Collaborative bottom-up Trust Missions: A long-term strategy with and for people and Nature

Both the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) recognize that a healthy environment is essential for sustainable development. The central relevance of a healthy and resilient Ocean is further remarked by the two largest international programs in Ocean Sciences, the EU Ocean Mission Restore our Oceans and Waters by 2030 and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. These top-down programs mainly focus on technical remediation and adaptation actions to reconcile a healthy environment with economic growth and development. However, the disappointing current regional and global development statistics evidence a need of prioritizing qualitative overall development over quantitative economic growth. Here we propose that the strategy towards overall development should rely on bottom-up programs that support the participation of people in communities that prime individual and collective happiness in harmony with Nature. We review how the UN and the EU have incorporated citizen engagement in their sustainability programs and conclude that there is an urgent need to create collaborative Trust (hope and care) Missions, empowering the citizens and communities to search and implement bottom-up preventive and transformative environmental actions. The current technical missions focus on short- or mid-term economic growth, while the proposed Trust Missions would represent a long-term investment with and for people and Nature. The challenge is to prioritize individual, collective and societal development for the present and future generations, via the support and empowerment of bottom-up movements. In these times of social, environmental and climatic crises, upholding individuals and communities is likely the best strategy not only towards a healthy and resilient socio-economic system, but also to frame a society that values non-cognitive personal and collective development as much as knowledge and physical wellbeing.