ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the global transdisciplinary science and identifying broad conditions that are likely to shape its impact on global governance efforts. It examines the history of efforts to foster institutions for global science, and particularly those which have attempted some form of transdisciplinary space, and discusses the contestation that impacted these efforts. The chapter focuses on the concept of sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and efforts currently underway to build a global transdisciplinary science. It argues that the primary impact of global transdisciplinary science will be on “global governors” or “sources of global authority who exercise power across borders for purposes of affecting policy”. The chapter highlights the ways in which nascent and partial global transdisciplinary science has been impacted by various forms of contestation in global governance efforts. It discusses a history leading up to the process of the SDGs. Co-evolution between global transdisciplinary science with the SDGs may be crucial in this regard.
