Work on the interplay between nature and society has a long history and deep legacies. Key words: Anthropocene biosphere stewardship natural capital resilience social-ecological systems sustainability science INTRODUCTION

Biosphere stewardship is essential, in the globalized world of interactions with the Earth system, to sustain and enhance our life-supporting environment for human well-being and future human development on Earth, hence, the need to reconnect development to the biosphere foundation and the need for a biosphere-based sustainability science. We raise the challenge of stewardship of development in concert with the biosphere for people in diverse contexts and places as critical for long-term sustainability and dignity in human relations. We regard social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems and use a social-ecological resilience approach as a lens to address and understand their dynamics. In this article, we exemplify the intertwined nature of social-ecological systems and emphasize that they operate within, and as embedded parts of the biosphere and as such coevolve with and depend on it. The focus is shifting from the environment as externality to the biosphere as precondition for social justice, economic development, and sustainability.

Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere.

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