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Foresight Nexus · Mandate, publisher and status

Mandate, publisher and status

Foresight Nexus is published by The Global Risks Forum (GRF), a Swiss association with a public-good, not-for-profit purpose. Its mandate is to convene institutions around strategic foresight, multiple futures and long-horizon anticipation, and to keep a record of what they learn. This page sets out who answers for the platform, the professional community it serves, its status and the limits of its role. The current service level is R0: information and enquiries.

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In this dossier7 parts
  1. 01In briefThe short answer
  2. 02MandateAnticipation as a shared institutional practice
  3. 03RemitPreparing institutions for futures their data does not show
  4. 04Publisher and communityWho answers for the platform and who takes part
  5. 05LimitsWhat the platform does not do
  6. 06StatusEstablished, with activity being substantiated
  7. 07Key termsTerms used on this page

GRF · Established · service level R0

STEM methods
4
Canonical methods this field applies
Topics
8
Subject pages in the field
Counterparts
3
Platforms in shared fields at GCRI, GRF and GRA
Report series
2
Nexus Reports series it contributes to
01In brief

The short answer.

Foresight Nexus is a specialist platform of The Global Risks Forum for foresight as well as risk management and systemic risk. Its mandate covers strategic foresight, multiple futures, institutional anticipation and long-horizon public learning. GRF publishes it, answers for its content and takes no decision on anyone's behalf. It is established and works at service level R0, information and enquiries.

02Canvas

Mandate to authority.

Canvas · mandate to authorityDesign, not a record
How Foresight Nexus is governedA mandate sets the platform's scope; an editor and reviewers govern what it publishes; programmes and the community supply the work; the integrity route handles corrections; authority over decisions stays outside. Design of the governance, not a record.

Fig.How the platform is governed, from its mandate to the authorities who decide. Design, not a record.

03Geography

People and hazards in the Arctic.

For mandate, publisher and status, in GRF's situational-awareness reading, the map opens on population density, flood water and night lights, framed on the Arctic; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

People and hazards, for this page

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

For mandate, publisher and status, in GRF's situational-awareness reading, the map opens on population density, flood water and night lights, framed on the Arctic; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · GDACS · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live: GDACS (EC JRC / UN OCHA) Events are indicative, not official warnings.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not official warnings.
  • Optional layers (35 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies, last day: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

04Mandate

Anticipation as a shared institutional practice.

Foresight is most useful when institutions do it together: when a ministry, a regulator, an operator and a research body examine the same signals and scenarios and see how their decisions interact. Foresight Nexus exists to make that possible. It convenes practitioners, publishes outlooks and signal reviews, and maintains scenario learning protocols so that lessons from one exercise inform the next.

Its methods are horizon scanning, exploratory scenarios and expert elicitation, grounded in scenario design and stress testing and decision analysis under uncertainty. Its outputs are designed to reach readers through the Foresight Outlook and Scenario and Stress-Test report series, through convened Foresight Nexus dialogues and through the edition horizon scan of the annual Nexus Universe programme, which GRF governs.

05Remit

Preparing institutions for futures their data does not show.

Foresight Nexus studies anticipatory governance: how institutions scan for emerging issues, build and use scenarios, decide under deep uncertainty and weigh the interests of future generations. It treats foresight as an input to decisions with dates, not as prediction, and follows practice in centre-of-government foresight units and the Declaration on Future Generations.

  • In scope: horizon scanning, scenarios, robust decision methods, intergenerational governance.
  • Out of scope: forecasts presented as findings, and positions on any future policy.
06Publisher and community

Who answers for the platform and who takes part.

Publisher

GRF

The Global Risks Forum publishes Foresight Nexus and answers for its content and the records of its dialogues.

Community

Practitioners

Foresight practitioners, strategists, policymakers and scenario designers.

Councils

Council model

Leadership through the National Leadership Council (NLC), institutional participation through the National Nexus Consortium (NNC) and expert work through the National Working Groups (NWG).

07Limits

What the platform does not do.

  • It does not regulate, finance, procure or certify.
  • It does not make policy or decide for any institution; decisions remain with the authorities and organizations accountable for them.
  • Its scenarios are not predictions, and its outlooks are not official forecasts.
  • Hosting or sponsorship confers no authority over findings, and taking part gives no appointment or influence over conclusions.
08Status

Established, with activity being substantiated.

Foresight Nexus is an established platform of The Global Risks Forum (GRF), preserved at its published address. Its existing community and activity are being confirmed against records, and events, members and results are shown only when a record supports them. Governance and corrections follow trust and status. The platform's wider role is set out on the Foresight Nexus home, and the field it covers on discipline and institutional issues.

09Key terms

Terms used on this page.

Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.

TermDefinition
Service level R0The current service level of Nexus pages: information and enquiries only. An enquiry receives a reference and a named next step; it creates no membership, contract, assignment or commitment.
Conflict of interestA situation in which financial, professional or personal interests could compromise, or appear to compromise, judgement in research or review.
Strategic foresightA structured and systematic way of using ideas about the future to anticipate and prepare for change, in OECD usage.
Horizon scanningThe systematic search for early signs of change, such as weak signals and emerging issues, before they reach the policy agenda.
10Sources

Where this page's references lead.

The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.

11Questions

Questions and answers.

Is Foresight Nexus a separate organization?
No. It is a specialist platform of The Global Risks Forum (GRF), which publishes it.
Are Foresight Nexus outlooks official government forecasts?
No. They are convened syntheses of signals and scenarios, labelled with their methods and uncertainty.
Who do I contact?
Write to contact@globalriskforum.com or see contact routes. The acknowledgement gives a reference and names the next step.
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