Mission

ISET is an international, non-profit institute with members and advisors in both the North and the South. Individuals and organizations involved in ISET all share a commitment to environmentally sustainable development and poverty alleviation. Within this commitment, ISET's mission is twofold:

First, we seek to improve understanding and elevate the level of dialogue as civil society attempts to respond to natural resource and environmental challenges in a rapidly changing global context.

Second, we seek to serve as a framework for equal collaboration between individuals and organizations in the North and South on programs that address the first mission.

To achieve these objectives we intend to:

• Identify, demonstrate and support the implementation of practical, innovative solutions to basic environmental and humanitarian needs;
• Disseminate information on basic resource, environmental and humanitarian topics;
• Educate upcoming generations and evolving community, policy and private sector audiences;
• Function as a highly professional, non-partisan forum where the open exchange of views and ideas is welcomed;
• Serve as a framework enabling evolution of new strategies in response to rapidly changing local and global conditions while learning from the results of current and past initiatives;
• Undertake evidence-based advocacy in local, national and global forums to support widespread implementation of strategies that are shown to be effective.

Philosophy

ISET’s work bridges the science-policy-implementation divide across regions and cultures. We are engaged in both basic research and applied implementation activities, with a particular focus on the translation of global natural and social scientific insights into local contexts in a manner that improves understanding and enables action. We also analyze the implications of local physical, cultural, economic and other system dynamics for global and high level policy and strategy.