deliver international collaboration, the Belmont Forum agreed to develop collaborative research actions (CRAs). The principles of the CRAs are to:
- address the Belmont Challenge priorities (i.e., societally relevant global environmental change challenges);
- lever Belmont Forum members’ existing investments through international added value;
- bring together new partnerships of natural scientists, social scientists and users.