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Planning and Coordinating Research
Hazards and Disasters
The Planning Group for the new ICSU initiative Natural and Human-induced
Environmental Hazards and Disasters is putting the finishing touches
to its draft report following a Consultation Forum in Paris on
29 October. The draft report will be sent to Members for a final
review in early 2008.
International Polar Year
The ICSU-WMO Joint Committee that oversees the International Polar
Year (IPY), held a progress meeting in Quebec, Canada, in October.
The Committee resolved to produce a brief report summarizing the
status of the IPY and the achievements to date. The report will
be available in January.
The second International Polar Day, dedicated to Ice Sheets and
their future in the face of global climate change, was held on
13 December. The International Polar Days generate an enormous
amount of interest from educators and media around the world and
are proving to be an excellent tool for raising awareness of IPY.
More information on Ice Sheet Day and other activities is available
on the IPY website.
The first in a series of major interdisciplinary IPY global conferences
will be held in St Petersburg, Russia 8–11 July 2008. The
conference will explore changes in the Polar Regions, people and
resources at the poles, the poles as a vantage point for observations
and the latest polar discoveries. Details are available on the
conference website.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
— Follow-up
The ICSU-UNESCO-UNU group charged with defining research needs
based on the results of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)
held its last meeting at UNESCO in December. They developed plans
for a set of research-driven sub-global assessments that will
be established based on a common methodology. The draft report
will be circulated within the ICSU family for review in early
2008. A review article is also being prepared for Science
and presentations will be made at the 3rd
World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Madrid in February
and the ICSU sponsored Resilience
Alliance Conference in Stockholm in April.
ICSU is also partner in discussions regarding implementation of
the MA findings and preparations for a possible second assessment
of ecosystem services. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) organized
a meeting hosted by the Swedish Ministry for the Environment in
October at which time the key partners agreed to a way forward.
Following the meeting, a message
was sent to the last IMoSEB Consultation, held in Montpellier
in November. The final
report from that consultation proposes that UNEP convene an
intergovernmental consultation on IMoSEB and the future of MA.
Global Observations —
Systems
ICSU attended the GEO Plenary and Ministerial Summit in Cape
Town, South Africa, in November. The Ministerial Summit considered
the progress report The First
100 Steps to GEOSS and adopted the Cape
Town Declaration. ICSU’s Statement to the Ministerial
Summit and a Joint Statement by FAO, UNEP, UNESCO (including IOC)
and WMO are available
online.
Grants Programme
Applications are invited for the 2008 ICSU Grants Programme. The
Programme Statement and Schedule, as well as the Application Form
are available in the Member
Zone of the ICSU website. The deadline for receipt of applications
is 1 March 2008.
The ICSU Grants Programme is strictly reserved for ICSU Scientific
Unions and Interdisciplinary Bodies.
Science for Policy
Sustainable Development
IICSU and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations have
submitted a Discussion
Paper to the 16th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD-16) as official input from the Scientific and
Technological Community. The Discussion Paper focuses on agriculture,
land, rural development, and drought and desertification, which
will be the topics under review by CSD-16 in May 2008. Throughout
the paper special attention is paid to Africa, the regional focus
of this CSD biennial cycle.
Universality of Science
Regional Office for Africa
The ICSU Regional Office for Africa 2006-07
Annual Report and the Natural
and Human-induced Hazards and Disasters science plan are
now available online.
Regional Office for Asia and
the Pacific
November was a busy month for the ICSU Regional Office
for Asia and the Pacific with the fourth Regional Committee meeting
and the second ICSU Regional Consultation both being held in Chiang
Mai, Thailand. Sixty participants from 17 countries attended the
Regional Consultation, and for the first time, Bhutan, Laos and
Myanmar sent representatives.
The Regional Office also represented the Asia and Pacific science
and technology community at the Regional Implementation Meeting
for CSD-16, which was held in Jakarta. The meeting was organized
by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific,
and will feed into the work of CSD-16 by providing a regional
perspective and identifying challenges in implementation of the
topics under review (see Sustainable Development).
Regional Office for Latin America
and the Caribbean
The Director of the Regional Office for Latin America and the
Caribbean attended the third meeting of the ICSU Spanish Commission,
which was held at the Ministry of Education and Science, Madrid,
in November. Potential collaborations between the Spanish Commission
and the Regional Office were discussed. The first meeting of the
Scientific Planning Group on Natural Disasters took place in Manizales,
Colombia, 5-6 December.
The Arab Region
The first ICSU Regional Meeting for the Arab Region will take
place in Amman, Jordan on 16–17 March 2008. The location
of the Regional Office will be a major item for discussion.
Freedom and Responsibility
The report
from the third meeting of the Committee on Freedom and Responsibility
in the conduct of Science (CFRS) is now available. The report
contains an analysis of the interactions between politics, science
policies and scientific practice—a major focus of the Committee’s
future work. It also includes summaries of a dialogue session
on science and ethics, with academic leaders in Taiwan, and a
workshop on Emerging
Infectious Diseases in the Asian region.
Research Integrity
The report
of the first World Conference on Research Integrity, which was
organised by the European Science Foundation and US Office of
Research Integrity, in partnership with ICSU, is now available.
Availability of Scientific
Publications
In September, the International
Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP)
welcomed Tag (Mary) McEntegart as the new Director. A major focus
of Tag’s efforts will be strengthening partnerships with
other organisations, including ICSU Members and Interdisciplinary
Bodies, with an interest in improving the accessibility of scientific
information. Tag replaces Anne Luetcke, who stepped in as interim
Director, following the departure of the founding Director Carol
Priestly in 2006.
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