  This paper proposes a feedback control perspective for Human-Earth Systems
(HESs) which essentially are complex systems that capture the interactions
between humans and nature. Recent attention in HES research has been directed
towards devising strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, aimed
at achieving environmental and societal objectives. However, existing
approaches heavily rely on HES models, which inherently suffer from
inaccuracies due to the complexity of the system. Moreover, overly detailed
models often prove impractical for optimization tasks. We propose a framework
inheriting from feedback control strategies the robustness against model
errors, because inaccuracies are mitigated using measurements retrieved from
the field. The framework comprises two nested control loops. The outer loop
computes the optimal inputs to the HES, which are then implemented by actuators
controlled in the inner loop. Potential fields of applications are also
identified.
