IHDP_AR_2009

International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change

Annual Report

IHDP Open Meeting 2009

Projects in Synthesis Stage

Bonn Dialogues on Global Change

Elinor Ostrom Wins Nobel Prize

The 7th International Science Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, organised by the IHDP Secretariat, took place in Bonn, Germany from 26-30 April 2009.

Three of IHDP’s projects are currently within their synthesis stage. The Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) Project held its synthesis conference in 2009 and is working on its synthesis publications.

Additionally, the Industrial Transformation (IHDP-IT) and Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) Projects are both in the process of writing their synthesis books and are anticipating future activities within their respective fields.

Continuing its series for the third year, IHDP, in conjunction with the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), and the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV), hosted two Bonn Dialogues on Energy and Food Security, and Living with Risk: Preparing for the Worst and Learning to Adapt.

Elinor Ostrom, a former member of the IHDP Scientific Committee, shared the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Elinor Ostrom has a long standing relationship with IHDP and has further initiated and participated in various activities over the past five years – including IHDP Open Meetings, International Human Dimensions Workshops, and substantive contributions to IHDP’s Update Magazine.

Photos: Mike le Gray, Louise Smith

2009 Highlights

Photo: Frank Silye

Earth System Governance Science Plan

Project Conferences

New Executive Director

IHDP Communication in New Media

In April 2009, the Earth System Governance Project finalised and published its Science Plan. The plan will guide the projects actions as a cross-cutting theme within IHDP Science throughout the projects ten year lifecycle.

The Earth System Governance Project hosted the 2009 Amsterdam Conference on Global Environmental Change entitled “People, Places, and the Planet”. GECHS hosted its synthesis conference “Human Security in an Era of Global Change” and both the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Project (UGEC) and Global Land Project (GLP) are planning back to back conferences in Arizona in 2010.

Following Dr Andreas Rechkemmer’s term as Executive Director of the IHDP Secretariat, IHDP’s institutional sponsors have appointed Dr Anantha Kumar Duraiappah to take on the position. Dr Duraiappah officially began on January 1, 2010.

IHDP Communications have widened the scope of their activities to further include the electronic media within its strategy. In the course of 2009, it opened Youtube and Facebook accounts, where interested parties can find information about, and get involved in, IHDP activities. In addition, IHDP’s traditional print publications are now electronically distributed, this provides more interactive reading interfaces and the option to subscribe to electronic mailing lists.

COntents

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16

28

2009 in Review

KEy Outcomes

Innovative SCIENCE

6 Editorial Oran Young

18 Cutting-Edge Science

30 IHDP Core Projects

50 ESSP Joint Projects

22 Capacity Development

32

52

Earth System Governance

Global Carbon Project

24 Science–Policy Interaction

35

55

Global Environmental Change & Human Security

Global Environmental Change & Food Systems

26 Communications & Outreach

38

58

Global Land Project

Global Environmental Change & Human Health

8 Introduction Anantha Duraiappah

IHDP Annual Report 2009

10 IHDP Open Meeting 2009 Social Challenges of Global Change Falk Schmidt

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12 Open Meeting Facts & Numbers

41

Industrial Transformation 44

Land–Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone 47

Urbanization & Global Environmental Change

61

Global Water System Project

78 People & Numbers

66

Integrated Risk Governance 68

Knowledge, Learning & Societal Change

70 Sponsored Research Networks & Strategic Partners 72

80 About IHDP 82 Budget & Finances

Mountain Research Initiative 74

Population–Environment Research Network 76

System for Analysis, Research & Training (START)

IHDP Annual Report 2009

64 Project Initiatives

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4 Photo: Mike le Gray

IHDP Annual Report 2009

2009 in Review

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

The Evolution of IHDP: Continuity and Change

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The primary mission of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) is to “foster, coordinate, and conduct social science research that helps to understand and address the challenges of global environmental change and improve societal responses”. Our basic strategy in pursuing this goal is to establish scientific networks or decentralized associations of researchers, whose interests converge around substantive themes and who are willing to coordinate their efforts through the development of common science plans that guide the work of the members of these networks. This gives rise to our activities known as core projects (e.g.

Industrial Transformation, Global Environmental Change and Human Security, Urbanization and Global Environmental Change), each of which lasts about a decade and produces a stream of published research in which the whole is often greater than the sum of the parts.

This general mode of operation is likely to continue to characterize our work during the foreseeable future. Yet, in substantive terms, the Programme has been evolving steadily toward a growing concern about the dynamics of coupled or socio–ecological systems in which human forces interact with biophysical forces to determine the trajectories of these systems and (in the process) to control large scale issues like climate change and the maintenance of biological diversity. One trend that reflects this development is the creation of projects sponsored jointly with the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Whereas the first generation of IHDP core projects included one joint project, Land Use and Land Cover Change, we now have two joint core projects – the Global Land Project, and Land–Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone. Another significant step in this direction involves active IHDP engagement

in the joint projects now operating under the auspices of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).

IHDP has played a leading role in the work of the Global Environmental Change and Food Systems Project; the Global Carbon Project; the Global Water Systems Project and the Global Environmental Change and Human Health Project. A third example of this trend is the development over the last several years of the Earth System Governance Project.

This initiative, organized as an IHDP core project, focuses explicitly on governance questions arising in conjunction with food systems, the carbon cycle, water systems, and so forth and fosters collaboration with natural scientists working within the ESSP community.

Now, we are poised to engage actively in new initiatives that will take this effort to understand the dynamics of coupled systems to a higher level. As the ICSU initiative on Grand Challenges in Global

essential role of the human dimensions in the coupled systems that now dominate global processes. It is IHDP’s challenge to find ways to mobilize the relevant communities of social scientists to make critical contributions towards addressing these Grand Challenges.

Oran Young Chair, IHDP Scientific Committee

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Photo: Mike le Gray

Sustainability Research makes clear, enhanced contributions from the social sciences will be essential in meeting the “challenge of delivering to society the knowledge and supporting information necessary to assess the risks humanity is facing from global environmental change, and to understand how society can effectively mitigate dangerous changes and cope with the change that we cannot mitigate.” Among the critical challenges this effort has identified are: “Determining what institutional and behavioural changes can best ensure global sustainability” and “Developing and evaluating innovative technological and social responses to achieve global sustainability.” Many members of the human dimensions community have played an active role in this ICSU-led process. IHDP intends to provide leadership as we move forward in addressing the Grand Challenges. The entire global environmental change research community has come to recognize the

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP: Scientific Credibility & Policy Relevance

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2009 has been a year of change for IHDP, with the departure of Dr. Rechkemmer as Executive Director and the appointment of myself as the new head. There were many achievements during my predecessor’s term, including the integration of the IHDP Secretariat within the UNU family; the successful conclusion of the 7th Open Meeting; the successful completion of the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Project and the initiation of two more synthesis processes, as well as the beginning of the Earth System Governance Project.

The IHDP Open Meeting 2009, the world’s largest conference on the human dimensions of global environmental change, gathered 938 participants from 85 countries worldwide in Bonn, Germany, from 26-30 April. The organisation of the Open Meeting, “Social Challenges of Global Change”, took centre stage in the Secretariat’s activities in the

period from September 2008 to June 2009. The conference attracted 1,142 paper and poster submissions, four plenary sessions with high level keynote speakers, and 91 parallel sessions with 395 presentations.

Thanks to the support of IHDP’s projects and leading scientists, as well as the financial sponsors of the conference, 80 highly qualified young researchers from developing countries were selected for a stipend to allow their attendance and several follow-up seminars to the 2008 IHDW series. Further, the nature of IHDP’s network and the success of its capacity development efforts are reflected in the fact that 50 percent of the Open Meeting’s participants were 40 years of age or younger.

2009 also saw the completion of the Industrial Transformation (IHDP-IT) and the Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) Projects. Both projects started their respective synthesis, taking stock of ten years of research,

with GECHS organising a highly successful synthesis conference in June 2009 in Oslo. The Earth System Governance Project was launched as a new IHDP core project in October 2008 and later presented at the international level during the Amsterdam Conference in December 2009.

Last but not least, the move of the IHDP Secretariat from the University of Bonn to the United Nations University in 2007 posed many challenges, as well as opportunities over the past two years, which I believe IHDP has faced admirably and under my term, this partnership will continue to grow.

It is an exciting time to be taking up the post of Executive Director of the UNU-IHDP. The ICSU global visioning process, the Belmont process and the establishment of an intergovernmental science– policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services, pose many opportunities for IHDP. Moreover, the recognition by the international

• Improved understanding of human values, behaviour, and the notion of equity and fairness, as they relate to global environmental change; • Building the next generation of social scientists by forging strategic partnerships with academic and scientific organisations; • Policy relevant guidance and support; and • Efficient, effective and resultsbased management.

voice of the social science platform and the gateway to social science networks and knowledge; and • Recognised by the policy community as the authoritative voice and lead organisation for the social science academic community, as well as the gateway to social science networks and knowledge.

Finally, I give my thanks to the donors and supporters of IHDP. I look forward to your continued and increased support in the coming years, especially in light of the increasing demand for the social sciences to take a more active role in addressing global environmental challenges. I look forward to working with many of you over the coming years and work tirelessly towards achieving our common objective – making this world a better place to live in for both present and future generations.

Anantha Kumar Duraiappah IHDP Executive Director

I am confident that IHDP will be:

• Recognised by the various social science communities as the leading organisation to which they can turn, to receive support for new, innovative research ideas and have their voice heard in the policy making arena; • Recognised by other scientific communities as both the lead organisation offering a common

IHDP Annual Report 2009

scientific community of the importance of social science research in advancing our understanding of both global environmental change and the necessary actions to address these changes, places IHDP at the forefront of global environmental change research and policy for the foreseeable future. At the same time, the increasing prominence of environmental issues on the policy agenda, suggests a growing demand for policy relevant knowledge to better understand human values and behaviour on environmental changes and the appropriate policy options that will be needed to address the environmental challenges coming over the next few decades.

IHDP has been successful in the generation of new knowledge on the human dimensions of environmental change. The challenge now though, is to undertake strategic knowledge generation, such that it can support decision-making at various levels on the critical envi-

ronmental challenges that humanity faces at this time and in the immediate future. We need to do better, both in the synthesis and use of knowledge. We will also pay more attention towards building the capacity of scientists, especially young scientists and scientists from developing countries, equipping them with the ability to generate, assess and use knowledge for addressing the human dimensions of global environmental change.

For my first two years, IHDP will focus on producing the following deliverables:

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The IHDP Open Meeting 2009 (7th in the Open Meeting series), was the first one influenced by the IHDP Strategic Plan 2007-2015. The title “Social Challenges of Global Change” reflected a concerted effort to further broaden the scope of the human dimensions research agenda.

Demographic challenges, as well as challenges stemming from issues of social equity and cohesion, were highlighted during the conference and presented a move towards a broader spectrum of themes to be addressed by IHDP. Central to IHDP’s Open Meeting 2009 were contributions from IHDP’s core and joint projects as well as endorsed research networks.

New directions in human dimensions research were further presented by new Programme initiatives. A joint session of the Earth System Governance Project, the Integrated Risk Governance Project (IRG-Project), and the Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change initiative (KLSC),

attracted a wide audience which debated new research directions.

All three initiatives were also crucial for the conference day on “Adaptive Institutions & Governance”.

The title “Social Challenges of Global Change” reflected a concerted effort to further broaden the scope of the human dimensions research agenda.

The GECHS Project presented its work of ten years research in the run-up to its own synthesis conference; the IHDP-IT Project (also in synthesis) played an active role in shaping the overall agenda for the conference day on “Resources & Technological Innovations”, and further presented its findings and invited the community to think about the future research agenda in this field.

The IGBP and IHDP co-sponsor

both the Global Land Project (GLP) and the Land–Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone Project (LOICZ), both of which presented their work in ongoing activities, such as coupled modelling (GLP) and work on coastal zone governance (LOICZ).

Finally, sessions of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Project (UGEC) highlighted, among other things, the special role of cities for climate change adaptation.

In addition to the conferences 91 sessions, a total of 25 special sessions and events were held. For example, a joint session with IHDP’s partner Programmes IGBP and WCRP, as well as ESSP, was one highlight of the conference. Further, IHDP was pleased to have strong Partners such as the World Bank (who presented the work of their program, “Social Dimensions of Climate Change”); the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI); the Research Institute for Humanity and

Photo: Mike le Gray

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP Open Meeting 2009 Social Challenges of GLobal Change

governance research in the Americas, and the meeting of IHDP’s National Committees, who explored synergies and potential for further collaboration, was held, too. The success of the Programmes capacity building efforts is further reflected in the fact that 50% of 938 participants were 40 years old or younger.

Finally, the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 paid much attention to the interface of science and practice during the conference, building on a scientific agenda that addressed some of the most pressing issues of our time. Using its status as one of the largest Bonn based UN conferences of 2009, IHDP was able to attract exciting keynote speakers from the policy realm, complementing contributions from leading scholars in human dimensions research. For example, Dessima Williams from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and an eminent voice in the run-up to and at Copenhagen’s COP 15, addressed the plenary on

Equity and Social Cohesion. About 30 delegates from the AOSIS group participated in the Open Meeting for one day and attended several sessions to learn and exchange ideas on adaptive management. Each day of the conference concluded with a series of public events, which enabled the wider public from the region to receive exposure to cutting-edge research; experiment with new forms of presenting; and further debate hot issues. A fiery debate in a crowded plenary hall on the “Role of Science in the 21st Century” was a true highlight of the meeting, as was “Catastrophe Sells”, a roundtable on the role of the media in global environmental change, again, just to mention two out of five public events. The Open Meeting thus provides researchers with a great opportunity to present the policy relevance of their work.

Feedback from participants was very encouraging. Session conveners were highly positive, with 88% of

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Nature (RIHN), Kyoto, Japan; and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. Additionally, the US Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, in collaboration with IHDP, presented new directions in resilience research, while the German Committee on Global Change Research focused on Integrative Approaches in global change research, both of which highlight the contributions of only two very strong IHDP committees.

The Open Meetings represent a capacity building effort per se. 80 scholars from developing countries were supported in attending and presenting at the conference and IHDP is pleased with the support it received from its donors (see p. 84).

Follow-up seminars to the International Human Dimensions Workshop 2008 also took place. A session jointly organised by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research and IHDP emphasised the role of

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The IHDP Open Meeting 2009 built on a scientific agenda that IHDP Annual Report 2009

addressed some of the most

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pressing issues of our time.

Finally, more than a dozen official IHDP governance meetings were held back to back with the Open Meeting. This contributed to a high cost-efficiency not only for the conference, but for the wider purposes of the Programme and helped reduce the carbon footprint of the IHDP

community, something IHDP strived for with its “greening of the Open Meeting initiative”, which was well perceived by the participants.

The Secretariat is proud of having delivered a widely praised and respected IHDP Open Meeting 2009.

Scholars, previously active in IHDP, stated their desire to become active again after this conference. These are true success stories of the IHDP Open Meeting 2009.

Falk Schmidt Task Force Leader, IHDP Open Meeting 2009 Academic Officer, IHDP Secretariat

Open Meeting Sponsors

• National Science Foundation, USA • German Science Year 2009 • Ministry for Education and Research, Germany • Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany • Social Dimensions of Climate Change Program, The World Bank • City of Bonn • Deutsche Bank • European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, Germany • Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan • Deutsche Welle • BMW Group • and many others Photo:

them grading the sessions with excellent or good grades. Scientific value of individual presentations has been rated even better, with 93% of session conveners finding them to be good or excellent. Feedback provided by all participants graded the conference as “good”, and the possibilities for networking, as well as the quality of plenary sessions, received particularly high grades.

The Social Challenges of Global Change

The theme of the 7th Open Meeting, “Social Challenges of Global Change,� responds to the important changes in the perspective of the scientific community on the challenges we are currently facing, and outlines the new research agenda for IHDP’s second decade.

Open Meeting Facts & Numbers

With various backgrounds both geographically and professionally, the mix of researchers presenting at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 created a motivating and rewarding dialogue.

Participants coming from 85 countries shared their knowledge at the conference. 43 percent were female, highlighting a fair gender distribution. Half of the participants were young scientists, under the age of 40, which means that the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 was successful in attracting both the young and the experienced, and ensuring a representative audience that provided stimulating and fruitful discourses on the social challenges of global change.

Participant

Participant

Numbers

Age-Groups

938

based on 397 participants who provided their birth date

participants attending

85

countries represented

78

participants that

23%

Age 21-30

30%

Age 31-40

24%

Age 41-50

received stipends

13%

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Photos: Mike le Gray

Participants

Age 51-60

10%

Age 61-70

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Researchers

A significant number of researchers who presented at the conference (11.5 percent in all) received stipends that largely secured their participation costs. This was a major factor in achieving the conference’s remarkable diversity of participants. (see p. 82 for figures)

Public Roundtables

IHDP research projects are at the forefront of human dimensions research, setting long-term research agendas in their respective fields. How do such new projects emerge? How are ideas and research challenges translated into an initiative project? A special session of the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 presenting the new IHDP research activities addresses these questions.

The newest projects presented the conceptual framework behind their science plans from the points-of-view of a newly approved project, Earth System Governance; a project awaiting approval, Integrated Risk Governance; and a project in the writing stages of it’s science plan, Knowledge, Learning and Societal Change.

The five public roundtables of the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 gathered a set of high-level panellists to engage with conference participants and the general public about the most pressing social challenges of our day.

IHDP’s top level scientists began the series of roundtables both by the role of modern science in addressing the social challenges of global change and providing a platform for participants and the public to join the debate about the importance of human dimensions research. The roundtable “Catastrophe Sells” discussed the difficulties of reporting environmental news, concluding that so long as the facts remain clear, fresh reporting, sound bytes, and a touch of catastrophe, may be just what are needed to get the message across. In the roundtable on e-Health and Telemedicine, panellists presented and discussed the role of these new technologies. United Nations Ambassadors from Small Island States joined in a panel on Adaptive Capacities of Small Island States against LargeScale Environmental Change.

The “Global Equity, Local Needs” roundtable covered the challenges and barriers related to equity on various levels.

Voices from the Open Meeting

IHDP Annual Report 2009

White Couch

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What is the biggest Social Challenge of Global Change?

Do you see the role of human dimensions research in answering it? During the conference IHDP gathered the views of more than 40 participants at the white couch. (available online)

“It is a very interesting crowd of people. I like the interdisciplinarity that is present at the meeting... It’s not only senior people coming... but students from all over the world.”

Wolfgang Lutz

“I feel like this organisation has the potential to bring together diverse communities, but only by thinking of itself more broadly.”

Lori Hunter

“The interest of a conference like this is to bring the current line of thought on development issues back into the current thought in our countries” Humphrey Ngala Ndi

Photos: Mike le Gray

Supporting Developing

New Projects and Initiatives

Parallel Sessions

Session Numbers

Parallel sessions are the core of IHDP Open Meetings. The work presented at these sessions represents the cutting-edge of current human dimensions research. With a total of 1142 abstracts submitted and reviewed for the IHDP Open Meeting 2009, almost 400 of the best scientific papers (following a competitive review process), were either presented as posters or in oral form at one of the conferences’ 91 parallel sessions. The topics represented the wide array of research on the social challenges of global change and included contributions from both social and natural scientists working in the human dimensions of global environmental change field.

91

parallel sessions

395

papers presented

Selected Session Topics Arctic Regions Biomass and Bioenergy Carbon Management Conflicts Democratic Procedures Energy Use Environmental Education Gender

Historical Climate Change Human Security Knowledge Systems

Public Health Resources Management Risk Governance

Path Dependence

Technological Innovations

Policy Networks

Urbanization

Populations Displacement

Vulnerability, Resilience and Adaptation

Poverty Reduction

Water and Land

1142 submissions

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special sessions and events

Demographics

The first plenary session on the challenge of demographics in a rapidly changing world focused on the interactions between global change and human health, urbanisation, pollution and resource use in relation to modern population dynamics.

Resources & Technologi-

Social Equity, &

Adaptive Institutions &

cal Innovation

Sustainable Adaptation

Governance

In this session, keynote speakers explained the crucial role of technology in decoupling welfare from the imprint we leave on global systems and encouraged the audience to increase resource productivity five-fold in the next 50 years.

Integrating scientific human security concepts into practice was the focus of this session.

Speakers highlighted the role of climate change within rising environmental inequities, the need for international reprioritisation of equity and development goals.

Using the United Nations, sovereignty of states, and the private and public sectors as examples, this session introduced the role of governance in achieving environmental, socio–economic, and political sustainability.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Plenary Sessions

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Special Events

Exhibition

Linking Americas

Science Year

Book Launch

Global Network

Green Meeting

Twenty-five ministries, government agencies, NGOs, and private companies presented their vision for a sustainable future in the light-flooded Rhine Lobby.

IHDP projects and partners collectively showcased their work in the main lobby of the WCCB.

In a special session, IHDP, the Earth Systems Governance Project, and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, emphasised the need for a joint initiative to help adapt governance to the pressures and opportunities presented by global change.

To bridge the gap between science and social transformation, IHDP and the German Science Year 2009 hosted five public roundtable events, and invited 75 high-school level students to attend the conference and join them in a special seminar with senior IHDP researchers.

The book ‘Facing Global Environmental Change’ which was launched at the Open Meeting, covers a wide scope of environmental human security issues ranging from water to gender and takes an innovative approach with its sectorialization of security.

Thirty-one IHDP national representatives attended the National Committees Meeting where each representative gave a short overview of their committee’s work, and further discussed both their role within IHDP and methods for overcoming the obstacles they face.

In an effort to create awareness about the greenhouse gas emissions involved in the diverse travel aspects of such international conferences, IHDP provided public transportation passes to all participants and strongly encouraged carbon calculation and offsetting through CO2OL.

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Two of IHDP’s core projects, Industrial Transformation (IHDP-IT) and Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS), used the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 as a platform to present the synthesis of their ten years of research.

Focusing on sustainability transitions, IHDP-IT presented its work in multiple sessions. In addition, a roundtable session on technological innovations brought together scientists interested in continuing research on industrial transformation

to discuss new and relevant research topics, and to begin defining the way forward.

With 12 sessions, and more than 60 scientific papers submitted, GECHS and its partners presented current work in the field of human security, and discussed the evolution of thought on this topic. The GECHS sessions covered important aspects of the social challenges of global change, including: How to approach threats to human security; emerging new vulnerabilities in megacities and

its implications for human security; interactions between globalization and global environmental change; and limits and barriers to climate change adaptation.

Photos: Mike le Gray

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IT and GECHS Synthesis

Open Meeting Finances Human dimensions research lives and thrives through the interaction and inspiration provided by the IHDP Open Meetings. The global community enthusiastically endorsed last year’s conference, securing a largely self-sustaining event. Of a total conference budget of roughly 400,000 USD (excluding participant support), eighty-five percent was raised though registration fees, agreements with strong ‘partners of the conference’ ranging from the Japan-based Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) to the World Bank to the German Year of Science, and from exhibitors in an exciting and well-populated exhibition space.

Complemented by a small operational grant of the US NSF and staff resources from the IHDP Secretariat, this successful strategy secured an inviting and attractive conference venue, as did the invitation of around thirty high-level speakers and panellists.

Open Meeting INCOME Distribution 15% Grants 5% In-kind Contributions

8% Conference Exhibition

22% Partnership Agreements 50% Registration Fees

Young Scholar Support Supporting young and emerging scholars, especially from the developing world, has always been a core concern of the IHDP research community. That more than 50 percent of the Open Meeting participants were aged 40 or younger reflects the success of these capacity building efforts over the past decade.

The IHDP Open Meeting 2009 secured an unprecedented grant amount of 164,000 USD for participant support: 78 highly qualified young researchers received a

stipend to allow their attendance in the conference and several follow-up seminars to the IHDW 2008 series.

Selected through a strict process based on both academic merit and regional balance, these young and emerging scholars presented unique views and innovative research, contributing significantly to the success of the conference.

Further stipends could be provided for several young scholars to attend the GECHS synthesis conference in Oslo.

Young Scholar Supporters $32,500 NSF (USA) $14,800 NRC (Norway) $17,800 Inter-American Institute $10,000 NRF (South Africa) $25,000 Asia Pacific Network $63,900 BMBF (Germany)

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18 Photo: UN Photo/Martine Perret

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Key Outcomes

19

IHDP & Project Publications

18 Books

161

Peer-Reviewed Articles

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The science highlight of the Programme in 2009 was certainly the IHDP Open Meeting. However, several other highlights took place in the year as well, an example of which is the current ICSU Earth System Visioning Process, which aims at developing a new vision and strategic framework for earth system research. IHDP is an active participant in the process and throughout the deliberations it became clear that future research in this realm will depend heavily on the contributions from the social sciences, if it is meant to be a new framework for cutting-edge, integrative, problem-driven and policy relevant science. Based on the Strategic Plan 2007-2015 – a direct response to the external review

commissioned by ICSU – IHDP has positioned itself to meet the expectations for social science research for the next decade. Finally, the new momentum for human dimensions research coincided in 2009 with the Nobel Prize in Economics given to Elinor Ostrom, a former member of the IHDP Scientific Committee, who remains an active member of the IHDP community.

GECHS Synthesis 2009 Within the Programme, the Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project (GECHS) convened its synthesis conference in June 2009 “Human Security in an Era of Global Change”, synthesising ten years of research and debating future activities in human security

research. By putting people in the centre of analysis, GECHS has been able to re-shape the global environmental change discourse and has opened it up for a wider social science audience. In talking about sustainable adaptation, GECHS is at the fore of shaping the hot debate about adaptation, among others, in the light of equity and values, as well as sustainability. As part of its synthesis activities, GECHS created a true “firework display” of top-class publications, including the award winning book from Robin Leichenko and Karen O’Brien “Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposure”. Supported by the IHDP Secretariat, GECHS also co-edited the IHDP Update Magazine 2/2009 on the GECHS synthesis, introduc-

Photo: Axel Ivarsson

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Cutting-Edge Science

Core Projects

4

Joint Projects

2

Project Initiatives

Project Lifecycles

Initiation

IHDP projects have a lifecycle of about ten years which is divided into the initiation, implementation, and synthesis stages. The newest projects are moving into the core implementation stage. three projects are already well into their synthesis stages, and a fourth is joining them in the coming year.

ing the outcomes of the project to the global IHDP community.

Governance as an IHDP Cross-Cutting Theme Another highlight in 2009 is represented by the IHDP Update Magazine Issue 3, 2009 on “Governance as a Cross-cutting Theme in Human Dimensions Science”. This issue was not only produced for the “2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. Earth System Governance: People, Places, and the Planet”, but also puts IHDP’s crosscutting theme on “Governance and Institutions” into the practice of research. Based on the contributions of virtually all IHDP core and joint projects, it demonstrates that a) gov-

ESG Year 2

Implementation

GlP

Year 3

uGEc

loicz

Year 3

GEchh Year 2

ernance research is indeed an integral part of all IHDP activities and b) broad thematic foci exist, i.e. IHDP’s cross-cutting themes that capture the wealth of research done within IHDP in a meaningful, coherent, and Programme wide manner. The Earth System Governance Project, IHDP’s flagship on governance research, addresses some of the questions world leaders currently face, such as the right mix of integration and fragmentation in international environmental governance. Its new top-class book series on Earth System Governance will provide answers to this.

Project Highlights The subsequent contributions

by IHDP’s projects present a multitude of true highlights and the reader

Synthesis

GEchS

Year 6

GwSP

Year 5

Year 9

GcP Year 7

it

Year 10

GEcaFS

Year 9

is encouraged to consult project websites or contact the Secretariat, as well as the project offices, directly.

Without doing justice to each activity, only a selection of some highlights can be added here.

In the run-up to its own synthesis event in 2010, IHDP-IT continued its work on the special role of sustainability experiments, in the light of its overall research agenda on transformative changes towards more sustainable development pathways. The Global Land Project (GLP) further advanced its work on coupled models of human and natural processes of the terrestrial biosphere and a special feature “Land Change Science”, has received the 2009 Sustainability Science Award of the Ecological Society of America.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

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UGEC, who focused, for example, on the role of cities in climate change, represented IHDP at the First World Social Science Forum (organised by ISSC in 2009) and got involved in START’s Cities at Risk initiative and others. Additionally, UGEC is currently planning for a joint Open Science Meeting with GLP in what is sure to be a true Programme highlight in 2010.

In 2009, LOICZ convened a Dahlem-type workshop “Global Environmental Change in the Coastal Zone: A Socio-Ecological Integration”, which represented a midterm synthesis of this very productive and effective project that is actively involved in many processes in science and policy related to coastal zones. Finally, new research activities currently in the pipeline will further complement the portfolio of IHDP and present their initial results in this annual report as well.

IHDP Global Network National

National Contact Points

Committees

Bangladesh Belarus Burkina Faso Cameroon Canada Chile Costa Rica Czech Republic Ecuador Georgia

Argentina Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria China Cote d’Ivoire Japan Kenya Mexico Nepal Nigeria Russia Spain Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom USA

Ghana Guatamala India Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan Portugal Slovakia Tanzania

Global Change Committees

Austria Botswana D.R. Congo Finland France Germany Netherlands

New Zealand Norway Romania Thailand Vietnam

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Albania Andorra Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bangladesh Belarus Belgium Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina • Botswana

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Croatia

• Cuba • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Ecuador • Egypt • Eritrea • Estonia • Finland • France • Georgia • Germany • Ghana • Greece

110 500+

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• New Zealand • Niger • Nigeria • Norway • Pakistan • Paraguay • Peru • Philippines • Poland • Polynesia • Portugal • Republic of Macedonia • Romania

Guinea Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Italy Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Lao PDR Latvia Lesotho Liechtenstein

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malaysia Malta Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands

Countries

Active Project Researchers

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Russia Rwanda San Marino Scotland Senegal Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan

• • • • • • • • • •

Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Turkey Uganda Ukraine United Kingdom United States of America • Vatican City • Venezuela • Vietnam

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP Research Worldwide

IHDP projects are present in a majority of countries, and are driven by a huge network of active researchers across the globe.

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Capacity Development at the Open Meeting

The IHDP provided many capacity development opportunities for young researchers including stipends, reduced rates for students, follow-up activities from the International Human Dimensions Workshops, and public events.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

The term “capacity development” refers here to both the building of new capacities and expansion of existing ones. Capacity development is an important cross-cutting activity for all global environmental change programmes, and especially for IHDP.

24

As a part of its Strategic Plan 2007‒2015, IHDP has called for increased activities in this area through some important capacity development initiatives, such as the International Human Dimensions Workshops (IHDWs). The IHDWs are one of IHDP’s flagship activities, having trained about 200 young scientists in the biennial courses since 1998 on key issues of human dimensions research. Their training workshops are linked to both IHDP core projects and ESSP projects.

During the IHDP Open Meeting 2009,

three of five seminars from the Delhi IHDW 2008 reconvened.

The linking of international with regional and national research agendas has been gaining importance with global change programmes. In 2009, members of IHDP’s global network (composed of IHDP National Committees, Global Change Committees, and National Contact Points) continued to undertake an array of activities focusing on the topic of human dimensions of global environmental change.

Many of IHDP’s National Committees are very well advanced intellectual resources and many are also being used to build research capacity. So far, IHDP’s ‘Seed Grants’ were used to set up National Committees, which are perceived as an effective tool to broaden the IHDP network and

particularly to reach out to developing countries.

In the last two and a half years, National Committees and Global Change Committee members have organised international and national scientific conferences on various physical and social aspects of global change; supported and initiated research projects; held workshops and summer schools; and had their work published in multiple academic magazines and books. A synthesis of these activities, publications, activities and news is disseminated worldwide through the IHDP National Committees Bulletin, distributed three times a year by IHDP’s Secretariat.

This global network and their activities are important to the goals of IHDP, as they support capacity de-

Photos: Mike le Gray

Capacity Development

Visiting Scholar Experiences

Visiting Scholar

My internship at the IHDP Secretariat has given me deep insight into the institutional framework where science and policy interact, and. the chance to interact with senior researchers and desicion-makers, thus better grasping the essence of current debates.

Cristobal Reveco, Chile

I had a unique opportunity to share my research findings and prospects in an academic milieu, which integrated a wide variety of experiences and perspectives, including high quality professional and academic staff. Further, I was in an advantageous position

velopment, cutting-edge science, and science–policy interaction in their own countries, expanding IHDP’s reach beyond just its projects and the IHDP Secretariat.

In 2009, the IHDP Secretariat continued to intensify its contact with these committees, which led to a lively and constructive debate during a special session of committee members, back-to-back with the IHDP Open Meeting 2009. The IHDP Scientific Committee has responded to this by forming an informal working group to look into the IHDP-National Committees relationship.

The IHDP Secretariat has continued its collaboration with START and is also actively contributing to the CoDATE group to organise the forthcoming ISSC capacity development

programme ‘One-Planet – Worlds Apart’ focusing on the global South.

CoDATE was set up to advise ISSC on the detailed design and implementation of actions intended to assist the positive and rigorous development of the social sciences in developing and transition economies within the next three years. Such actions will include mapping social science training and development needs and enhancing the impact of funding research capacity development. New IHDP initiatives in this field will be based on the results of the process.

Furthermore, after completing the first cycle of its IHDP Visiting and Resident Scholars Programme, a primary evaluation of the programme conducted by the scholars themselves confirmed the sense of opportunity

to participate in international meetings, to interact with high-quality international researchers, and actively learn from an international agency about research management.

Ana Peña del Valle, Mexico

It was important to be closer to and learn more about IHDP’s network, and how Open Meetings are organised.

Cristina Yumie Aoki Inoue, Brazil

the programme affords to them. The alumni named as strengths in particular: The international nature of the IHDP that gives the opportunity to share and exchange ideas on a broader scale; the internationally mixed team, with different ways of thinking, behaviour and culture as both a challenge and an opportunity; the IHDP’s strong network including scientists, policy makers and other research institutes; the good working experience including development of practical office and organizational skills; the team work experience as interns and scholars are given responsibility and seen as full members of the team; and the attractiveness to increase the possibility of employment after the end of the programme.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Internship Experience

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IHDP Contributions to International Processes

IHDP projects were present at the Copenhagen Climate Change Congress in March 2009, presenting their cuttingedge work in the run-up to COP15. In 2009, the planning process for IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report kept researchers

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Although a series of significant science–policy events at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 attracted a great audience, other similar highlights for 2009 must be mentioned here. For example, IHDP is a co-sponsor of the “Bonn Dialogues on Global Change”, an outreach event addressing the wider public in Bonn, as well as colleagues from other UN agencies. In 2009, one Dialogue on “Living with Risk” took place in conjunction with the UNESCO conference on Sustainable Development; a second Dialogue, in the run-up to the COP15 in Copenhagen, explored the linkages and tensions between Energy and Food Security.

IHDP representatives attended COP15 in Copenhagen, together with IGBP and its institutional sponsors

ICSU, ISSC, and UNU, and maintained a frequently visited exhibition booth.

In addition to several contributions from various members of the community to a multitude of side events, IHDP and IGBP convened a very well attended side event on “Science, Society, and Adaptation”. On the one hand, the event demonstrated that research framed in the context of adaptation requires contributions from both natural and social sciences. On the other hand, as the focus in science and policy increasingly shifts to response options and solutions, the crucial role for social sciences provides IHDP with great momentum and raises high expectations for its future contributions. Making use of insights of projects under synthesis (i.e. GECHS and IHDP-IT), particularly demonstrated how IHDP

meets the policy and societal demands for cutting-edge science during the event. In addition, the discussionduring the event addressed the still remaining knowledge–action-gap, and a debate took place that focused on what science could do to further improve its usefulness for political processes, such as the international climate change negotiations.

Several highlights regarding the science–policy interaction from the projects can be listed. These can be broadly distinguished as a) contributions to international processes (see above) and b) scientific topics at the heart of the science– policy interface.

Research in the human dimensions of global environmental change is addressing some of the

Photo: Mike le Gray

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Science–policy Interaction

Special Report on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation”.

Other international processes included, among others: IHDP’s contribution to the annual meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of UNFCCC; UGEC’s contri-

most challenging issues of the 21st century. The Industrial Transformation (IHDP-IT) Project, for example, investigates transformative changes, as opposed to incremental changes, which is critical for identifying strategies and policies that would stimulate the occurrence of sustainable development pathways. While the rhetoric in science and policy is currently changing from “challenges towards solutions”, the findings expected from the IHDP-IT Project will deliver insights into possible solutions by addressing in-depth barriers of change, stickiness of established socio-technological regimes, the right mix of policy instruments to foster change, and the multi-level and multi-actor character that have to be taken into account.

bution to various assessments and international forums, such as the 5th Urban Research Symposium on “Cities and Climate Change. Responding to an Urgent Agenda” held in Marseille, France; involvement of scholars from the Earth System Governance Project in discussions about International Environmental Gover-

During its life-span, the Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project (GECHS) was able to redefine global environmental change as an issue of individual and societal vulnerability and capability, using the human security framework. The project has not only reached out early to the development research community in general, it also frames the debate about “Sustainable Adaptation” and hence, one of the most prominent research agendas these days.

Be it the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) Project’s involvement in debates about climate change and the role of cities, GLP’s contributions to a better understanding of coupled socio–ecological systems, or the Land–Ocean Interaction in Coastal

nance within the context of the UN Environment Programme; LOICZ’s contributions, to the Arctic Regional Assessment and the IW Science Project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), executed by UNU-INWEH; as well as the Secretariat’s engagement in consultations concerning an Earth Summit 2012 (Rio+20).

Zones (LOICZ) Project’s work on coastal governance, for example in the Arctic, all IHDP projects – complemented by the work of its ESSP joint projects – contribute highly policy relevant science to meet the social challenges of global change.

Finally, special attention in 2009, was given to the newly established Earth System Governance Project.

If global environmental change is indeed human induced and aggravated by human actions, the role of effective governance arrangements is key. The high degree of attention that the project’s research agenda has attracted already confirms that this initiative adds a crucial contribution to IHDP’s research portfolio towards meeting the demands from policy and society.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

busy and the final outline of this Report provides the human dimensions community with significant opportunities to contribute its research findings to the IPCC agenda.

Among others, GECHS and UGEC were very active in this planning process. In addition, GECHS further helped to establish the new IPCC

27

Update Magazines 2009

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All projects report and publish extensively on their work. The IHDP Secretariat itself is responsible for the reporting of network activities and scientific developments, as well as the production of information materials, having also co-published several scientific publications. Selected outputs for 2009 include three peer-reviewed IHDP Update Magazines on the Social Challenges of Global Change (which includes some of the best rated scientific articles submitted to the IHDP Open Meeting 2009); Human Security in an Era of Global Change (on the Global Environmental Change and Human Security [GECHS] research synthesis); and Governance as a Cross-Cutting Theme in Human Dimensions Science (on the new IHDP core science

project Earth System Governance).

The IHDP Secretariat also continued to distribute its quarterly E-Zine newsletter to an audience of 4,500 subscribers from the global change community.

Pursuing its call as a service unit to its research projects, the Secretariat coordinated, designed and published a significant amount of dissemination material for its core and joint science projects, as well as endorsed research networks and strategic partners. Included within this material were, among others, a series of informative banners reflecting the profile, goals and main activities of each project, a corporate image, new brochures and the Science Plan for the Earth System Governance Project; a corporate identity for the

Global Environmental Change and Human Health Project (GECHH); and dissemination material for the future LOICZ, UGEC and GLP conferences to be held in 2010.

While the IHDP website (www. ihdp.unu.edu and www.ihdp.org) has been further upgraded after 2008’s relaunch, including the interactive Ask an Expert section, the Internet has also been used to promote and disseminate the outcomes of the IHDP Open Meeting 2009. Rich multimedia content is available next to abstracts, full papers and reports at www.openmeeting2009.org. IHDP was further able to produce professionally edited videos of key events of the Open Meeting, which are currently made available to worldwide audiences via IHDP’s profile on

Illustrator: Louise Smith

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Communications & Outreach

IHDP Open Meeting 2009

Bonn Dialogues

Project Products

Website

Youtube (www.youtube.com/user/ IHDPSecretariat).

Science–policy interaction is a top priority for IHDP in its second decade. Continuing with its efforts to address the increased demand for policy relevant research, and in close cooperation with the Secretariat Science Unit, the IHDP Communications Unit intensified its activities in the area of public awareness and outreach. The IHDP Open Meeting 2009 featured a series of highly attractive public panels every evening. Topics ranged from the role of the media when reporting on global change to ‘Science in the 21st century’, telemedicine, equity, and gender issues.

The panellists - decision makers, researchers, and journalists - answered questions from a broad audi-

ence. All the events were covered by the German media and by specialised publications such as Nature.

IHDP also continued the Bonn Dialogue Series in collaboration with UNU-EHS and DKKV, convening a plenary on human strategies to cope with increasing risks in April 2009 and a colloquium on Food Security and Energy Sustainability in November 2009. IHDP guaranteed extensive coverage of the Bonn Dialogues in the German media, particularly through Deutsche Welle, regional newspapers and Internet sites. Along with the events’ co-organisers, the Secretariat also disseminated the outcomes of the colloquiums through the Dialogues’ Internet site (www.bonn-dialogues. org) and Flickr.

People, Places, and the Planet

Earth System Governance

As a member of the United Nations University family in Bonn, the IHDP Secretariat continued to play an active role in the United Nations system. In October, IHDP organised an information stand in Bonn’s central square, as part of the celebrations of UN Day. IHDP staff distributed publications and answered questions from the visitors. As a member of the Common Information Space (CIS) of the UN in Bonn, IHDP significantly contributed to CIS activities (including the UN Open Day); a documentary on the UN in Bonn broadcasted

by German TV; and the reception of numerous visitor groups to the UN’s main building in Bonn, the Langer Eugen.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Taking advantage of the benefits of new media, the conference website presents conference results in text, video, and visual form.

IHDP supports its newest projects by providing communications services, which include the design of logos, dissemination materials, and products.

29

30 Photo: Carl Berger

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Innovative Science

31

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP currently has six core projects. Core projects are conceptualised and supported by IHDP, sometimes in partnership with various other programmes, to identify and generate new, cutting-edge research activities and priorities; promote international cooperation; and build linkages between policymakers and researchers.

32

Earth System Governance ESG Governance for sustainability: Navigating the anthropocene

Global Environmental Change & Human Security GECHS Understanding human security in an era of global change

Photos: Thom Peters, UN Photo/Pacal Gorriz, UN Photo/Martine Perret, UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe, Mark van de Wouw

IHDP Core Projects

Industrial Transformation IT

Measuring, modelling and understanding the coupled human–environment system

Identifying alternative pathways towards sustainability

Land–Ocean Interactions in Coastal Zones LOICZ Understanding and predicting change in the world’s coastal zones

URbanization & Global Environmental Change UGEC Guiding research on the interactions and feedbacks between urbanization and global change IHDP Annual Report 2009

Global Land Project GLP

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Insight from 2009

2010 Research Question

Keywords

The Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen has been a clear indication of the need for a global, effective architecture for earth system governance that is adaptive to changing circumstances; involves all stakeholders; and is accountable, fair and legitimate beyond the nation state.

One major question for 2010 is the tension between fragmentation and integration in decision-making, including the future of climate governance as a multilateral negotiation system and the interlinkages within biodiversity policy.

• Architecture • Agency • Adaptiveness • Accountability • Allocation & Access • Power • Knowledge • Norms • Scale

People, Places, and the Planet

Earth System Governance

International Project Office

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP Secretariat (UNU-IHDP) UN Campus Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10 53113 Bonn, Germany T: +49 (0)228 815 0635 www.earthsystemgovernance.org Executive Officer Ruben Zondervan

34

ipo@earthsystemgovernance.org

Humans now influence all biological and physical systems of the planet, subsequently generating change that extends well beyond natural variability and at a rate that continues to accelerate. Further, the institutions, organisations, and mechanisms by which humans currently govern their relationship with the natural environment and global biochemical systems are both insufficient and poorly understood. More effective governance systems are needed. This is the rationale and challenge for the Earth System Governance Project.

The Project defines earth system governance as the interrelated and increasingly integrated system of formal and informal rules, rule-making systems, and actor-networks at all

levels of human society (from local to global) that are set up to steer societies towards preventing, mitigating, and adapting to global and local environmental change and, in particular, earth system transformation, within the normative context of sustainable development.

Moreover, the Project is designed as a nodal point within the global change programmes to guide, organise and evaluate research on governance in the various projects, thus strengthening and incorporating governance as a cross-cutting theme.

Photo: UN Photo/Mark Garten

EArth System Governance

Policy Implications of Earth System Governance Research Earth System Governance

Architecture

Agency

The Earth System Governance Project, while being essentially a scientific effort, is also designed to assist policy responses to the pressing problems of earth system transformation. The analytical problems it studies have profound policy implications.

The problem of the architecture of earth system governance is a key concern of current negotiations and political processes that are often faced with ‘treaty congestion’ and complex interlinkages between different institutions.

Research on agency will generate novel ideas on the integration of civil society actors in earth system governance, and on the advantages and disadvantages of private and public–private governance arrangements.

Adaptation

Accountability and Legitimacy

Allocation and Access

Research on governance of adaptation and the adaptiveness of governance arrangements will inform policymakers, who have to deal with adapting politics and policies to a changing world.

The accountability and legitimacy of decision making, from local to global levels, is a key problem for public policy.

Research on allocation and access will help to improve governance outcomes and advance discourses on an equitable approach to earth system governance.

Scientific Highlights

Selected Publications

This first year of the Earth System Governance Project’s ten-year lifecycle, has been characterised by a successful and dynamic propagation and further conceptual and methodological development of the concept of earth system governance, cumulating in more than 500 abstracts submitted by colleagues, from more than 64 countries to the 2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. About 200 paper presentations, and 30 keynote speeches at the conference on ‘Earth System Governance. People, Places, and the Planet’ presented cutting edge, applied and fundamental research on earth system governance.

Managers of Global Change. The Influence of International Environmental Bureaucracies

Water Policy Entrepreneurs. A Research Companion to Water Transitions Around the Globe Huitema, Dave, and Sander. (editors). 2009. Water Policy Entrepreneurs. A Research Companion to Water Transitions Around the Globe. Cheltenham: Edgar Elgar.

Biermann, Frank, Michele M. Betsill, Joyeeta Gupta, Norichika Kanie, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, Heike Schroeder, and Bernd Siebenhüner, with contributions from Ken Conca, Leila da Costa Ferreira, Bharat Desai, Simon Tay, and Ruben Zondervan. 2009.

Earth System Governance: People, Places and the Planet. Science and Implementation Plan of the Earth System Governance Project. Earth System Governance Report 1, IHDP Report 20. Bonn, IHDP: The Earth System Governance Project.

The Fragmentation of Global Governance Architectures: A Framework for Analysis Biermann, Frank, Philipp Pattberg, Harro van Asselt, and Fariboz Zelli. 2009. The Fragmentation of Global Governance Architectures: A Framework for Analysis. Global Environmental Politics 9 (4):14-40.

Exploring Earth System Governance: A Case Study of Floodplain Management Along the Tisza river in Hungary Werners, Saskia E., Zsuzsanna Flachner, Piotr Matczak, Maria Falaleeva, and Rik Leemans. 2009.

Exploring earth system governance: A case study of floodplain management along the Tisza river in Hungary, Global Environmental Change, 19 (4): 503-511.

Governance as a Crosscutting Theme in Human Dimensions Science International Human Dimensions Programme. IHDP Update Magazine Issue 3, 2009. Bonn, IHDP Secretariat.

The IHDP Update magazine has devoted this to Governance as a cross-cutting theme in IHDP science, and contains about 20 contributions of the Earth System Governance Project and nearly all other IHDP core and ESSP joint projects on the issue of earth system governance in particular.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Biermann, Frank, and Bernd Siebenhüner (editors). 2009.

Managers of Global Change. The Influence of International Environmental Bureaucracies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Earth System Governance: People, Places and the Planet. Science and Implementation Plan of the Earth System Governance Project

35

Capacity Development

Science–policy

Outreach

Earth system governance has found its way into the curricula of a number of academic studies, particularly in courses related to or provided by the Earth System Governance Research Centres. Many senior researchers involved in the project, actively undertake training and other activities to strengthen the capacity of earlycareer researchers in the field and in addition, the International Project Office, as well as many institutes involved in the project, are offering internships for students. A capacity building highlight in 2009 has been the ‘2009 European PhD Winter School on Earth System Governance: The Challenge of Adaptive Governance’, organised by the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), in collaboration with the SENSE Research School for Socio–Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE).

In 2009 the focus of the Earth System Governance Project has been on the development of its scientific framework and on extending and strengthening its global network of Associate Faculty, Senior Research Fellows, Research Fellows and Research Centres. In addition, the project initiated and has been developing science– policy formats ranging from round table workshops to the involvement of several researchers affiliated to the project in numerous national and intergovernmental advisory committees. A highlight in 2009 has been the successful roundtable on environmental governance in China.

Members of the Earth System Governance Scientific Steering Committee, as well as many of the project’s affiliated researchers, have been actively engaged in presenting, promoting and explaining the Earth System Governance Project and its analytical framework to a multitude of audiences which include guest lectures; key note speeches; and convening conference panels or special sessions at conferences and other venues. Increasingly, the website is used as a portal to information on earth system governance and the activities of the project. With event specific web-blogs, the project also prepared and reported from events like the 2009 Amsterdam Conference, of which impressions, reports, and video interviews have been made available online.

10 Nov 2009 Stockholm, Sweden

22 Oct 2009 Beijing, China

26-30 April 2009 Bonn, Germany

Colloquium at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Conflicts over Land in the 21st Century, organised by the National Committee for Geography in collaboration with the Earth System Governance Project.

European Commission Delegation to China, and Earth System Governance Project Roundtable: The Future of International Environmental Governance and China.

7th International Science Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change.

Social Challenges of Global Change (IHDP Open Meeting 2009).

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Key Events

36

2-4 Dec 2009 Katwoude, Netherlands

1 Dec 2009 Katwoude, Netherlands

24 Nov - 4 Dec 2009 Katwoude & Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. Earth System Governance: People, Places, and the Planet.

1 December 2009 SENSE Symposium ‘Climate Proofing Cities’, Katwoude, Netherlands.

European PhD Winter School on Earth System Governance: The Challenge of Adaptive Governance.

Insight from 2009

2010 Research Question

Keywords

To reach an equitable, resilient and sustainable world, global environmental change needs to be addressed through a human security lens, with strong focus on individual and collective vulnerabilities and capabilities.

How can different types of knowledge, perspectives on human–environment relationships, and approaches to science make global change research more relevant, and effective at fostering the social transformations that are necessary to address environmental changes?

• Human Security • Climate Change • Water Governance • Conflict • Vulnerability • Equity • Adaptation

Global Environmental Change & Human Security GECHS

Photo: UN Photo/Pascal Gorriz, Frank Silye

University of Oslo P.O. Box 1096, Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway www.gechs.org Executive Officer Linda Sygna linda.sygna@sosgeo.uio.no Øystein Kristiansen oystein.kristiansen@sosgeo.uio.no

raising on the importance of viewing global environmental change as a question of human security. The large, international GECHS Synthesis Conference and the work on publication of conference contributions particularly illustrate these achievements.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

International Project Office

The Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project (GECHS) is a research network that places environmental changes within larger socio–economic and political contexts, focusing on the way diverse social processes such as globalisation, poverty, disease, and conflict, combine with global environmental change to affect human security.

This research recognises the need to move human beings and societies to the centre of global environmental change research. The GECHS Project is currently in its synthesis phase, and through the synthesis work, it is becoming increasingly clear that significant achievements have been made during the ten years of GECHS related research and awareness

37

Policy Implications of GECHS Research Rethink Social Contracts

Human Security Discourse

Creating Human Security

Human security draws attention to the role of power, gender, class, democracy and ethical issues in climate change debates, and calls for a rethinking of social contracts.

The environmental change discourse is shifting towards a more human securityoriented approach, focusing on policies and practice that consider vulnerability, multiple stressors, ethics and equity concerns.

Creating human security in the context of environmental change is both urgent and necessary. Researchers, policymakers, and practitioners can join forces in identifying ways of enhancing the capacity to respond to environmental change and human insecurities.

Selected Publications

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Scientific Highlights

38

Progress has been made in three broad, interrelated streams of knowledge that have been emerging over the years within the GECHS network. First, there have been important advances on the conceptualisation of human security, particularly in terms of framing and understanding the implications of environmental change for individuals and communities. Second, a large body of empirical research has been created on how various aspects of human security are influenced by environmental change, and how multiple processes of change threaten social, human and environmental rights. The third broad

stream of research within the GECHS Project is devoted to human capabilities to respond to social and environmental stress, and how to create positive social change and enhance human security in the context of global environmental change. These three streams of GECHS work complement and partially overlap each other, and together, they provide a comprehensive understanding of challenges and responses within issues of global environmental change and human security.

Global Environmental Change and Human Security Richard A. Matthew, Jon Barnett, Bryan McDonald and Karen L. O’Brien, 2009. Global Environmental Change and Human Security. MIT Press.

Adapting to Climate Change Thresholds, Values and Governance Neil Adger, Irene Lorenzoni and Karen O’Brien, 2009. Adapting to Climate Change Thresholds, Values and Governance. Cambridge University Press.

Climate Change in the 21st Century Stewart J. Cohen with Melissa W. Waddell, 2009. Climate Change in the 21st Century. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Governing Sustainability Adger, W.N. and A. Jordan, 2009.

Governing Sustainability. Cambridge University Press; New York.

Facing Global Environmental Change: Environmental, Human, Energy, Food, Health and Water Security Concepts Hans Günter Brauch, Úrsula Oswald Spring, John Grin, Czeslaw Mesjasz,Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Navnita Chadha Behera, Béchir Chourou, Heinz Krummenacher (Eds.): Facing Global Environmental Change: Environmental,Human, Energy, Food, Health and Water Security Concepts. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 4 (Berlin -Heidelberg - New York: SpringerVerlag, 2009).

Rethinking Social Contracts: Building Resilience in a Changing Climate O’Brien, K., B. Hayward, and F. Berkes, 2009. Rethinking Social Contracts: Building Resilience in a Changing Climate. Ecology and Society 14 (2).

Informality as Agency. Negotiating the Modes of Regulation in Contested Urban Areas Bohle, H-G, Etzold, B., Keck, M., and W.-P. Zingel, 2009. Informality as Agency. Negotiating the Modes of Regulation in Contested Urban Areas, In: Die Erde, Jg. 140, H. 1, pp. 3-24.

Environment and Peacebuilding in War-torn Societies Conca, K. and J. Wallace, 2009.

Environment and Peacebuilding in War-torn Societies: Lessons from the UN Environment Programme’s Experience with Postconflict Assessment. Global Governance 15, pp. 485-504.

Thematic Set: The Sustainability of Southern African Savannas: Threats and Opportunities Eriksen, S.H. and H.K. Watson (eds.), 2009. Thematic Set: The Sustainability of Southern African Savannas: Threats and Opportunities. Environmental Science & Policy. 12(1), pp. 1-102.

Capacity Development

Science–policy

Outreach

Complex and interconnected global problems are challenging current ways of doing research. It is likely that future generations of researchers will need to ask new questions, apply new methods, develop new concepts and initiate new ways of achieving interdisciplinarity. Capacity building and education has therefore been a major focus of the GECHS Project in recent years, with special focus on introducing new disciplines to the global environmental change field and on fostering interdisciplinary research.

There has been much interaction between GECHS science and policy in 2009, particular on the climate change issue. Human security is increasingly being brought forward by politicians as an important component in any solution to the climate change challenge.

The GECHS IPO has increasingly been working with the art community and other new disciplines in addressing the challenges of understanding and communicating global environmental change.

Key Events 22-24 June 2009 Oslo, Norway

9-13 March 2009 Copenhagen, Denmark

26-30 April 2009 Bonn, Germany

23-26 March 2009 Oslo, Norway

GECHS Synthesis Conference “Human Security in an Era of Global Change” at the University of Oslo

GECHS Sessions at the Copenhagen Science Congress “Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions”

GECHS organised ten sessions at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009, contributing towards its synthesis process.

IPCC Scoping Meeting for the Special Report on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation”.

Highlights GECHS Synthesis

IHDP Open Meeting

Conference

GECHS organised ten sessions at the 7th Open Meeting in Bonn, including a high profile plenary session on “Human Security”, and a special session on “Sustainable Adaptation” (a follow up to the International Human Dimensions Workshop organised by GECHS in New Delhi in October 2008).

During the Open Meeting, the GECHS IPO further hosted a reception for the wider GECHS community.

The GECHS Synthesis Conference brought together more than 150 participants from more than 30 countries. The conference hosted, in total, 28 parallel, plenary, and round table sessions, with 94 presentations further given. Special sessions encouraged science– policy interaction, and a young researcher’s category supported capacity development.

AAG Meridian Book Award

Film and Book project “THe Decade That Matters”

The book “Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures”, written

by GECHS Associate Robin Leichenko and GECHS Chair Karen O’Brien, was selected to receive the 2008 AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography.

The book explores the connections between two of the most transformative processes of the twenty-first century, namely global environmental change and globalisation.

In exploring new channels of communication, this project seeks to present environmental change from the perspective of possibilities. Showing how pressing environmental challenges are linked to human security, the project highlights some of the many initiatives that are underway across the globe to avoid dangerous environmental change, reduce vulnerability, and promote real human security.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

GECHS Sessions at the

39

2010 Research Question

Keywords

How can we better measure, model and understand the coupled human–environmental system, manage it to cope with global change, and develop sustainable pathways for the future?

• Land-change Science

International Project Office Hosted by the University

IHDP Annual Report 2009

of Copenhagen Geocenter Copenhagen Øster Voldgade 10 DK-1350 Copenhagen Denmark www.globallandproject.org Executive Officer Tobias Langanke

40

tla@geo.ku.dk

The Land System, including freshwater, is the critical land component within the Earth System. Both terrestrial and aquatic land ecosystems provide a multiplicity of ecosystem services, such as clean water, air, and flood control. Profound changes in land systems, including intensification and diversification of land use and advances in technology, have led to rapid changes in biogeochemical cycles, hydrological processes, and landscape dynamics.

The Global Land Project, established in 2006, aims at improving the understanding and modelling of the effects of human actions on natural processes of the terrestrial biosphere.

Changes in land use and management affect the states, properties,

• Land Cover Change • Sustainability Science • Land Use Modelling • Coupled Human Environmental Systems

GLP

and functions of ecosystems, which in turn, influence the provision of ecosystem services, and ultimately, affect human well-being.

GLP also looks at peoples responses to changes in ecosystem service provision, including the role of institutions and governance for the sustainability of land systems. Ultimately, progress towards land sustainability depends on the identification of the character and dynamics of both vulnerable and resilient coupled human–environment systems to hazards and disturbances.

Photo: UN Photo/Martine Perret

Global Land Project

• Land Use Change

Policy Implications of GLP Research Recognise Complexity

Modelling Land Systems

Ecosystem Services

Land use and land management policies must recognise the complex nature of human–environment systems. They must recognise the need for multi-level (spatial and temporal) information synthesis to understand the processes of change and tradeoffs involved.

Modelling and scenario exercises for land systems can generate important information and the visualisation of policy outcomes on a number of spatial scales.

Current research on Ecosystem Services (ES) (including their valuation) in Land Change Science is highly relevant for any policy with potential implications for ES, particularly if tradeoffs across different ES and scales are considered.

GLP’s scientific activities in 2009 consisted of a series of workshops, organised and co-organised both by the IPO and GLP’s Nodal Offices.

Topics ranged from a continuation of the Aberdeen Nodal Office workshop series on modelling issues to specific issues in land-change science (e.g. global vegetation productivity dynamics in drylands and changes in tropical shifting cultivation agriculture). In addition, GLP contributed to two large international Conferences (IHDP OM and Copenhagen’s Climate Conference), both having GLP sessions and individual contributions.

As part of GLP’s strategy to get more involved in research funding and work towards “GLP products”, 2009 saw the initiation of a major European research proposal, as well as a partnership within an NSF CDI proposal. Scientific outcomes from

Publications 2009 activities and outcomes of earlier activities were captured in special issues as seen to the right. Published outcomes included those from the LaSys Conference (Land System Science - Handling Complex Series of Natural and Socio-Economic Processes); Aberdeen nodal office workshop (The Design of Integrative Models of Natural and Social Systems in Land Change Science); international seminars (Globalization and the Local Landscape; Multidisciplinary Reflections on Contemporary Challenges). Outcomes of GLP workshops on ‘Vegetation Productivity in Drylands’ and ‘Forest-Agriculture Frontiers’, are soon to be published.

The 25 co-authors of the Special Feature on Land Change Science, published in 2007 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, received the 2009 Sustainability Science Award of the Ecological Society of America.

Land Use and Ecosystems

Integrated Modelling of Natural and Social Systems in Land Change Science

Globalization and the Local Landscape

Special Issue: Integrated modelling of natural and social systems in land change science. Guest edited by E.Milne, R. Aspinall and T. Veldkamp. 2009. Landscape Ecology Volume 24, Number 9, November 2009. Pages 1145-1270.

Special feature on “Land Use and Ecosystems” in Sustainability Science (Sustainability Science, Volume 5, Number 1, January 2010).

Edited by Ademola Braimoh from the GLP Sapporo Nodal Office

Land System Science – Handling Complex Series of Natural and Socio-Economic Processes Journal of Land Use Science, Volume 4 Issue 1 & 2 2009 with the topic: “Land System Science – Handling Complex Series of Natural and Socio-Economic Processes”

Special Issue of Danish Journal of Geography: Reenberg, A. and Primdahl, J., 2009. Globalization and the local landscape. Editorial to special issue, Danish Journal of Geography, Vol.109 (2)

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Scientific Highlights

41

Capacity Development

Science‒Policy

Outreach

In addition to co-organising one PhD course and one summer school in 2009, GLP usually funds a small amount of young/PhD and LDC researchers to attend GLP workshops. For the 2010 open science conference, GLP is currently raising additional funds (through NOAA, NASA and NSF) to enable fully funded additional participants, and seeking further indirect funding for participants from specific regions.

Through GLP participation in larger Conferences (with policy participation) some GLP research is exposed to the policy world. In addition, these results are being used at the science– policy interface through IGBP and IHDP. Individual SSC members are more strongly involved in the science–policy interface, including high level national policy influence.

GLP outreach occurs mainly through invited presentations of IPO staff, Chair, SSC members or Nodal Office staff at scientific conferences and workshops. Outreach is also achieved through frequent communication with the research community (e.g. through newsletters, email updates and web pages).

15-17 June 2009 Beijing, China & Sapporo, Japan

10-12 March 2009 Copenhagen, Denmark

26-30 April 2009 Bonn, Germany

Copenhagen Climate Conference. Anette Reenberg chaired a session on “Adapting Human Land Use to Climate Change”; John Porter cochaired a session on “Adapting Future Agricultural Production to Climate Change”.

IHDP Open Meeting in Bonn with three GLP sessions. A number of GLP network members took part in the meeting. GLP SSC members convened or co-convened four sessions: Land Use Continuity and Change: Adaptation in Coupled Human–Environment Systems; Biomass and Bioenergy Use as Drivers of Global Land System Change; Integrative Models of Human and Environmental Systems in Land Change Science; How do Culture, Beliefs, Attitudes and Traditions in Urban Societies Interact with Environmental Change?

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Key Events

42

14-20 June 2009 Sapporo, Japan

4-6 March 2009 Copenhagen, Denmark

GCOE-INeT International Summer School “Frontier of Ecosystem Ecology in Northern Forest” at Hokkaido University and North Hokkaido Experimental Forests organised by INeT, GCOE of Hokkaido University and GLP.

PhD Course: Poverty, Vulnerability and Adaptation - Rural Livelihood and Land Use Responses to Global Change.

Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with GLP.

21 Oct 2009 Hokkaido, Japan

12-14 Jan 2009 Copenhagen, Denmark

12-16 April 2009 Snowbird, Utah, USA

GLP Sapporo Nodal Office and United Nations University hosted a policy discourse on “Beyond Copenhagen: Climate, Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being” at Hokkaido University.

Workshop on “Vegetation Productivity in Drylands. Trends, Similarities, Differences, Causes & Research Gaps.” Organised, funded and hosted by the GLP IPO in Copenhagen.

GLP symposium on “Agent-based Modelling of Land Use Effects on Ecosystem Processes and Services”.

Workshop on Vulnerability and Resilience of Land Systems in Asia. Co-organised

by GLP Nodal Offices in Beijing and Sapporo, hosted at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

29-31 May 2009 Land Market Modelling Workshop.

GLP Nodal Office on Integration and Modelling, and the US NSF-sponsored SLUCE 2 Project co-sponsored this workshop on agentbased land market models.

8-9 May 2009 The IPO organises, hosts and partly funds a workshop in preparation for a land-change science FP7 proposal, Collaborative Project (large scale integrating project) VOLANTE (Visions of Land Use Transitions in Europe).

2-3 Nov 2009 Vientiane, Laos GLP workshop, on “Forest-Agriculture Frontiers: Impacts of Land Use Transitions on Livelihoods and Environment in the Humid Tropics”.

2010 Research Question

Keywords

How can the potential of the ‘sustainability experiments’ be fostered to transform unsustainable Asian systems of provision?

• Sustainability Transition • System Innovation • Socio–technical System • Asia • Sustainability Experiment • Sustainable Development • Socio–ecological Transformation • Environmental Governance • Industrialisation

International Project Office Institute of Environmental Studies Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

De Boelelaan 1087 1081 HV Amsterdam Netherlands www.ihdp-it.org Executive Officer Anna J. Wieczorek anna.wieczorek@ivm.vu.nl

Industrial Transformation (IHDPIT) research starts with the notion that changes in the ways in which humans use environmental resources and services, are embedded in the socio–economic realm and modify the natural environment. This covers processes and products, production and consumption, distribution and disposal activities. IHDP-IT research is also interested in the institutions and incentives that shape these systems (property, liability, regulations), and how these influence social actors (government, producers, and consumers). In thinking about how these systems might change, IHDP-IT is concerned with the interaction of innovation by economic and social actors with processes of change at

IHDP-IT

a higher level in socio–technical systems that provide human needs for energy, mobility or food. Next to identifying alternatives, IHDP-IT seeks to understand how broad-scale change in systems that are relevant for global environment may occur and can be influenced over the longer term.

The transformative changes occurring in Asia pose a significant challenge for IHDP-IT research. In particular, a great variety of ‘sustainability experiments’ defined as planned initiatives to embody a highly-novel socio–technical configuration likely to lead to substantial sustainability gains, holds a promise for change and for creating a new, less environmentally burdensome course of industrialisation and urbanization.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Industrial Transformation

43

Policy Implications of IHDP-IT Research Dynamics of Change

Supporting Sustainable innovation

Attention to Local innovation

Understanding the dynamics of change, its drivers and socio–cultural and historical context, is critical to identifying strategies and policies that would stimulate the occurrence of alternative and more sustainable development pathways.

The system innovation approaches and conceptual frameworks appear to function as bridging concepts for academics, policymakers and practitioners and they are well equipped to support sustainable innovation policies.

Initiating sustainability transition means acting against hard path dependency and requires more systematic attention to local innovations.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Scientific Highlights

44

To analyse the transformative potential of local initiatives - they first need to be documented, classified and systematically analysed from a transition perspective. There is not much data on the type, size and impact of the various, often externally funded, local initiatives.

Further, there are no specific criteria developed by which experiments can be classified either. A reoccurring problem that needs to be addressed systematically is how successful experiments can be upscaled and, more generally, how their impact on prevailing socio–technical regimes can be increased. Finally, a relevant dimension in the study of sustainability experiments is the large variation in the governance structures in Asian countries and the way they limit or increase opportunities for governing sustainability experiments.

In 2009, IHDP-IT (with support of the APN) initiated preparatory

Selected Publications research on: i) giving ground for the development of a conceptual framework for inventorising, classifying and analysing sustainability experiments in the context of industrialised countries, (ii) advancing a research strategy for identifying opportunities for and barriers to successful sustainability experiments, and (iii) identifying appropriate governance strategies to support the processes involved in the upscaling of experiments and increasing their impact.

Asian Development Pathways and Sustainable Socio–technical Regimes F. Berkhout, Angel, D., Wieczorek A.J. (2009). Asian Development Pathways and Sustainable Socio– technical regimes, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol 76(2)

Enabling Sustainability Transitions in Asia: The Importance of Vertical and Horizontal Linkages X. Bai, Wieczorek A.J.,Kaneko S., Lisson S., Contreras A. (2009).

Enabling Sustainability Transitions in Asia: The Importance of Vertical and Horizontal Linkages, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol 76(2)

Environmental Rationalities and the Development State in East Asia: Prospects for a Sustainability Transition D. Angel, Rock, M. (2009).

Environmental Rationalities and the Development State in East Asia: Prospects for a Sustainability Transition, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol 76(2)

Socio–metabolic Transitions in Developing Asia H. Schandl, M. Fischer-Kowalski, C. Grunbuhel, F. Krausmann (2009). Socio–metabolic Transitions in Developing Asia, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol 76(2).

A Hard Slog, not a Leapfrog: Globalisation and Sustainability Transitions in Developing Asia M. Rock, J. T. Murphy, R. Rasiah, P. van Seters, S. Managi (2009).

A Hard Slog, not a Leapfrog: Globalisation and Sustainability Transitions in Developing Asia, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol 76(2).

Cities in Evolution: Urbanization, Environmental Change, and Sustainability Bai XM, Graedel T, Morishima A. (eds). 2009. Cities in Evolution: Urbanization, Environmental Change, and Sustainability.

Cambridge University Press. To be published in 2009.

Science‒Policy

Outreach

The preparatory research on the role of local initiatives in inducing sustainability transitions in Asia, initiated with support of the APN, has a strong science–policy component.

Policymakers, as well as practitioners, have been involved at the stage of formulating research questions and designing research strategy. In particular, they participated in a workshop co-funded by the APN, IT, Eindhoven University of Technology, USER Chiang Mai and Jadavpur University, which was a preparatory step for setting up a broader research programme on sustainability experiments, where policy constitutes a substantial part.

As IHDP-IT is in its synthesis stage, its outreach activities are geared towards sharing its results, and looking forward to the next steps.

The first is finalisation of a special issue of Environmental Science and Policy Journal incl. several peer reviewed contributions discussed at an international workshop on sustainability experiments that took place in Chiang Mai in Jan 2008.

The second is organisation of a coupled, synthesis–looking forward IHDP-IT APN conference on “Experiments, System Innovation and Sustainability Transitions in Asia” to take place on 15-17 July, 2010, in Chiang Mai. Thirdly - fundrais-

ing for an international research programme on governance and the role of sustainability experiments in Asian transitions.

Key Events 28 April 2009; Bonn, Germany

Parallel Session

IT Synthesis Meeting, IHDP Open Meeting 2009

IHDP Open Meeting 2009

As compared to a decade ago - when the IHDP-IT Project was initiated - the urgency of GEC is becoming increasingly painful. The changes cause higher levels of disruption and growing restlessness among various social groups and individuals. The urgency also reveals a sort of a crisis because of the difficulty of meeting set goals. The difficulty of the situation may be amplified in the next years because of the

A parallel session on sustainability transitions and transition management with contributions from the students who participated in the IHDW on ‘Transitions toward Sustainability through System Innovations’ – a training workshop organised

by IT. This parallel session included presentations of two IHDW students showing the outcomes of some of the workshop working sessions.

4-6 June, 2009; Amsterdam, Netherlands

Transitions

The conference, co-organised by IT, established a new Sustainability Transition European Research Network (STERN).

It further brought together a rapidly growing community of researchers and practitioners interested in broad societal transitions towards sustainability.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Photo: Radiospike

Conference on Sustainability

ongoing financial crisis. Some argue that because of that, the incentives and commitments to strong environmental (and social) actions may significantly weaken. These provocative statements initiated an open debate on the prospects for sustainability transition and its origins. By this, IHDP-IT received great comments and opinions from the GEC community on its major research findings.

45

Insight from 2009

2010 Research

Keywords

Question • Coastal Zone Management

What are the determining factors of vulnerability and resilience of coastal social–ecological systems and how can they adequately adapt to global environmental change processes?

• Social–ecological Systems Assessment • Governance in Coastal Areas • Deltas at Risk • Harmful Algal Blooms • Arctic Change • Vulnerability and Adaptation of Coastal Systems

Land–Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone

International Project Office

IHDP Annual Report 2009

GKSS Research Center Institute for Coastal Research Max-Planck-Strasse 1 D-21502 Geeshacht, Germany www.loicz.org T: +49-(0)4152/87-2009 Executive Officer Dr. Hartwig Kremer

46

hartwig.kremer@loicz.org

Since 1993, the IGBP Land–Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) Project has studied Earth’s heterogeneous, relatively small but highly productive, dynamic and sensitive coastal zone. During its first decade of research, LOICZ focused on the measurement of biogeochemical fluctuations into, and within, the coastal zone. Now in its fourth year as a joint IGBP/IHDP core project, LOICZ has evolved into an interdisciplinary collaborative effort of several hundred coastal zone scientists and managers within a wide spectrum of Earth System Sciences, from biochemical and geophysical to social and economic dimensions.

With its primary objective “to provide the knowledge, understand-

LOICZ

ing and prediction needed to allow coastal communities to assess, anticipate and respond to the interaction of global and local pressures which determine coastal change”, LOICZ is an important promoter of interdisciplinary coastal zone research around the globe. Aiming to overcome traditional disciplinary fragmentation, particularly between the natural and social sciences, LOICZ organises the biochemical, geophysical and human dimensions of coastal change around five Scientific Themes, three Priority Topics, and several Cross-Cutting Activities.

Photo: UN Photo/Mark Garten

River deltas are sinking from human activity, making them increasingly vulnerable to flooding from rivers and ocean storms and putting tens of millions of people at high risk.

SOCIAL–ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS Hotspots

Coastal Governance

Vulnerability and Adaptation

Coastal Zones are “Society’s Edge”, accommodating almost half of the world’s population and providing more than half of the global ecosystem goods and services. Hot spots of global concern comprise megacities, islands, river-mouth systems and rapidly changing regions, such as the Arctic. A key question is: What are the impacts, trends, thresholds, tipping points and responses in coastal social– ecological systems?

Governance addresses the policies, laws and institutions by which issues are addressed and questions the fundamental goals, the institutional processes and the structures that are the basis for planning and decision-making. It is relevant to determine these changes and work together with stakeholders and practitioners on practical actions to deal with these changes. A key question is: What institutional and behavioural changes can best ensure sustainability in coastal zones?

Coastal social–ecological systems face a variety of global, regional and local pressures, most of them operating across political boundaries and spatial–temporal scales.

Assessing the vulnerability and resilience of systems is crucial since society needs to be informed about the role that mitigation and adaptation play in coping with current and future change. A key question is: What is the degree to which a system is unable to avoid the undesirable consequences of changes and the system’s ability to change?

Selected Publications

Scientific Highlights Several significant workshops were held throughout 2009 that provided substantive contributions to LOICZ research objectives. Workshops of particular importance include the annual LOICZ cross-cutting workshop “Lagoons”, which included sessions on nutrient budgets, sea level rise, residence time estimation, and the DPSIR framework (Rabat, May 2009); a Dahlem-Type workshop “Global Environmental Change in the Coastal Zone: A Socio–Ecological Integration”, which concluded that innovation and good governance are critical to addressing the “global, coastal syndrome” (Oslo, June 2009); the SCOR/ LOICZ Working Group 132 workshop “Land-based Nutrient Pollution and the Relationship to Harmful Algal

Blooms in Coastal Marine Systems” (Beijing, Oct 2009); the UNITARLOICZ workshop “Toward a Healthy Coastal Zone - Environmental Monitoring Techniques and Effective Science Communication” (Yantai, Nov 2009); and LOICZ’s international workshop “Deltas: Coastal Vulnerability and Management” (Chennai, Dec 2009).

Both the establishment of a Coastal Ecosystem Governance (CEG) certification programme for coastal practitioners (as part of LOICZ efforts to link governance and science in coastal systems) and provision of contributions to the conference “Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change” (Amsterdam) completed what was a productive year for the project.

Science–Policy–Practice Interface Weichselgartner, J. & Kasperson, R., Barriers in the science– policy–practice interface: Toward a knowledge-action-system in global environmental change research. Global Environmental Change (2009), doi:10.1016/j. gloenvcha.2009.11.006

Coastal Research and Policy Integration in Northwest Europe Cooper, J.A.G. & Cummins, V. (2009): Coastal Research and Policy Integration in Northwest Europe: The COREPOINT Project. Marine Policy 33 (6): 869-870.

Future of Coastal Areas Sinking Deltas due to Human Activities Syvitski, J.P.M.; Kettner, A.; Overeem, J.I.; Hutton, E.W.H.; Hannon, M.T.; Brakenridge, R.G.; Day, J.; Vörösmarty, C; Saito, Y.; Giosan, L. & Nicholls, R.J. (2009): Sinking Deltas due to Human Activities.

Nature Geoscience (2): 681-686.

Historical Records of Coastal Eutrophication and Hypoxia Gooday, A.J.; Jorissen, F.; Levin, L.A.; Middelburg, J.J.; Naqvi, W.; Rabalais, N.N.; Scranton, M. & Zhang, J. (2009): Historical Records of Coastal Eutrophication and Hypoxia. Biogeosciences (6): 1707-1745.

Glaeser B.; Kannen, A. & Kremer, H. (2009): Introduction: The Future of Coastal Areas: Challenges for Planning Practice and Research. GAIA 18 (2): 145-149.

Harmonizing Catchment and Estuary Chen, Z.; Yanagi, T. & Wolanski, E. (eds.) (2009): EMECS8: Harmonizing Catchment and Estuary.

Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science (special issue)

Coastal Wetlands Perillo, G.M.E.; Wolanski, E.; Cahoon, D. & Brinson, M. (2009): Coastal Wetlands: An Integrated Ecosystem Approach. Elsevier, Amsterdam.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Compiled by Dr. Juergen Weichselgartner, Senior Science Coordinator and Dr. Hartwig Kremer, Chief Executive Officer

Policy Implications of LOICZ Research

47

Capacity Development

Science‒Policy

Outreach

LOICZ supported, hosted and provided numerous training and workshop activities throughout 2009. These capacity development initiatives included the teaching of several LOICZ SSC Members and International Project Office (IPO) staff in ERASMUS Mundus Master Programmes, with six of these masters’ students and three interns further hosted and advised by the IPO in Geesthacht, Germany. The project also supported student workshops, summer schools and field trips in Indonesia, and hosted its workshop “Biogeochemical Assessment and Modelling in Muddy Systems” in Chenai, India. Further support was provided for the training course “Ocean Color”; IOC/UNDP training seminar “Tsunami Risk Assessment and Mitigation for Indian Ocean Countries”; and EAS Congress and Youth Forum “Partnerships at Work: Local Implementation and Good Practices” (Manila, Nov 2009).

LOICZ gave considerable time and effort to various representative, training and workshop events having important policy and decision making implications. Some of these include hosting sessions (Responding to Coastal and Marine Change: Comparative Assessment of Coastal Governance Initiatives) at IHDP’s Open Meeting “Social Challenges of Global Change”; supporting both the UNESCO-IOC/UNDP Regional workshop “Tsunami Risk Assessment and Mitigation for Indian Ocean Countries” and APN workshop “Integrated Vulnerability Assessment of Coastal Areas in the Southeast Asia and East Asian Region”; hosting their Regional workshop “Arctic Coastal Governance”; and attending two expert groups on the implementation of the Marine Strategy Directive in the North Sea, and the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Transitional Waters.

Although the project has numerous online facilities, many opportunities for further outreach during 2009 included direct public and academic interactions. In addition, innovative ideas were used, such as the cruise liner public lectures on Climate and Global Change Impacts on Regional and Global Coasts. Further highlights include lectures at Hamburg University’s Institute of Geography on Arctic, Baltic and Black Sea Coastal Social–Ecological Systems and Global Change; poster stations at the GKSS Open Day; an exhibition “Coastal and Marine Environment” for school children and the general public; and Potential Fishing Zone Information Dissemination: provided weekly to marine fishing communities as a part of the Indian National Coastal Ocean Information System (INCOIS), Government of India, and LOICZ Regional Node South Asia.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Key Events

48

May 2009 Rabat, Morocco

June 2009 Oslo, Norway

Oct 2009 Beijing, China

Nov 2009 Yantai, China

Dec 2009 Chennai, India

Annual LOICZ CrossCutting Workshop “Lagoons”

LOICZ Dahlem-Type Workshop “Global Environmental Change in the Coastal Zone: A Socio–Ecological Integration”

SCOR/LOICZ Work Group 132 Workshop “Land-based Nutrient Pollution and the Relationship to Harmful Algal Blooms in Coastal Marine Systems”

UNITAR-LOICZ Workshop “Toward a Healthy Coastal Zone - Based on Environmental Monitoring Techniques and Effective Science ommunication”

LOICZ International Workshop “Deltas: Coastal Vulnerability and Management”

Dec 2009 Amsterdam, Netherlands Contribution to the Conference “Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change”

Insight from 2009

2010 Research

Keywords

Question • Urban Growth Modelling

What are alternatives and perspectives concerning an agenda for sustainability and how can that agenda include a broader conceptualisation that explicitly includes urban areas and urbanization processes?

• Mitigation and Adaptation in Cities • Climate Change Resilience • Urban Vulnerability • Urban Coastal Zones • Urban Governance • Urban Sustainability • Urban Livelihoods

URbanization & GLobal Environmental Change

International Project Office Arizona State University

Photo: UN Photo/Martine Perret

P.O. Box 873211 Tempe, AZ 85287-3211, USA T:+1 480 727 7833 www.ugec.org Executive Officer Michail Fragkias Michail.Fragkias@asu.edu

Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. It is clear that the development of urban areas holds the key to many of the challenges faced in interactions with environmental change, raising issues that have not received adequate attention thus far. The IHDP Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) Project seeks to provide a better understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between global environmental change (GEC) and urbanization at the local, regional, and global scales through an innovative conceptual and methodological framework. An important feature of this core project is the explicit commitment to translating abstract knowledge about GEC into local

UGEC

decision making contexts. Having entered into it second phase of a tenyear cycle, an essential focus has been placed on building and expanding the network of scholars and researchers; strengthening the UGEC community; and creating a greater sense of identity. In order to capture the benefits of urbanization and mitigate, as well as adapt to, negative environmental and socio–economic impacts, a strong coordination and collaboration is needed among those working on urban and environmental issues.

The project is expected to provide a platform for this kind of interaction and targets a stronger coordination and collaboration between this community of academics, practitioners, and political decision makers.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Humanity’s response to climate change must occur concurrently at multiple scales; in particular, the centrality of urban areas in finding solutions to the combined demographic, economic and environmental challenges we will face in this century due to climate change is now undeniable.

49

Policy Implications of UGEC Research Necessity of Complex Solutions

Cities as Sustainability HotSpots

The Way We Urbanize

Urbanization is a dominant trend in humanity’s future but presents challenges in understanding and guiding its multiple dimensions. Our understanding of urbanization is increasingly complex, but our solutions have been one-dimensional.

Many GEC issues manifest themselves in urban areas and we need a more comprehensive view of urbanization in order to develop sustainable solutions. Multidisciplinary knowledge and multisectoral coordination is needed to frame urbanization within the context of GEC.

Urban areas have been viewed as environmental ills, but can be hotspots for sustainability transitions. Evidence reveals that urbanization inspires innovation and productivity as well as energy and infrastructure savings, which can lead to sustainability solutions. Understanding how and why urban areas are moving towards sustainability is essential. This can occur through information sharing between academics, practitioners, NGOs, local governments and greater attention to translating new knowledge into policymaking.

The way the scale, form, and rate of urbanization takes place will make a significant impact on sustainability. But cities are also not just about the physical and built environment, but about institutions, governance, and social processes.

We need to view cities as more comprehensive, complex systems. While higher levels of urbanization are inevitable, the way we urbanize will be critical for sustainability. There is a need to go beyond green plans and green buildings - there is no silver bullet to urban issues.

ing the Copenhagen Climate Change Congress - hosting the only session on urbanization on the theme of urban adaptation to climate change. UGEC collaborated with other institutions and participated in their international workshops (such as UCCRN and START), sponsoring, advising and co-organizing events. Our participation in the START/East-West Center ‘Cities at Risk’ workshop, held in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to regionspecific research and strengthened the UGEC Asian network. Other than the growth of its network of associates and endorsed project, UGEC has struck many new exciting partnerships, such as the ones with the Australian RMIT Global Cities Research Institute and

UN-ECLAC. Furthermore, UGEC SSC members and project associates were actively involved at the World Bank’s 5th Urban Research Symposium in Marseille (June, 2009), focusing on the theme of Cities and Climate Change. Similarly, through the GECHS Synthesis Conference in Oslo, Norway, we created new spaces for joint exploration of urbanization and human security research. A partnership with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, UGEC affiliates co-authored an innovative interdisciplinary comparative cross-city research report on adapting cities to climate change and are now preparing a special issue for the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Scientific Highlights

50

As interest in UGEC research has grown, the project has expanded its network and provided international collaboration and dissemination opportunities. UGEC’s first highly visible synthesis activities took place during the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 through parallel and special sessions, highlighting the importance of urban areas for the human dimensions of global environmental change; these events included co-organisers and participants from the wider UGEC network but also partners such as the ASU 100 Cities Project, the UNU Sustainable Urban Futures Programme, the IHDP GECHS Project, and the IGBP/IHDP GLP Project. On the theme of cities and climate change in particular, dur-

Capacity Development

Science–Policy

Outreach

The project is continuously developing a broader diversity of scientific expertise in various disciplines and sub-disciplines and practical expertise (practitioners and decision-makers).

In the past year we have formed new relationships with related initiatives and organisations and have expanded by two new project associates and four new UGEC endorsed projects.

UGEC Associates are researchers and practitioners who define and shape the project and actively participate in, propose, or lead UGEC activities. UGEC also seeks out applications from research groups, young researchers, institutions and agencies worldwide to join the community through endorsement. These projects are integrated into the respective UGEC Regional Network’s portfolio of activities, as well as publication and outreach initiatives.

The UGEC Project conducts a variety of synthesis activities including publications, workshops and conferences, which bring together policymakers, practitioners, urban planners, and other professionals from appropriate fields. These activities, geared towards interdisciplinary research and exploration, are imperative for furthering the interface between policymakers and researchers, and bridging the gap between science and policy. Highlight activities include: a session on adapting urban areas to climate change during the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) conference (March, 2009); and a session on the state-of-the-art systems in urban growth forecasting and their utility for practitioners, planners, policymakers, conservation agencies and other stakeholders during the IHDP Open Meeting (April, 2009).

We offer communication tools such as listservs, an electronic newsletter, and a website (www.ugec.org), to alert researchers to funding opportunities and other benefits of joining the network. The project’s e-newsletter was established in February 2007 and has been circulating bimonthly since. Such tools alert scholars and practitioners to various opportunities, which include being able to present the results of their research. These tools will also promote the goal of a dynamic IPO that seeks to ensure the flow of information among the UGEC SSC, the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and its core projects, and the wider GEC research community.

Urban Land Markets, Housing Development and Spatial Planning in SubSaharan Africa: A Case of Uganda

Building Safer Communities. Risk Governance, Spatial Planning and Responses to Natural Hazards

Learning to Adapt to Climate Change in Urban Areas

Shuaib Lwasa, Urban Land Markets, Housing Development and Spatial Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case of Uganda, (2009).

Bibliography: ISBN: 978-1-60741370-7 Nova Science Publishers

Urbano Fra Paleo (ed.) 2009, Building Safer Communities. Risk Governance, Spatial Planning and Responses to Natural Hazards, NATO Science for Peace and Security Series - E: Human and Societal Dynamics, Volume 58, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60750-046-9, IOS Press

Megastädte von morgen: Laboratorien der Zukunft?

Kraas, F., H. Sterly (2009): Megastädte von morgen: Laboratorien der Zukunft? Politische Ökologie 114: 50-52.

Global Urban Landuse Trends and Climate Impacts Seto K.C. & Shepherd J.M. (2009).

Global urban land-use trends and climate impacts. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 1(1), 89-95.

Evolving Rank-size Distributions of Intra-Metropolitan Urban Clusters in South China Fragkias, M., Seto, K.C. (2009).

Evolving rank-size distributions of intra-metropolitan urban clusters in South China. Computers Environment and Urban Systems, 33(3), 189-199. doi: 10.1016/j. compenvurbsys.2008.08.005

Sanchez Rodriguez R. (2009).

Learning to Adapt to Climate Change in Urban Areas. A Review of Recent Contributions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 1(2), 201–206. DOI 10.1016/j.cosust.2009.10.005

Disaster Risk Reduction: Cases from Urban Africa Pelling, M and Wisner, B (2009) Disaster Risk Reduction: cases from urban Africa, Earthscan, London

Sprawl in Taipei’s Peri-Urban Zone: Responses to Spatial Planning and Implications for Adapting Global Environmental Change Huang, S.-L. (2009). Sprawl in Taipei’s Peri-Urban Zone: Responses to Spatial Planning and Implications for Adapting Global Environmental Change.

Landscape and Urban Planning, 90(1-2), 20-32. doi: 10.1016/j. landurbplan.2008.10.010

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Publications

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ESSP Joint Projects

52

DIversitas An International Programme of Biodiversity Science IGBP International Geo–Biosphere Programme IHDP International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change

Global Carbon Project GCP Measuring, modelling and understanding the coupled human–environment system

WCRP World Climate Research Programme

Photo: Global Carbon Project/Michael Ryan

IHDP Annual Report 2009

ESSP Partners

The ESSP joint projects not only distil pertinent process-related research and knowledge from IHDP projects (and others), but also undertake research at global, regional and local scales that integrates knowledge into actionoriented products. They further cross the boundaries of social and natural sciences. The ESSP joint projects offer a genuine home base for the new type of interdisciplinary (and transdisciplinary) researcher, who is so urgently needed to tackle today’s environmental sustainability challenges.

Contact Earth System Science Partnership Headquarters

GLobal Environmental Change & Human Health GECHH

Improving food security in the face of global environmental change

Towards global human health and wellbeing in a changing environment

Global Water Systems PRoject GWSP

MNHN, 57 rue Cuvier - CP 41

Studying humans’ impact on the global water cycle and options for sustainable water management

T: +33 1 4079 8042

75231 Paris Cedex 05 France

F: +33 1 4079 8045 www.essp.org Coordinator: Martin Rice mrice@essp.org IHDP Annual Report 2009

Photos: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe, UN Photo/Martine Perret, UN Photo/Logan Abassi

c/o DIVERSITAS

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE & FOOD SYSTEMS GECAFS

53

Insight from 2009

2010 Research Question

Keywords

The current fossil fuel emission trajectory is tracking, if not surpassing, the most carbon intense IPCC scenarios.

What is the magnitude of carbon mitigation necessary to stabilise global temperature under 2 degrees centigrade?

• Carbon Cycle • Processes and Feedbacks • Carbon Budget • Carbon Management

Global Carbon Project

54

Canberra, Australia

Tsukuba, Japan

CSIRO Earth Observation Centre

Centre for Global Environ-

GPO Box 3023

ment Research, NIES

Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

16-2 Onagawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 Japan

T:+61 26246 5631 www.globalcarbonproject.org

T:+81 298 50 2672

Executive Officer

Executive Officer

Pep Canadell

Shobhakar Dhakal

pep.canadell@csiro.au

shobhakar.dhakal@nies.go.jp

The ESSP joint Global Carbon Project (GCP) integrates atmospheric, oceanic, terrestrial and human dimension components of the carbon–climate–human system. The project aims to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle, including both its biophysical and human dimensions (including interactions and feedbacks). The project is well underway with a range of scientific activities.

Some of the very active research tasks of GCP are on the Global Carbon Budget; carbon source-sink

mechanisms; vulnerability of carbon pools; and Urban and Regional Carbon Management (URCM). A greater emphasis is being placed on issues pertaining to carbon management, including an understanding of the possible unintended consequences of mitigation actions. GCP is in the process of developing a revised research agenda beyond its ten year cycle and a new affiliated office in Korea University will be established by summer 2010.

Photo: Global Carbon Project/Michael Ryan

IHDP Annual Report 2009

International Project OfficeS

GCP

Policy Implications of GCP Research Inefficient Natural Sinks

Emissions Trajectory

FInancial Crisis & Carbon

Fossil Fuel & Land Use

The efficiency of natural sinks to remove carbon dioxide is declining.

The current fossil fuel emission trajectory is tracking if not surpassing the most carbon intense IPCC scenarios.

The growth in CO2 emissions for 2009 will decline by 2.8% due to the financial crisis but will begin its recovery in 2010.

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuel and land use were 8.7 PgC and 1.2 PgC respectively in 2008, of which 55% was absorbed by natural (land and ocean) CO2 sinks.

For more information see: Le Quéré C, Raupach MR, Canadell JG, Marland G et al. (2009) Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide. Nature Geoscience, doi: 10.1038/ngeo689.

Scientific Highlights

Highlights

The single largest added value of the GCP is the integration of multiple components of the carbon cycle into a coherent and consistent picture, including the natural (e.g. carbon sources and sinks of the natural carbon cycle) and human components (e.g. population, economic growth, carbon intensity of the economy, mitigation strategies). This integration is implemented at the global and regional scales, including urban regions, to understand i) the drivers of atmospheric CO2 accumulation, ii) the magnitude of the carbon– climate feedback, and iii) points of intervention in managing future carbon trajectories which requires an integration of mitigation strategies and the dynamics of the natural environment.

Major scientific findings resulted from the new analyses of recent trends in the global carbon cycle.

Global Carbon

Synthesis

Budget

Products

The annual release of Global Carbon Budget (1958-2008)

by GCP in November 2009 was very well received by scientific and policy communities, as well as the international media.

• Special issue in Energy Policy Journal on Cities and Carbon Emissions (to be published).

• RECCAP syntheses activities are progressing.

• Special issue in Journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (in preparation).

• New global assessment on the size and distribution of the permafrost carboon pool.

• The role of methane hydrates in climate change and energy provision.

International Attention

GCP’s work, both on global urban carbon estimations and in countries such as China, has created widespread international attention for the project.

Key Events 8-11 Jan 2009 Khon Kaen, Thailand

17-18 Feb 2009 Nagoya, Japan

Monsoon Asia Tropical Forest Carbon Dynamics and Sustainability. Contact: Alfredo Huete

Towards Low Carbon Cities: Understanding and Analysing Urban Energy and Carbon – International Workshop. Contact: Shobhakar Dhakal

27-29 Jan 2009 Santa Barbara, USA Full Radiative Forcing of Forests. Contact: Jim Randerson, Rob Jackson, Pep Canadell

16 Feb 2009 Nagoya, Japan Realising Low Carbon Cities: Bridging Science and Policy – International Symposium. Contact: Shobhakar Dhakal

13-16 Oct 2009 Cape Town, South Africa Biodiversity and Carbon Symposium.

Contact: Guy Midgley and Pep Canadell

16 Nov 2009 Tokyo, Japan Cities and Carbon Management: Towards Enhancing Science–Policy Linkages. Contact: Dr Shobhakar Dhakal and Professor Keisuke Hanaki

IHDP Annual Report 2009

For more information see: Canadell JG, Le Quéré C, Raupach MR, Field CB, Buitenhuis ET, Ciais P, Conway TJ, Gillett NP, Houghton RA, Marland G (2007) Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 18866–18870, doi_10.1073_pnas.0702737104

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Capacity Development

Science–Policy and Outreach

GCP has been contributing to capacity development by inviting researchers (student and post-doc) from developed and developing countries, to present and interact in its meetings, workshops and symposiums. Close communications with the START network has also been kept intact.

A joint proposal for running a week long capacity building workshop for researchers from developing countries in Tokyo in 2010 has been developed with IHDP’s Earth System Governance Project, which seems to have good prospects for funding by APN in 2010. Further, GCP contributes to capacity building activities developed by other partner programmes and sponsors on a when-it-happens basis.

GCP’s annual Global Carbon Budget 2008 has become a regular source of relevant data to current discussions on the size of human perturbations and the magnitude of climate change. The data is often quoted by policy makers, governments and UN processes, including the recent UNFCCC COP-15. On two occasions, GCP has published a Policy Brief with UNESCO, UNEP and SCOPE, which is delivered to many UN events and is a key tool in its outreach to the policy community.

In addition, GCP contributes to the Newsletter and Bulletins of the sponsors, hosts of GCP offices and other partner programmes regularly (such as IGBP, CCGER/NIES and others).

Experience with media communications, regarding carbon budgets, has shown that integrative/synthetic science products that are released and updated regularly, with a direct connection to policy processes, are in great demand and fulfil a key role for science in the policy making process.

GCP’s science policy symposiums (one in February 2009 and another in November 2009), organised on urban carbon issues, have helped to both communicate with broader stakeholders, including city governments, and share GCP future research needs.

Greenhouse Gas Emission Baselines for Global Cities and Metropolitan Regions

Gas Hydrates: Entrance to a Methane Age or Climate Threat?

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Selected Publications

56

The Human Perturbation of the Carbon Cycle

Trends in the Sources and Sinks of Carbon Dioxide

Canadell J, Cias P, Dhakal S, LeQuere C, Patwardhan A and Raupach M (2009). The Human Perturbation of the Carbon Cycle, Policy Brief, UNESCO-SCOPEUNEP, November 2009- No.10.

Corinne LQ, Raupach MR, Canadell JG, Marland G, Bopp L, Ciais P, Conway TJ, Doney SC, Feely RA, Foster P, Friedlingstein P, Gurney K, Houghton R, House JI, Huntingford C., Levy PE, Lomas MR, Majkut J., Metzl N., Ometto JP, Peters GP, Prentice C., Randerson JT, Running SW, Sarmiento JL, Schuster U, Sitch S, Takahashi T, Viovy N, van der Werf GR, Woodward FI (2009).

Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide, Nature, doi: 10.1038/ngeo689.

Current and Future CO2 Emissions from Drained Peatlands in Southeast Asia Hooijer A, Page S, Canadell JG, , Silvius M, Kwadijk J, Wösten H, Jauhiainen J (2009) Current and future CO2 emissions from drained peatlands in Southeast Asia.Biogeosciences-Discuss. 6, 7207–7230. Online access: http:// www.biogeosciences-discuss. net/6/7207/2009/ Published July 2009.

Tackling China’s Urban Carbon Emissions Dhakal, S. (2009). Tackling China’s Urban carbon Emissions, Global Change, Issue 74, Winter 2009. International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme.

Kennedy, C., Ramaswami, A., Carney, S., and Dhakal, S. (2009).

Greenhouse Gas Emission Baselines for Global Cities and Metropolitan Regions. Commissioned paper by the World Bank for the Urban Research Symposium on Cities and Climate Change, Marseille, 28-30 June 2009.

CO2 Emissions and Carbon Management in Cities Dhakal S. and Shrestha RM (edited). Special Issues in Energy Policy Journal on CO2 Emissions and Carbon Management in Cities (forthcoming in early 2010)

Urban Energy Use and Carbon Emissions from Cities in China and Policy Implications Dhakal, S. (2009). Urban energy use and carbon emissions from cities in China and policy implications, Energy Policy, 37 (2009) 4208–4219 (doi:10.1016/j. enpol.2009.05.020).

Bridging the Research Gaps for Carbon Emissions and Their Management in Cities Dhakal, S. and Shrestha RM (2009). Bridging the research gaps for carbon emissions and their management in cities.

Energy Policy, DOI 10.1016/j. enpol.2009.12.001]

Krey V, Canadell JG, Nakicenovic N, Abe N, Andruleit H, Archer D, Grubler A, Hamilton NTM, Johnson A, Kostov V, Lamarque J, Langhorne N, Nisbet EG, O’Neill B, Riahi K, Riedel M, Wang W, Yakushev V(2009) Gas Hydrates: Entrance to a Methane Age or Climate Threat? Environmental Research Letters 4: 1-6, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/3/034007

Systematic Observations of the Global Carbon Cycle Scholes RJ, Monteiro PS, Sabine C, Canadell, JG (2009) Systematic Observations of the Global Carbon Cycle. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 1098: 1-4

Energy Demand and Carbon Emissions Under Different Development Scenarios for Shanghai, China Li Li., Chen, C., Xie, S., Huang, C., Cheng, Z., Wang, H., Huang, H., Lu, J., and Dhakal, S. (2009).

Energy demand and carbon emissions under different development scenarios for Shanghai, China.

Energy Policy, doi:10.1016/j. enpol.2009.08.048

Low Carbon Transport in Asia: Strategies for Optimizing Co-benefits Zusman, Eric, Ancha Srinivasan and Shobhakar Dhakal, eds.

2010. Low Carbon Transport in Asia: Strategies for Optimizing Co-benefits, London: Earthscan.

Forthcoming in 2010.

INsight from 2009

2010 Research Question

Keywords

GECAFS coordinated a major proposal for a collaborative CGIAR/ESSP 10-year, ~US$25M/year, CGIAR Challenge Programme “Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security” (CCAFS). This will link the best climate and environmental science with the development agriculture agenda.

How to develop an integrated and disciplinary-balanced food security/GEC research agenda that will satisfy food demand while reducing environmental impact?

• Food Security

Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Centre for the Environment

Photo: UN Photo/Martine Perret

South Parks Road Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK T:+44 1865 285 175 www.gecafs.org Executive Officer John Ingram john.ingram@eci.ox.ac.uk

• Integrated Scenario Analysis • Tradeoff Analysis Interface

GECAFS

the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The interactions between food security and global environmental change (GEC) are of rapidly-increasing interest to a wide range of stakeholders including researchers, donors, policymakers and the public at large.

GECAFS hence addresses three major questions: (i) How will climate change affect the food systems that underpin the food security of an ever growing population? (ii) What combinations of technical and policy adaptation strategies would be most appropriate for different regions of the world?And (iii) What will be the environmental consequences of adapting our food systems to added stresses?

IHDP Annual Report 2009

International Project Office

• Decision Support

• Science–Policy

Global Environmental Change & Food Systems

The ESSP joint project Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) was launched in 2001 to determine strategies to cope with the impacts of GEC on food systems and to assess the environmental and socio–economic consequences of adaptive responses aimed at improving food security. In addition to setting a comprehensive, interdisciplinary GEC research agenda on the links between environment and food security, GECAFS established, from the outset, formal research partnerships with three international organisations concerned with GEC, food and agriculture: the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR); the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and

• Food Systems

57

Policy Implications of GECAFS Research FooD System vs. Food Production

Consequences for Food Security

Environmental Consequences

The full range of food system activities needs to be considered in policy making to support food security, not just the production of food.

The consequences of changes in food system activities (i.e. adaptation) need to be taken into account for food security outcomes, for example, its relation to food availability, food access and food utilisation.

Include greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental consequences from the full range of food system activities, not just from producing food.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Scientific Highlights

58

High-Level Briefing on Food Security in the Indo-Gangetic Plains February 2009: GECAFS high level Briefing on “Environmental Change and Food Security in the Indo-Gangetic Plains”. The Briefing took place in Delhi and was sponsored by GECAFS, Research Councils UK and the CGIAR-Rice Wheat Consortium. A key note address was given by Professor Swaminathan, followed by presentations of regional research from each of the GECAFS IGP case study districts. Remarks on the GECAFS case studies in the context of national priorities were provided by experts from the region.

Food Security Conference Results Published in Special Issue.

June 2009: Following on from the conference that GECAFS held in April 2008 entitled ‘Food Security and Environmental Change: Linking

Selected Publications Science, Development and Policy for Adaptation’, a selection of papers that came from the conference was published in a special issue of Environmental Science and Policy. The issue (Vol. 12[4]) was edited by Dr. Polly Ericksen, John Ingram and Professor Diana Liverman.

GECAFS Synthesis Workshop Sept 2009: The GECAFS Synthesis Workshop refined the original outline for the synthesis project, drawing on work from other projects and research groups. A synthesis volume was planned in detail, including a forward looking section. The book will be published by Earthscan in late 2010.

Food Security and Global Environmental Change GECAFS synthesis book entitled Food Security and Global Environmental Change largely prepared (publication by Earthscan late 2010).

Governing Food Systems in the Context of Global Environmental Change IHDP UPDATE Governance as a Crosscutting Theme in Human Dimensions Science, Issue 3, pp59-64, 2009. D.M. Liverman, P.J. Ericksen, J.S.I. Ingram.

Food security and global environmental change: emerging challenges Special issue of Environmental Science and Policy on “Food Security and Environmental Change”, vol 12, iss 4, Ericksen, P. J., J.S.I. Ingram, D.M. Liverman 2009.

Food system concepts ESF/COST Forward Look on European Food Systems in a Changing World. ISBN: 2-912049-96-2 J.S.I. Ingram.

Regional Brochures on Food Security In addition to an overall brochure about the project, GECAFS also produced a series of brochures about food security in Southern Africa, the Caribbean, and the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

Science–Policy

Outreach

Dr. Polly Ericksen, the GECAFS Science Officer, travelled to the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra to give a series of lectures and a master class on food systems and GEC in April 2009. Dr. Ericksen also fed into the AusAID Australian Leadership Award Fellowship grant programme, which included four GECAFS investigators, who were awarded grants to participate in the programme.

In addition, Dr. Ericksen supervised a number of Masters students within the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment.

GECAFS has placed considerable emphasis on addressing the science– policy interface and has endeavoured to establish the information need of the policy process at the outset of research planning. This has resulted in regional science plans receiving the endorsement of major regional policy organisations. Further, the dialogue with the policy process has been maintained throughout the project and several events have been specifically targeted towards this.

As the public interest in climate change and food security rapidly grows, GECAFS has been called upon to have increasingly frequent engagement with the general public.

Outreach activities ranged from presentations to schools and the general public around Oxford, to presentations and discussions at international conferences. A set of Summary Briefs of key GECAFS concepts and regional issues was developed and widely distributed.

Science–Policy Events

Outreach Activities

Scenarios Project

March 2009 Beijing, China

May 2009 Berlin, Germany

Oct 2009 Oxford, UK

A scenarios project was developed in 2009 in partnership with CCAFS, which will help identify regional and national adaptation options for food security. This three year project will develop and use integrated participatory scenarios to improve strategic decision-making to resolve the tradeoffs among agricultural development, food security and environment goals that will arise as a result of adapting food systems to socio–economic and environmental change.

Food security/GEC contributions to high-level UK–China discussions.

Food security and Global Environmental Change contributions to GTZ, DFID, World Bank discussions.

Presentation to local high schools.

Feb 2009 Delhi, India GECAFS high level Briefing on “Environmental Change and Food Security in the Indo-Gangetic Plains”. (See scientific Highlights).

Oct 2009 Prague, Czech Republic Food Security discussion at Greenpeace Conference.

Nov 2009 London, UK Inputs to US State Department World Hunger Strategy discussions.

Nov 2009 Presentation to All Party Parliamentary Group in the UK.

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Capacity Development

59

Insight from 2009

2010 Research

Keywords

Question • Human Health

How will policy options on global environmental change, health and water ensure a healthier and more sustainable future?

International Project Office

IHDP Annual Report 2009

UNU-INWEH 175 Longwood Road South Suite 204 Hamilton, ON L8P 0A1, Canada T:+1 905 667 5511 www.gechh.unu.edu Executive Officer Lucilla Spini, D. Phil

60

spinil@inweh.unu.edu

mental Change • Health Risks • Adaptation Strategies • Research, Training, Networking and Capacity Building

Global Environmental Change & Human HealtH

Global Environmental Change and Human Health (GECHH) is the fourth joint project within the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).

It is being developed as a logical complement to the three ongoing ESSP projects. Those three projects address the global carbon cycle (Global Carbon Project, GCP), the global water system (Global Water System Project, GWSP), and food systems (Global Environmental Change and Food Systems, GECAFS). Changes in each of those three systems influence, via diverse pathways, human wellbeing and health. The GECHH Project has identified a set of key types of global environmental change that are known or suspected to have significant consequences for human health.

• Global Environ-

GECHH

The evolving Science Plan explores priorities and settings for the future coordinated international study of these relationships, taking into account the complexities of concurrently acting environmental changes and the importance of socio–economic and cultural contexts as modifiers of community vulnerability.

In 2010, GECHH plans to focus on identifying the scientific and policy research gaps in environmental change, water and health at the local, regional, national and international scales, through a symposium to be held in partnership with the United Nations University – Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).

Photo: UN Photo/Martine Perret

The H1N1 pandemic demonstrated that even with forward planning, our understanding of the relationships between global environmental change and human health remains limited and that the global change community needs to focus its energies on increasing its understanding of these relationships and how this science can be translated into global policies for mitigation and adaption.

Policy Implications of GECHH Research Mitigation & Adaptation Strategies

Capacity Development

Contribute to Implementation

To use the best earth system science to identify and promote mitigation and adaptation strategies at the local, national and international level that will reduce the negative effects of global environmental change and their consequent effects on human health.

To enhance scientific capacity through the training of a new generation of scientists and policy-makers who understand the implications of GECHH’s research at various levels and who are prepared to bring science and policy together to reduce the consequences of global environmental change on human health.

To provide scientific contributions towards the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements and related international environment/development goals and targets on issues concerning human health and the changing environment.

2009, Professor Mark Rosenberg, CoChair, represented GECHH and the International Geographical Union (IGU) at a workshop convened by the Geounions Group of the IGU and ICSU-ROA in Pretoria (South Africa) to develop a response to the ICSU Systems Analysis Approach to Health and Well-being in the Urban Environment (SHWB). The GECHH Project was also a co-sponsor of a workshop for young scientists in Beijing (China) in November 2009.

The theme of the workshop was health and the environment in the Beijing-Tianjin region. The workshop was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute for Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research and was funded by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. The co-organisers were Dr. Thomas Krafft (Chair of the IHDP Advisory Group on Health),

Professor Wuyi Wang (Chair, IGU Commission on Health and the Environment and steering group member of the IHDP Advisory Group on Health) and Professor Mark Rosenberg (GECCH Co-Chair and Member of the steering group of the IHDP Advisory Group on Health).

In November 2009, the project also participated at the Global Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS) workshop on Using Earth Observations for Health in Washington, D.C, with project representation and presentations by SSC member, Professor Andy Morse. In December 2009, at the European Union/ Karolinska Institute Global Health Seminar, SSC member, Dr. Elisabet Lindgren, presented the GECHH Project. SSC members, Professors Ăšrsula Oswald-Spring and Andy Morse drafted a Project Summary for policymakers.

As this ESSP joint project on GECHH is only at the implementation stage, it is too early to report scientific results, its impacts and the responsiveness of the project at setting research agendas. However, the added value of this project is clear in that it seeks to identify and quantify current health impacts of GEC and to forecast future ones. These scenarios of future health impacts will form a new, dynamic and integrative node in the developing domain of Earth System Science.

Specific project landmarks in 2009 included convening the second GECHH Scientific Committee meeting (Dublin, Ireland, 24-25 August 2009) in conjunction with the Conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology where SSC members participated and a project paper was presented by Professor Manuel Cesario. In January

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Scientific Highlights

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

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Capacity Development

Science Policy

Outreach

In 2009, the Project Co-Chairs negotiated an IPO agreement with the United Nations University – Institute for Water, Health and the Environment (UNU-INWEH). The IPO is now located at the McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Canada.

In partnership with UNU-INWEH, the Project Co-Chairs recruited Dr. Lucilla Spini to be the GECHH’s Project Officer.

At its meeting in Dublin (Ireland), the SSC produced policies on procedures for linking flagship projects to the GECHH and continued to develop its relationships with the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, EcoHealth, Wildlife Trust, WHO, PAHO and GEOSS. Professor Rosenberg is participating in the development of an environmental health network in southern Africa being led by Dr. Caradee Wright of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of South Africa.

GECHH SSC members participated in science policy sessions at various international meetings in 2009.

Professor Úrsula Oswald- Spring spoke on desertification, land, water, food, and forced migration at a UN meeting in New York in May 2009.

At the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology meeting in Dublin (Ireland) in August 2009, various SSC members presented papers and spoke in panel sessions.

Professor Tony McMichael gave a plenary address on climate change, health and policy implications at the annual meeting of the European Public Health Association meeting and Professor Mark Rosenberg spoke at an invited session on the policy implications of syndromic disease surveillance. Professor Rosenberg gave a keynote address on global health and governance at the 2nd Workshop on Environmental Change and Health Security in Beijing-Tianjin Urban Area: Vulnerability and Vulnerable Groups.

With the agreement to create an IPO in conjunction with UNU-INWEH and the hiring of Dr. Lucilla Spini, GECHH has moved into a new phase of outreach, including the launch of a new website and communication tools. The SC has put into place a programme of symposia to be held annually from 2010 to 2012 on the themes of: GEC, health and water quality (in conjunction with UNUINWEH in 2010); GEC, health and food security (to be held in Australia in 2011); and GEC, health and ecosystem services (to be held in South Africa in 2012).

The SSC and IPO are also working on training programmes to be delivered virtually and through “summer schools” to be held in various regions between 2010 and 2012.

Aug 2009 Dublin, Ireland

Jan 2009 Pretoria, South Africa

Nov 2009 Beijing, China

Nov 2009 Washington DC, USA

Dec 2009 Stockholm, Sweden

GECHH Scientific Steering Committee Meeting

Workshop on ICSU Systems Analysis Approach to Urban Health and WellBeing

Workshop on Health and the Environment in the Beijing-Tianjin Region

Global Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS) workshop on Using Earth Observations for Health

GECHH Presentation at European Union/ Karolinska Institute Global Health Seminar

Key Events

Insight from 2009

2010 Research

Keywords

Question

Uneven physical distribution of water is aggravated by the lack of expertise, institutions and technical capacities to manage water sustainably.

The “looming water crisis” has been identified as more of a governance than resource availability crisis.

• Global Water System

Where are the most neuralgic water demand/availability hot spots in the world? What are the reasons and what are the perspectives?

• Water Governance • Basin Scale Water Management • Integrated Water Resources Management • Ecosystem and Human Water Needs • Global Change and Hydrological Cycle

International Project Office Walter-Flex-Strasse 3 D-53113 Bonn Photo: UN Photo/Logan Abassi

Germany T:+49 (0) 228 73 6188 www.gwsp.org Executive Officer Janos Bogardi gwsp.ipo@uni-bonn.de

The ESSP joint Global Water System Project (GWSP) was launched in 2004 to foster understanding of how human actions are changing the global water system and what environmental and socio–economic feedbacks arise from the anthropogenic changes in the global water system. This includes a strong interest in the development and vulnerability of patterns of human use of freshwater and in the role of governance systems in managing the resultant activities in a manner that enhances resilience and supply reliability, even in the face of occurrences like substantial interannual variability in flows of water resources. In order to ensure product delivery, the Executive Committee identified three Integrative Study

GWSP

Areas (ISA) within which the implementation of the tasks of the Scientific Framework will be coordinated and the delivery of truly integrated and interdisciplinary research results will be secured. ISA’s are targeted towards the production of scientifically outstanding and highly policyrelevant results.

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Policy Implications of GWSP Research Water Resource Stressors

Competing Demands

Water Crisis & Governance

Water demand increases due to population growth, standard of living, food production needs, etc. stress water resources four times as much as climate change.

There is an urgent need to define both the water needs of ecosystems (aquatic, terrestrial) and sustainability of ecosystems and their services to mankind.

The water crisis is principally a governance crisis. Global water governance and integrated water resources management at all scales are primordial in achieving “water security”.

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Integrative Study Areas and Expert Groups Based on a concept developed by the IPO, the Executive Committee of the GWSP agreed at its meeting in Amsterdam in February 2007 on the establishment of a set of so-called ‘Integrative Study Areas’ and associated ‘Expert Groups’, as a new strategic approach for the implementation of GWSP activities. The SSC at its 5th Session in Brisbane, Australia, 25-27 August, 2007, approved this new implementation strategy, which was pursued successfully by the respective working groups over the years 2008 and in particular 2009, in spite of the temporary interruption of the work of the IPO. The working groups continued to work based on subcontracts.

Three Integrative Study Areas (ISA) had been identified within which the implementation of the tasks of the Scientific Framework were co-ordinated and the delivery of truly integrated and interdisciplinary

Selected Publications research results were secured. ISA’s are targeted towards the production of scientifically outstanding, highly policy-relevant results. For the delivery of these results, an integration of activities across themes and sub-themes of the Scientific Framework, as well as across disciplines, was a prerequisite. In this way, the ISA’s provided a strategic approach for focused studies and an overall integration and synthesis of project results.

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

Three Global Initiatives

Global Water News No. 8

• Global Scale Initiative (GSI): Ranking of Threats to the Global Water System • Global Catchment Initiative (GCI): Bringing the Global Perspective to River Basin Research and Management • Global Water Needs Initiative (GWNI): Assessment of the Water Needs of Humans and Ecosystems

Dellapenna, J. and J. Gupta (eds.)

(2009). The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water, Springer Verlag, Dordrecht

From Headwater to the Ocean: Hydrological Change and Watershed Management Taniguchi, M et al. (eds.) (2009) From Headwater to the Ocean: Hydrological Change and Watershed Management, Taylor & Francis, London, UK, 679 pp.

GWSP Newsletter “Global Water News” No. 8 published in July 2009, 2500 copies circulated to 1700 researchers, practitioners, managers, and policymakers from all over the world. Online version downloadable at the gwsp. org website.

Dynamics and Vulnerability of Delta Systems Overeem, I. & Syvitski, J.P.M. (2009) Dynamics and Vulnerability of Delta Systems. LOICZ Reports & Studies No. 35. GKSS Research Center, Geesthacht, 54 pages.

(Joint LOICZ-GWSP publication)

Future Water Availability for Global Food Production: The Potential of Green Water for Increasing Resilience to Global Change J. Rockström, M. Falkenmark, L. Karlberg, H. Hoff, S. Rost, D. Gerten (2009) Future Water Availability for Global Food Production: The Potential of Green Water for Increasing Resilience to Global Change. Water Resources Research 45, 16 pages

Global Alteration of Freshwaters: Influences on Human and Environmental Well-Being Robert J. Naiman, David Dudgeon (2009) Global Alteration of Freshwaters: Influences on Human and Environmental Well-Being, Ecological Research: in print

Die Ressourcenfrage aus Sicht der UNO Bogardi, J. (2009) Die Ressourcenfrage aus Sicht der UNO. In: Braun,R., Brickwedde,F., Held,T., Neugebohrn,E., and Uexküll,O.v. (eds), Kriege um Ressourcen Herausforderungen für das 21. Jahrhundert. 146-151, oekom verlag (Gesellschaft für ökologische Kommunikation mbH), München, Germany.

Science–Policy

Outreach

GWSP has actively contributed to the elaboration of the concept of the graduate school “Bonn Interdisciplinary Graduate School on Risk and Uncertainty”, with water as a core demonstration area. Partners in this initiative include five faculties from the University of Bonn. Other educational involvement includes lectures on the global water system and global water problems (October/November 2009), held at FH Cologne and the Technical University of Aachen.

Finally, one of the key products of GWSP is the Digital Water Atlas. In 2009, the review and renewal process has started, which includes securing the hardware base, but also revision of the content and further development as a public source for research, education and awareness raising.

The scientific challenge of GWSP is eminently policy relevant. Instead of being seen as a mere subsector affected by climate change, water is to be featured and scientifically proven as prominently present, further shaping the multiple dimensions of global environmental change and socio–economic development. Being used, consumed and impacted, but also being a resource to catalyse development and cooperation, water is an integral part of ecosystems and human societies alike. Universally, yet unevenly distributed in the atmosphere, terrestrial and marine systems, the global hydrological cycle and its alterations are acting rather as an amplifier of global changes, among them, climate change.

The water lectures series at ZEF in Bonn, Germany: a local GWSP activity together with the Center for Development Research (IPO host institution) and the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University and the UN Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development. Monthly water lectures or panel discussions were held.

GWSP participated in the European and Mediterranean Workshop on “Climate Change Impact on Water-related and Marine Risks” held in Murcia, Spain, with a presentation addressing potential changes of floods in Germany due to climate change. GWSP participated in the conference of the Earth System Governance Project of IHDP: People, Places and the Planet held in December in Amsterdam. Further, GWSP was present at the international workshop on Water and Health in Koblenz and contributed to the workshop on Global Monitoring for Environment and Security organised

by UN SPIDER. After the interruption of over nine months (September 2008 - May 2009), the reorganised IPO has resumed its activities and represented GWSP in several events, thus laying the basis for further active presence and impact in the global water debate.

Key Events March 2009 Bonn, Germany

Aug & Nov 2009 Bonn, Germany

“Teaching Adaptive Water Management – A Training Course for Instructors” by the NeWater project hosted by the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).

Brainstorming sessions on the “Bonn a Global Water City” initiative.

December 2009 Germany Participation in the preparatory workshop in a conference on the status of Water Science to be held end of 2010 in Germany.

Oct & Nov 2009 Cologne, Aachen Germany Lectures on the global water system and global water problems at the University of Applied Sciences Cologne and Technical University of Aachen.

26-30 April 2009 Bonn, Germany Session organised on Water Governance at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009.

October 2009 Stellenbosch, South Africa Global Water Systems Project Scientific Steering Committee meeting.

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Project Initiatives

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Integrated Risk Governance IRG-Project Learning to deal with risks that exceed current coping capacities

Knowledge, Learning & Societal Change KLSC Transitioning to a sustainable future through knowledge and learning

Photos: UN Photo/Sophia Paris, UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP is currently working on two new project initiatives. These initiatives are potential IHDP projects that are in the process of preparing and reviewing a science plan. Following the review process and subsequent approval by the IHDP Scientific Committee, the initiatives will be introduced as full core projects within IHDP’s scientific portfolio.

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

Insight from 2009

2010 Research Question

Keywords

We need to review existing risk models including models developed and used in academia, models developed and used in government agencies, and models developed and used in the insurance industry.

What are the entry- and exit-transitions of large scale disasters, and what are their governing factors and parameters?

• Risk Large Scale Risks • Disasters • Socio–economic Systems • Entry- and Exit Transitions • Governance • Risk Modelling

Contact www.irg-project.org Dr. Qian

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Beijing Normal University qianye@yahoo.com Elke Henning European Climate Forum e.V. henning@european-climateforum.net Falk Schmidt IHDP Secretariat

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schmidt@ihdp.unu.edu

In recent years, the increased frequency of exceptional weather and climate hazards due to global warming has intensified disaster risks, as has been gradually demonstrated in meteorological observation data from all over the world. Yet societies face risks not only from weather conditions, but also from negative effects of the normal operation of some of the world’s infrastructures and the service capacity of the earth’s ecological system. International frameworks, national governments, as well as governance bodies at all levels, have expressed strong interest in improved risk governance systems, such as is reflected in the United Nations International Strategy on Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR).

The emphasis on governance in

IRG-Project

the Integrated Risk Governance (IRGProject) initiative is meant to direct attention to a number of concerns including: policies designed to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and communities to the impacts of extreme events; decision making processes relating to the establishment and deployment of response capabilities; and institutional arrangements (e.g. insurance schemes) capable of protecting individuals from the worst impacts of extreme events.

The IRG-Project aims to identify mechanisms, trends, impacts and predictability of risks in the context of global environmental change and develop risk assessment models and methods for integrated risk simulation.

Photo: UN Photo/Sophia Paris

Integrated Risk Governance

Policy Implications of IRG-Project Research DIAGNOSE IMPACTS

DEAL WITH COLLATERAL EVENTS

IRG-PROJECT RESEARCH AIMS

We need to strengthen institutional capacities in the context of diagnosing the impacts of catastrophic disasters.

We need to strengthen institutional capacities to deal with collateral events which may be triggered by a main or initial event.

IRG-Project research aims at making significant contributions to policy applications and training for decision makers.

Selected Publications

2009 brought several scientific highlights for the IRG-Project. Among these were the commencement of a fruitful and ongoing collaboration with the GSD Project (a European network on complex systems); the completion of a collaborative project on economic risks with the German Ministry for the Environment; and the hosting of the IRG-Project Summer School, held at the Summer Institute for Advanced Study of Disaster and Risk at Beijing’s Normal University, China.

Of significant importance was the publication of the IRG-Project Science Plan in English and Chinese for review in April 2009.

This was later submitted as a revised version

in October 2009 with the finalisation of the Science Plan occurring in China and Germany. Besides these activities, IRGProject further delivered its report on “Catastrophe Governance Case Analysis” in April 2009. This report included the “Chinese Paradigm of Catastrophe Risk Governance”, which was based on an analysis of two case studies concerning the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and South-China freezing rain and snowstorm of that same year..

Extreme Events and Disasters: A Window of Opportunity for Change?

Climate Change and Modelling of Extreme Temperatures in Switzerland

Birkmann, J.; Buckle, P.; Jaeger, J.; Pelling, M.; Setiadi, N.; Garschagen, M.; Fernando, N.; Kropp, J.: Extreme events and disasters: a window of opportunity for change? Analysis of organisational, institutional and political changes, formal and informal responses after mega-disasters. In: Natural Hazards, 2009.

Siliverstovs, B.; Ötsch, R.; Kemfert, C.; Jaeger, C. C.; Haas, A.; Kremers, H. Climate change and modelling of extreme temperatures in Switzerland. In: Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 2009.

Geo-engineering Climate by Stratospheric Sulfur Injections: Earth System Vulnerability to Technological Failure Brovkin, V.; Petoukhov, V.; Claussen, M.; Bauer, E.; Archer, D.; Jaeger, C. Geo-engineering climate by stratospheric sulfur injections: Earth system vulnerability to technological failure, In: Climatic Change, 2009

Key Events Aug 2009 Beijing, China

May 2009 Beijing, China

Sept 2009 Bangkok, Thailand

2009 Summer Institute for Advanced Study of Disaster and Risk, Summer School of IRG-Project at the Beijing Normal University.

Modelling for Sustainability, Workshop of IRG-Project and Global System Dynamics and Policies (GSD Project).

2nd Conference of the OECD International Network on Financial Management of Large Scale Catastrophes.

May 2009 Beijing, China

Oct 2009 Kyoto, Japan

April 2009 Bonn, Germany

The Asian Conference on Risk Assessment and Management 2009 (EARAM-2009).

9th IIASA-DPRI Conference on Integrated Disaster Risk Management.

IHDP Open Meeting 2009

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2010 Research

Keywords

Question • Knowledge Systems

How can societal change towards sustainability be promoted through knowledge and learning?

• Social Learning, and Societal Change as an Integrated Domain of Research • Evolution of Social Attitudes and Actions from Knowledge and Learning • Barriers to and Enablers of Societal Change • Action Research

Contact Persons Ilan Chabay University of Gothenburg Gothenburg, Sweden

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ilan.chabay@chalmers.se

The Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change (KLSC) Project of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) aims to better understand and explain the knowledge–learning–action gap, so that steps can be taken to help societies move in more sustainable directions.

Developing strategies for appropriate action requires greater insight into the drivers of global change and the behavioral transitions needed to avoid or respond effectively to possible effects. Understanding the complex mechanisms, dynamics and outcomes of the interplay between knowledge, learning, and societal change will be crucial in guiding optimal policies and societal devel-

KLSC

opment towards a more sustainable global system.

The mission of the KLSC Project is to produce new fundamental and practical knowledge on the interplay between knowledge, learning, and societal change for the transition to a sustainable future at multiple temporal and spatial scales through the combined efforts of a collaborative community of researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders.

Photo: UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Knowledge Learning & Societal Change

Insight from 2009

Key Events

A cross-cutting initiative under IHDP can only play a role in societal change processes when is it set up in a practical and applied manner that brings together scientists, practitioners and stakeholders to develop scientific insights and test ideas through iterative action research carried out in real situations .

Feb 2009 New York City, USA

Apr 2009 Bonn, Germany

Apr 2009 Bonn, Germany

Aug 2009 Berne, Switzerland

Scientific Planning Committee Meeting at the Earth Institute

Authors workshop in Bonn

Presentation of the initiative at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 as part of the session “The New IHDP Research Projects and Initiatives”

Authors workshop in Berne, Swiss Academy of the Social Sciences

In February 2009, the Scientific Planning Committee convened in New York to discuss the central ideas and directions of the project.

The meeting was kindly hosted by the Earth Institute at Columbia University and helped to generate several ideas and conceptual approaches to structure the work of the SPC. The results were turned into a rough outline paper of the initiative that provided the basis for further discussions.

At the next meeting in April 2009, a smaller writing group met in Bonn back-to-back with the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 and in August 2009 in Berne, Switzerland, upon in-

vitation from the Swiss Academy of the Social Sciences. The group developed a new structure and guiding questions for the science plan that was turned into a larger document after the meeting. It developed further after several rounds of iteration among the authors. This is planned to be submitted for review in 2010.

Policy Implications of KLSC Research Leading Towards Sustainable Practice

At the core of the project, is the generation of a new community of research, action, and reflection, leading to more sustainable practice in society. In achieving this, KLSC includes the use of science–society–policy dialogues within its activities, to better understand and support the integration of knowledge and practice with policy.

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Sponsored Research Networks & Strategic Partners

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP endorses and partners with various research networks that work in areas related to the human dimensions of global environmental change. These networks play an important role in strengthening the Programme’s capacity development and science– policy interaction goals, while further contributing to IHDP’s overall scientific portfolio and research needs.

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Mountain Research Initiative MRI Fostering research on global changes in mountain regions

Population– Environment Research Network PERN Advancing research on population and the environment by promoting online scientific exchange

Enhancing scientific capacity for global change in developing countries

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Photos: Bianca White, UN Photo/John Isaac, IHDP/Mike le Gray

System for Analysis Research & Training START

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Insight from 2009

2010 Research

Keywords

Question

MRI and its co-partners took a giant step towards making research results meaningful to practitioners by successfully proposing the Mountain TRIP Project to the EU 7th Framework Programme.

• Interdisciplinary

What are key drivers of food security in mountain regions? How can research findings be made more usable for practitioners?

• Integrated • Applied • Relevant to Stakeholder and Policymakers • Mountain Catchments under Global Change • Water Conflicts • Food Security • High Mountain Hazards

mri mountain research initiative

Mountain Research INitiative

IHDP Annual Report 2009

c/o Institute of Geography University of Bern Erlachstrasse 9a, Trakt 3 3012 Bern, Switzerland T: +41 31 631 51 41 http://mri.scnatweb.ch Executive DIRECTOR Dr. Gregory B. Greenwood

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mri@giub.unibe.ch

Mountain regions occupy about one fourth of the Earth’s surface and provide goods and services to about half of humanity. Accordingly, they received particular attention in the United Nations System, as reflected in “Agenda 21”, calling for immediate action on mountain resource management to stop degradation in terms of accelerated soil erosion, landslides, and rapid losses of habitat and genetic diversity. The collaborative Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) aims to achieve an integrated multidisciplinary approach for observing, modelling and investigating global change phenomena and processes in mountain regions, including their impacts on ecosystems and socio– economic systems.

MRI

The ultimate objectives of the Initiative are: to develop a strategy for detecting signals of global environmental change in mountain environments; to define the consequences of global environmental change for mountain regions, as well as lowland systems dependent on mountain resources (highland–lowland interactions); and to make proposals towards sustainable land, water and resource management for mountain regions from local to regional scales.

As MRI is a promotion and coordination effort, it cannot simply “do” the research necessary in a region, but must induce research groups and individual scientists to fill the scientific gaps regarding the objectives sketched above.

Photo: Bianca White

Mountain Research Initiative

Core Programme Activities Engage Key Scientists

CATALYSE PARTNERSHIPS

PAPERS ON CRITICAL ISSUES

Distribute Information

MRI strives to enlist key scientists who, in turn, promote inter- and transdisciplinary research through their national or multinational research funding agencies. By engaging these champions of global change mountain research, MRI can vastly improve its effectiveness.

MRI supports the formation of new research partnerships and acts as a catalyst for groups and individuals to develop project proposals for funding agencies. This is a direct and efficient way to create the kind of research needed to fill the gaps.

MRI facilitates the development of peer-reviewed scientific papers on critical mountain region issues such as the carbon cycle in mountains; the transfer of hydrologic knowledge from scientists to managers; and the food security of mountain inhabitants under climatic changes.

MRI distributes relevant information to researchers on global change in mountains.

By increasing the flow of information to these researchers, MRI seeks to create additional interaction and a firmer sense of community among them.

MRI highlights include: a conference “Identifying the Research Basis for Sustainable Development of the Mountain Regions in Southeastern Europe” (Borovets, April 2009), whose participants further agreed to launch a new mountain science network for the Balkan region; a workshop “Securing the Sustainable Provision of Ecosystem Services in the Alps and the Carpathians” (Bratislava, June 2009), where research results were exchanged on the Ecosystem Services of Alpine and Carpathians Landscapes and proposals for interdisciplinary research and education projects were developed; the second Science for the Carpathians (S4C) meeting (Bratislava, June, 2009), which aimed at securing further funding for an S4C coordination office within the

Selected Publications Carpathian region, establishing an official S4C Steering Committee, and planning the first Forum Carpaticum; a workshop on “Climate Change and Water Resource Management in Mountains” (Göschenen, September, 2009), which included water experts from around the globe; a conference “Glacier Hazards, Permafrost Hazards and GLOFs in Mountain Areas: Processes, Assessment, Prevention, Mitigation” (Vienna, November, 2009), of which MRI was a co-sponsor; and a conference “Swiss–South Africa Joint Scientific Conference: Towards Sustainable Fine Resolution Hydro–Ecological Observatories in Southern African Mountains” (Davos, November, 2009), convened by the MRI and SLF.

MRI Newsletter MRI launched its Newsletter in September 2008. A strong interest from the MRI community in this product has made the Newsletter grow in size.

The Newsletter features the sections Director’s Notes, MRI Interview, Science Peaks, Notes, Workshop Reports, and a Book Review.

Drexler, C., and Greenwood, G. (eds), 2009. Newsletter of the Mountain Research Initiative “MRI news”, no.2, April 2009. http://mri.scnatweb.ch/ dmdocuments/MRI_News_no2April2009.pdf Drexler, C., and Greenwood, G. (eds), 2009. Newsletter of the Mountain Research Initiative “MRI news”, no.3, October 2009. http://mri.scnatweb.ch/dmdocuments/MRI_news_no3_web.pdf

Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States van Mantgem, Ph., et al. 2009.

Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States. Science Vol. 323 no. 5913: 521 – 524 (CORFOR network product, http://science. samxxzy.ns02.info/cgi/reprint/ sci;323/5913/521.pdf ).

Global Change Research in the Carpathian Mountain Region Björnsen Gurung, A. et al. 2009.

Global Change Research in the Carpathian Mountain Region.

Mountain Research and Development. 29(3):282-288. doi: 10.1659/ mrd.1105 (MRI-Europe product http://www.bioone.org/doi/ full/10.1659/mrd.1105).

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Scientific Highlights

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2010 Research Question

Keywords

Two areas have been identified for future cyberseminars: population displacements from large infrastructure projects, and climate migrations.

There is also some interest in holding a cyberseminar on the topic of integrated population–health–environment projects.

• Population and

Population Environment Research Network

IHDP Annual Report 2009

www.populationenvironmentresearch.org Network Coordinators Dr. Susana Adamo sadamo@ciesin.columbia.edu Mr. Alex de Sherbinin adesherbinin@ciesin.columbia.

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edu

The Population–Environment Research Network (PERN) is an academic network that seeks to advance research on population and the environment by promoting scientific exchange among researchers from social and natural science disciplines worldwide. It is a joint initiative of the IHDP and the International Union for Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) launched in 2001.

PERN’s main objective is to contribute to sustainable development by improving dialogue and facilitating communication between stakeholders in the area of population–environment interactions.

It does this by hosting cyberseminars on important topics and by consolidating the growing and

• Scientific Networks • Migration and Environment

PERN

diverse body of research on population–environment interactions in an online electronic library. Through its website, PERN also strengthens the community of population–environment experts, which is spread across many different disciplines, and communicates in diverse circles.

The main target audience is academic researchers, but experts at international agencies, NGOs, advocacy organisations, governmental agencies, and private firms, are also involved in PERN activities. As of December 2009, PERN has more than 1,700 members.

Photo: UN Photo/John Isaac

Population–Environment Research NetworK

Environment

Workshop in Geospatial Analysis for Attaining the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development, 20-24 April 2009, Bonn, Germany. PERN and CIESIN, with support from IUSSP, co-organised this five day training workshop in geospatial data analysis techniques in advance of the IHDP Open Meeting 2009. The training was customised to help staff from census bureaus, health ministries, and/or non-governmental organisations in developing countries, learn to use geospatial analysis to support efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and promote sustainable development.

Participants from around the world were selected to take part in the workshop, led by CIESIN geospatial applications Associate Director Mark Becker, PERN’s co-Coordinator and CIESIN Associate Research Scientist Susana Adamo, and CIESIN Research Associate Valentina Mara.

The workshop included an overview of techniques in spatial analysis, use of spatial statistics, and integrating national survey data with CIESIN’s population and hazards data sets.

Digital recording of the training and course materials will be made available on PERN’s website (Population– Environment Research Network), hosted by CIESIN.

Policy Implications of PERN Research System Approaches

A common characteristic of the different conceptual approaches is the recognition of complexity: the interactions of different elements and processes and the interactions at different levels and scales, non-linearity, feedbacks, thresholds, and heteroge-

neity have to be taken into account.

Key variables and their interactions must be identified. Particularly, system approaches seem appropriate to deal with complex interactions and couplings between the human and natural sphere.

Science–Policy

Publication

Products

PERN’s co-Coordinators, Adamo and de Sherbinin, were co-authors on a report with colleagues at UNU-EHS and CARE, on potential migration from climate change. The report entitled “In Search of Shelter” was released at the June 2009 climate talks in Bonn, and built upon prior cyberseminars and workshops organised

by PERN.

Urban Population– Environment Dynamics in the Developing World: Case Studies and Lessons Learned

PERN What’s New Bulletins

http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/documents/ClimMigr-rpt-june09.pdf

PERN What’s New bulletins were published in May, August, and December 2009

de Sherbinin, A., A. Rahman, A. Barbieri, J.C. Fotso, and Y. Zhu (eds.). 2009. Urban PopulationEnvironment Dynamics in the Developing World: Case Studies and Lessons Learned. Paris: Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography (CICRED)/PERN/CIESIN/ APHRC. (316 pages). Available at http://www.populationenvironmentresearch.org/workshops. jsp#W2007.

Key Events 2-13 Feb 2009 International

27 April 2009 Bonn, Germany

27 Sept - 2 Oct 2009 Marrakech, Morocco

3-4 Dec 2009 Mexico City, Mexico

Cyberseminar on Theoretical and Methodological Issues in the Analysis of Population Dynamics and the Environment.

Organised and chaired a panel at the IHDP Open Meeting, “As the World Churns: Environmental Migration and Population Displacements”.

PERN organised and chaired two sessions on EnvironmentInduced Migrants at IUSSP’s XXVI International Population Conference.

The PERN coordinators presented at the International Seminar on Demographic Factors in the Current Environmental Crisis at the Colegio de Mexico. http://cedua.colmex.mx/eventos/ elfactordemografico.htm

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Keywords • Capacity Development • Knowlege Generation • Decision Support • Sustainable Development • Global Environmental Change Education

INTERNATIONAL

S T A R T SECRETARIAT

IHDP Annual Report 2009

International StaRt Secretariat 2000 Florida Avenue, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009, USA T: 1-202-462-2213 www.start.org

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start@start.org

START facilitates comprehensive programmes in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, aimed at building and sustaining the capacity of scientific communities in developing countries to explore the critical drivers of and appropriate responses to regional and global environmental change (GEC). The START framework for research-driven capacity building not only fosters networks of developing country scientists and scientific institutions but also supports informed decision making by key societal stakeholder groups, including the policy community, on policies and measures for adaptation planning.

Programmes and activities are implemented in developing regions of the world in partnership with START

START

regional research centres, research nodes, science committees and secretariats. The overall strategic goal of START is to develop and nurture an integrated system of knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination and informed action.

START and its partners develop and facilitate opportunities that build upon GEC knowledge and expertise that is accumulating in developing regions. They further enhance and disseminate that knowledge and expertise in innovative ways and foster new avenues for collaborative research, partnership and exchange.

Photo: IHDP/Mike le Gray

System for Training Research & Analysis

Key Activities

Key Projects

26-28 Feb 2009 Bangkok, Thailand

26-30 April 2009 Bonn, Germany

Integrating Climate

Biodiversity Conserva-

Change Mitigation and

tion in the Albertine Rift

Cities at Risk

Support of Participants

Adaptation into Develop-

in the IHDP Open Meeting

ment Planning (CCMAP)

Hosted by START, in collaboration with several partners including IHDP’s Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) Project, the workshop brought together nearly 80 scientists, urban planners and officials, and representatives of disaster management and development agencies to review the most recent scientific findings and projections regarding climate-related risks for Asia’s coastal megacities.

Participants examined potential vulnerabilities and current coping mechanisms in the cities and then discussed actions, in both the short and long term, that would enhance the capacity of cities to manage the risks and vulnerabilities posed by climate change.

Workshop follow-on discussions are expected at the upcoming UGEC conference in Arizona.

2009 START supported the participation of 39 individuals in the 2009 IHDP Open Meeting; 37 of whom were African scientists and practitioners engaged in the African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP). The ACCFP provides experiential learning, education, and research and training opportunities to African professionals, researchers and graduate students to build their capabilities for advancing and applying knowledge for climate change adaptation in Africa. Participation in both the Open Meeting and an ACCFP Inception Meeting, held in conjunction with the OM, enabled Fellows to gain a valuable insight into how their individual Fellowships are part of a broader effort to address climate change adaptation challenges in Africa and throughout the world.

The CCMAP Project is engaging scientists and policy makers in West Africa, East Africa and South Asia through a series of science–policy dialogues based on the findings of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). The national level dialogues aim to broaden support for the integration of climate change mitigation and adaptation knowledge into national strategies for sustainable development and poverty reduction. In addition to the dialogues, scientists and key decision makers from the regions will also collaborate on knowledge assessments at local to regional scales. The knowledge assessments are expected to promote development of a shared vision within science and policy communities of the targeted regions with respect to research and assessments needed to serve climate change decision-making needs.

START, in collaboration with the Institute of Resource Assessment at the University of Dar es Salaam and with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, is implementing an advanced education and training initiative in the Albertine Rift region of Africa that engages conservation professionals from the region in advanced education and training activities that enable them to make substantive contributions to addressing the challenge of climate change and biodiversity conservation.

The Albertine Rift region is an important biodiversity hotspot in Eastern Africa that is increasingly under threat from a changing climate and other local drivers such as human induced landscape changes. The first round of an education and training programme was hosted in July/August 2008, and a second round will be facilitated in July/ August 2010.

START is increasingly supporting global environmental change education, through programmes and projects that promote postgraduate research training at universities and research institutes; teaching and curriculum development; national-level needs assessments for education and training; and support for research oriented to the policy

community. START is committed to expanding this part of its portfolio through developing partnerships with programmes within the Earth System Science Partnership, Northern and Southern universities, and private foundations. Such partnerships would serve to utilise complimentary strengths among partners to develop and promote research

fellowships, faculty exchanges and accreditation programmes; climate change curricula and programmes to promote excellence in teaching on issues of climate change; advanced institutes and training workshops.

These expanded programmes would seek to engage participants from academia, civil society, and the policy community.

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Capacity Development through GEC Education

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

People & Numbers

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IHDP’s Vision

To provide international leadership in framing, developing, and integrating social science research on global change and to promote the application of the key findings of this research to help address environmental challenges.

ABOUT IHDP

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• the gap in contributions of the social, economic and cognitive sciences to global change research; • the gap in capacity for international and interdisciplinary collaboration in global change research; and • the lack of coherent long-term research strategies for policy relevant research topics.

Social Science Contributions IHDP is involved in generating new knowledge to answer critical questions of interest to the policy world, and in particular, improving the

quality of environmental assessments.

IHDP is the leading international body for worldwide and interdisciplinary collaboration in highly policy-relevant areas of global change research, contributing to the enhanced understanding of the interactions between human societies and the physical environment.

Collaborative Capacity While conducting “big” science in multidisciplinary, multinational scientific teams is a standard practice throughout most natural sciences, such collaborative work is not as widespread in the social sciences, which are yet to develop an institutional and financial base. Further, national and international methods of trans- and interdisciplinary research are not yet sufficiently anchored in the social science system.

Thus, capacity development is a core concern within IHDP’s activities.

Long-Term Research Strategies Global change research is mostly driven by the awareness of the challenges that are currently facing our societies.

New challenges keep emerging but answers to those challenges require profound insights into the functioning of the highly complex Earth System. It is therefore not useful to limit research to only the current political questions of the day. IHDP is committed to long-term strategic approaches and scientific excellence within its research projects. As the planning and implementation of such projects requires collaboration with the practitioner community, so as to ensure

Photo: Mike le Gray

IHDP Annual Report 2009

IHDP was established in 1996 to address critical gaps in international research, which have gained wider attention over the years and now lie at the heart of international science policy. These include:

IHDP’s Mission

Photo:

To strengthen the capacities of research and policy communities towards a shared understanding of the social causes and implications of global changes.

the relevance and usefulness of future findings, IHDP embeds systematic policy interaction into all its research projects. Global change research is a vast and complex area with a multitude of actors and stakeholders involved.

Successful international collaboration requires the systematic analysis and identification of potential candidates for productive partnerships. The individual establishment of collaborative research, however, is time consuming and management intensive, siphoning valuable resources from the scientific community. The IHDP Secretariat provides these highly specialised services and efficient structures for international collaboration, in order to reap the full scientific benefits of the network’s research activities.

To contribute to the interdisciplinary attempts to understand the interactions of humans with the natural environment.

To facilitate dialogue between science and policy.

In 1996, the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the International Council for Science (ICSU) established IHDP under their sponsorship. At the beginning of 2007, the United Nations University joined them as a third institutional sponsor. The three sponsors oversee and guide the overall development of the Programme.

IHDP Scientific Committee (as of Dec 2009)

Chair

Ex-Officio

Prof. Oran R. Young

Members Prof. Deliang Chen

Appointed

Dr. Heide Hackmann

Members

Prof. Konrad Osterwalder

Prof. Katrina Brown

Prof. Karen O’Brien

Prof. Ilan Chabay

Prof. Anette Reenberg

Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko

Prof. Frans Berkhout

Dr. Roberto P. Guimaraes

Prof. Frank Biermann

Dr. Patricia Kameri-Mbote

Prof. Alice Newton

Prof. Gernot Klepper

Prof. Karen Seto

Dr. Elena Nikitina

Prof. Harold Mooney

Dr. Balgis Osman-Elasha

Prof. Carlos Nobre

Prof. Germán Palacio

Prof. Antonio Busalacchi Prof. Rik Leemans

IHDP Annual Report 2009

To foster, coordinate, and conduct research that illuminates and addresses the challenges of global environmental change and improve societal responses.

IHDP’S INSTITUTIONAL SPONSOS

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IHDP secured an unprecedented number of stipends for young scholars to participate in the IHDP Open Meeting 2009

IHDP Income 2009

Income Development

IHDP Open Meeting 2009 IHDP Secretariat IHDP Project Grants & Young Scholars Support

Project Based Funding

IHDP Joint Projects IHDP Core Projects

IHDP Project Grants and Young Scholars Support

Secretariat Core Income Germany (BMBF) USA (NSF)

Secretariat & Programme Governance

Other National Contributions

2010

Projected

Other Sources

2009

UNU (in-kind)

2008

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IHDP’s global research is driven by its core and joint projects and supported bythe IHDP Secretariat. Together, the network accounted for a operational budget of 4.6 million USD, with research grants and direct support for the International Project Offices amounting to more than two thirds of the total.

The IHDP Secretariat recorded a core income of 0.94 million USD (-4%); including the Open Meeting 2009, the total grant and revenue volume administered by the Secretariat stood at 1.46 million USD. As in the previous years, around 20% of the total revenue was directly relayed to the research network through annual project grants and support for young scholars.

In general, the current income development marks a shift towards collaborative activities and project-based funding.

Photo: Mike le Gray

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Budget & Finances

IHDP Expenses 2009 Science Management

$343,391

Grants IHDP Core and Joint Projects

$145,000

New Scientific Projects and Initiatives

$15,840

Project Contribution Open Meeting

$33,697

Academic & Project Staff Science Management

41.3%

For the highly successful GECHS synthesis conference in Oslo, IHDP secures participant support and produces a special UPDATE synthesis issue.

$148,854

Governance, Meeting and Science–Policy Activities $119,942

14.4%

IHDP Governance Meetings

$9,907

Meetings and Science–Policy Activities

$29,361

Academic & Project Staff Governance and Network

$80,674

Communications, Publications, and Outreach

11.8%

$98,379

IHDP Update Magazine and Scientific Publications

$13,567

IHDP Communications and Outreach

$9,429

Academic and Project Staff Communications

$75,383

Management and Programme Support

Harvesting Results

32.4%

$269,664

Management and Programme Support Staff

$165,776

General Office Costs and Administrative Services

$25,348

UN Campus Facilities (provided in-kind by UNU)

$78,540

Science to Policy

For Copenhagen’s COP 15 IHDP and IGPB convened a side event on ‘Science, Society, and Adaptation’, presenting their science on a full array of issues addressing threats, vulnerabilities and response strategies related to climate change.

Sharing Knowledge

For the Earth System Governance Project launch conference, IHDP presented the first Programmewide research synthesis in an UPDATE volume, featuring governance-related research of all its projects.

figures as of 31st March 2010

USD figures according to UN official exchange rates

• Ministry for Education and Research, Germany • National Science Foundation, USA • Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, France • Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain • Royal Academy of Arts & Sciences, The Netherlands

• Chinese National Committee for the International Dimensions Programme, China (Beijing) • The Research Council of Norway, Norway • Federal Ministry of Science and Research, Austria • Schweizerische Akademie der Geistesund Sozialwissenschaften, Switzerland • Delegation of the Finnish Academies of Science and Letters, Finland

• Academia Sinica, China (Taipei) • International Social Science Council, (ISSC), UNESCO • International Council of Science (ICSU) • European Climate Forum, Germany • Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden • United Nations University, Vice-Rectorate in Europe, Germany

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Donors & PARTNERS 2009

85

GCP Tsukuba, Japan and Canberra, Australia

MAIRS Beijing, China

GLP Copenhagen, Denmark

LOICZ Geeshacht, Germany

IHDP SEcretariat Bonn, Germany

GWSP Bonn, Germany

ESG Bonn, Germany

MRI Bern, Switzerland

GECAFS Oxford, UK

IT Amsterdam, Netherlands

GECHS Oslo, Norway

Significant funding for IHDP’s projects in 2009 included, among others, contributions from host and other research/ national institutions, as well as members of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).

Combined core, joint and initiative project funding was estimated at 4,291,290 USD, with incomes received from IHDP, in-kind and external sources.

START Washington, D.C., USA

The IHDP is organised as a decentralised ‘network of networks’. It is funded from five main sources, which include direct research grants to the IHDP core and joint projects, in-kind contributions provided by the institutions hosting the International Project Offices, and the core support for the IHDP Secretariat represented in this report.

In addition, human dimensions research is supported with numerous singular grants for publications, events, workshops, and conferences convened by the projects or the Programme. The most significant resource however, is at the same time the hardest to quantify: the intellect, time and institutional support contributed ‘for free’ by the several thousand scientists of the IHDP community, ranging from hosting of meetings, to high-level peer-reviews, to reports, to representation, to research results achieved with the support of numerous individual research grants connected to the programme.

GECHH Hamilton, Canada

Project Funding

UGEC Tempe, Arizona, USA

IHDP Network

Main Project Donors (excluding annual IHDP contributions) IHDP Core Projects

•

ESSP Joint Projects

•

IT

GECAFS

• KSI “The Dutch Knowledge Network on System Innovation”;

• International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP);

• Institute for Environmental Studies (VU Amsterdam).

• World Climate Research Program;

GECHS

• Natural Environment research Council;

GECHH • Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP); • United Nations University – Institute for Water, health and the Environment (UNUINWEH).

•

• University of Oslo.

• Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford.

ESG

GCP

• Institute for Environmental Studies (VU Amsterdam);

• Australian Department of Climate Change;

• IHDP Secretariat.

• Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO);

IRG-Project

• Center for Global Environmental Research (CGER/NIES);

• Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), China;

• Global Environmental Research Fund of Ministry of Environment Japan.

• National Natural Science Foundation of China, China;

• Research Council of Norway;

UGEC • Arizona State University; • US National Science Foundation.

LOICZ • GKSS Research Center; • International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP).

GWSP

GLP

• BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research).

• International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP); • University of Copenhagen.

Project Initiatives KLSC

• Swiss Academy of the Social Sciences.

• Beijing Normal University, China;

• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany; • European Climate Forum (ECF), Germany; • GSD Project, Europe.

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IHDP Annual Report 2009

Imprint ISSN 1727-8953

IHDP Annual Report 2009

Editor-in-Chief: Gabriela Litre Co-Editors: Louise Smith and Russell Morgan Copy-Editor: Russell Morgan Design: Louise Smith

88

This is a publication of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change.

IHDP Secretariat, UNU-IHDP Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10 53113 Bonn, Germany T: +49 (0)228 815 0600 F: +49 (0)228 815 0620 www.ihdp.org secretariat@ihdp.unu.edu

This publication is published using funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Fรถrderkennzeichen IHD0810), and the United States National Science Foundation (BCS0810837).

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and all other IHDP Donors.

IHDP Network

GCP Tsukuba, Japan and Canberra, Australia MAIRS Beijing, China GLP Copenhagen, Denmark LOICZ Geeshacht, Germany IHDP SEcretariat Bonn, Germany GWSP Bonn, Germany ESG Bonn, Germany MRI Bern, Switzerland GECAFS Oxford, UK IHDP-IT Amsterdam, Netherlands GECHS Oslo, Norway START Washington, D.C., USA GECHH Hamilton, Canada UGEC Tempe, Arizona, USA

This publication is printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper and contains 60% recycled wood or fibre and 40% fibres from well-managed forests.

IHDP Secretariat UNU-IHDP Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10 53113, Bonn, Germany

T +49 (0)228 815 0600 F +49 (0)228 815 0620 secretariat@ihdp.unu.edu www.ihdp.org

All of IHDP’s Publications including the Annual Report, its scientific magazine the IHDP Update, and newsletter the IHDP E-Zine, as well as many others, are available online for download and browsing.

Keep up with IHDP’s activities by subscribing to the IHDP Update, E-Zine and Newsflash email lists online at www.ihdp.org

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