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Disbanded Committees
Advisory Committees Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE) The future of this committee is being considered as part of the CSPR Priority Area Assessement process and recommendations in this regard will be considered by the ICSU General Assembly in October 2005. In the meantime, as of 2004, this committee is in abeyance. Created in 1989, the Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE) advises the Executive Board (EB) on the status and development of activities related to the environment undertaken by ICSU—either alone or in partnership with others. The goal of ACE is to a) promote harmonious interaction amongst members of the ICSU family; b) provide a platform of discussion and information exchange among relevant ICSU bodies and various external partners; and c) to establish and maintain an interface with external partners (such as the United Nations), including those in social and engineering sciences and in industry. Chair : C. TICKELL, (United Kingdom) Members :
Contact
Committee on the Dissemination of Scientific Information (CDSI) The future of this committee is being considered as part of the CSPR Priority Area Assessement process and recommendations in this regard will be considered by the ICSU General Assembly in October 2005. In the meantime, as of 2004, this committee is in abeyance. The Committee on the Dissemination of Scientific Information (CDSI) is charged with advising the ICSU family about scientific publication, new developments in information technology, access to data and information, and pertinent legal issues. Archive of CDSI website Terms of Reference (Rule of Procedure 11.2 a) Chair : E. SANDEWALL, (Sweden) Members :
Ex officio :
Contact
AD Hoc Committees
ICSU ad hoc Scoping Group
on Human Health Human Health is a new priority area for ICSU as outlined in the Strategic Plan, 2006-2011. A large number of International Unions are working together to develop an initiative on Science for Health and Wellbeing. At the same time, a separate programme on Global Environmental Change and Health is being developed by the Earth Systems Science Partnership. ICSU has provided some funding to seed both of these initiatives. Human health is also a priority for the ICSU Regional Office for Africa and several Interdisciplinary Bodies are conducting health-related projects. In February 2006, the Committee on Scientific Planning and Review established an ad hoc Scoping Group to liaise with and advise on these various activities and help define ICSU’s future strategy in this area. Report of the CSPR ad hoc Scoping Group on Human Health
Background and Terms of Reference Background Since 2002, a number of Unions and Interdisciplinary Bodies have been developing an initiative on Science for Health and Wellbeing (SHWB). They submitted a successful grant application to ICSU for $50k to organize meetings and workshops to further advance this initiative in 2006. Whilst being impressed by the commitment from a large number of Unions, CSPR had some concerns about the scope of the proposal. As a condition of the funding award it was stipulated that the proposers should liaise with an ad hoc CSPR Scoping Group to help define a more specific integrated programme. In parallel to the Union led activity, the Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP) has been developing a new project on Global Environmental Change and Human Health (GEC-Human Health). This also has been partially supported by the ICSU grants programme with a grant in 2004 to carry out a rapid assessment of Biodiversity Health and the Environment. A draft science and implementation plan will be presented to the ESSP Chairs and Directors meeting in June 2006 (Munich) and it is anticipated that the final proposal for a GEC-Human Health project will be launched at the ESSP Open Science meeting in November 2006 (Beijing). Human Health is an identified priority in the ICSU Strategic Plan 2006-2011 with the overall goal (p32-33): “to ensure that health considerations are duly taken into account in the planning and execution of future activities by building on the relevant strengths of Scientific Unions and Interdisciplinary Bodies.” And the following specific action:
It is also stated elsewhere in the Strategic Plan (p50): “A recurrent theme in the assessment and review process has been the need for improved communication and coordination between the activities of the Interdisciplinary Bodies and the Scientific Unions. It is important that the wealth of expertise that exists within the Scientific Unions is used to the fullest extent and, vice versa, the programmes of the Interdisciplinary Bodies have uch to offer the Unions.” Several Unions and IBs have already been involved in the development of both programmes but given the strategic importance of this area to ICSU, it may be beneficial to either or both programmes to encourage further interaction. The establishment of a CSPR ad hoc Group on Human Health is the first limited step in defining a potential role for ICSU in a complex area which is considered to be a very high priority by many Members. Terms of Reference
In relation to its liaison roles, 1 and 2, the Group is not asked to explicitly review the scientific quality of these proposals but rather to assess and offer advice on strategic direction and/or links to other activities within the ICSU community. Modus operandi It is proposed that the Group will meet once, for two days, in the first half of 2006 to consider the status of the SHWB and GEC-Human Health proposals and agree on preliminary advice to these groups as necessary. Ideally, this meeting would be back to back with one of the proposed SHWB workshops or Executive Committee meetings. Subsequent interactions during 2006 could be largely electronic and via tele-conferencing. However, it is likely that the whole group will need to meet again early in 2007 to consider progress on SHWB and GEC-Human Health and agree on its final recommendations and report. End Product The product of the Group’s work should be a short report to be considered by CSPR and the EB in 2007 and made available to all ICSU Members thereafter.
Chair : Dai Rees (UK) Members:
Ad hoc Working Group for an International
Science Panel on Renewable Energy Working in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, ICSU has convened an ad hoc working group to develop a proposal for an International Science Panel on Renewable Energy (ISPRE), which is envisioned as an international, interdisciplinary platform for promoting and coordinating R&D for renewable energy technologies. This working group will also be helping ICSU address the issue of renewable energy for the upcoming meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
Review Committee for the Grants Programme The 28th General Assembly in 2005 requested that a review of the ICSU grants programme be carried out by the Committee on Scientific Planning and Review (CSPR). The terms of reference for this review were by CSPR in February 2006 and were subsequently sent to Members for input and additional nominations for the Review Committee.
Background and Terms of Reference Background The ICSU-UNESCO grants programme has been managed by the Committee on Scientific Planning and Review (CSPR) since 2000. [Prior to this, grants were awarded annually to ICSU Unions and Interdisciplinary Bodies (IBs) by the Executive Board on the basis of recommendations from the Committee on Finance and Fundraising]. CSPR’s first action was to introduce a competitive peer-review process for grants awarded in 2001. From 2002 onwards it has been further stipulated that proposals must be interdisciplinary (involving at least two eligible Unions and/or IBs) and address one or more of five defined priority areas:
These priorities were defined by CSPR and are in line with those laid
out in the ICSU-UNESCO Framework Agreement 2002-2007 but predate the development
of the ICSU Strategic Plan. The annual budget for the grant scheme up until 2005 was between €680k-800k, with this coming in approximately equal parts from ICSU’s own funds, UNESCO and the US State Department. There has been increasing financial pressure on all of these funding sources with the result that the programme had to be much reduced in 2005 and 2006. ICSU alone cannot sustain the programme at its previous level of funding. However, ICSU and UNESCO have initiated discussions in preparation for the third Framework Agreement 2008-2013. It is possible that the grants programme could become part of the development of the joint priority areas of ICSU and UNESCO. In the light of the funding situation, and as the competitive programme has now been running for six years, the Executive Board recommended to the 28th General Assembly of ICSU (Suzhou, October, 2005) that a review be carried out. This was endorsed by the General Assembly and the decision is reflected in two specific actions that are included in the ICSU Strategic Plan, 2006-2011 (Section 5.3.2 Seeding New Initiatives):
CSPR is entrusted with the review and reporting back to the Executive Board and Members. Given its previous role as a major sponsor of the programme, it is proposed that UNESCO be invited to provide input to the review.
Terms of Reference Taking account of the input from ICSU Member Unions and Interdisciplinary Bodies:
Modus Operandi, including consultation with Members and IBs It is proposed that the review committee be established after consultation with the Scientific Unions and IBs and that a single two-day meeting be convened in 2006. All ICSU Members and IBs and will be invited to provide written comments prior to the meeting in response to the questions listed in annex 1. UNESCO Natural Science Division will also be invited to provide input. At its meeting, the review committee will consider both the responses from Members and UNESCO and the necessary documentation to assess past performance as provided by the Secretariat. The main recommendations will be agreed at the meeting for inclusion in a brief report that will be finalized electronically.
End product The product of the committee’s work should be a short report to be considered by CSPR and the EB at their first meetings in 2007. UNESCO will be invited to participate in these discussions. The report will be made available to all ICSU Members thereafter. The report will provide important input to the preparation of the 2008-2013 UNESCO-ICSU Framework Agreement. It should also provide the basis for approaches to other potential co-sponsors for the programme.
Chair: John Marks (ex-CSPR) Members:
Priority Area Assessment (PAA) on Capacity Building
in Science The goal of the Priority Area Assessments (PAA) process is to strengthen ICSU’s overall capability in addressing priority scientific issues that are of emerging importance to science and society at large. The PAA is a mechanism to develop ICSU’s strategies for selected priority scientific areas. It is designed to help ICSU develop a programme structure reflecting its priorities; to ensure synergies in the activities of the ICSU family; and to enable an appropriate allocation of limited resources. In order to be effective, the PAA process must involve relevant members of the ICSU family – i.e. Union and National Members, interdisciplinary bodies, and joint initiatives. It should also consider ICSU’s priorities in the context of relevant activities outside of ICSU. The immediate outcome of a PAA is a report containing key recommendations that will be published and widely disseminated by ICSU. This report will form the basis for future actions by ICSU and ICSU members, including the development of new programmes, policy initiatives and definition of new priorities for the ICSU grants programme. Some of the recommendations may require the establishments of new partnerships with bodies outside the ICSU family or may be more appropriately taken forward by other organisations, in which case, the necessary dialogue(s) will be initiated. The results of the PAA will provide essential input for the development of an ICSU strategy to be presented at the 28th General Assembly in October 2005. 1 Other PAAs are also being initiated in the area of “Environment in Relation to Sustainable Development” and “Scientific Data and Information”.
Context for the PAA on Capacity Building in Science Scientific and technological capacity of individuals is increasingly called for as a basis of prudent private and public decision-making for our sustainable future. Abilities to create, synthesise and apply scientific and technological knowledge are crucial for peaceful development of the global society in the 21st century. However, securing high-quality human resources with strong scientific and technological talent is one of the major challenges to all societies of the world. Attracting young talent to science, improving the quality of science education, and enhancing public understanding of science are among others emerging priority issues of government of both developing and developed countries. In particular, there is a pressing need for capacity building in developing countries where poor education in general is an inexorable problem. However, the decreased attraction of science and engineering careers of youth in industrialised countries is also cause for concern. Capacity building in science does not only mean training of people,
but also has institutional and other implications. It should also concern
not only scientists or scientists to be but also other groups of individuals
in the society. Capacity building in science should be the continuous
efforts that lead to the establishment of a corps of qualified scientists
with supporting infrastructure including facilities and working conditions
that enables them to conduct research, education, training and advisory
work, particularly, in area of direct societal significance The responsibility for building and maintaining capacity lies squarely
on the shoulders of national governments but requires significantly enhanced
collaboration and partnerships with the private sector, the global development
assistance community and the S&T community. The United Nations, together
with their partner organisations, has been advocating the collective responsibility
of the global society for capacity building for sustainable development.
In the occasion of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD),
ICSU, representing the International Scientific and Technological Community
together with other partners, has successfully highlighted the importance
of capacity building in science for sustainable development Amongst many inter-governmental organisations, UNESCO will continue to be a major partner of ICSU in the area of capacity building in science. For example, the UNESCO Science Sector is initiating a brain-storming debate on strategies for strengthening international co-operation in basic science involving ICSU. The Education Sector organised the Higher Education Partners’ Meeting (WCHE +5) in June 2003 to review the progress and follow-up strategies to the World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE). WCHE+5 concluded that science and higher education policies must be integrated focussing on the role of universities both for higher education and scientific research. Such collaboration will be extremely useful in defining ICSU’s role in the capacity building in science in a broader context. The InterAcademy Council has initiated a project designed to produce a global strategy for improved access by all nations and peoples to the benefits of science and technology. The focus will be on human resources, research institutions, scientific cooperation and global communication. The final report will be issued to a wider audience including international organisations, in particular, appropriate UN agencies. A draft report will be made available for consultation in September 2003, which would serve as a part of background for this assessment. Recognising the importance of capacity building in science and the role of ICSU therein, the 27th General Assembly (GA) of ICSU encouraged the ICSU family members to intensify efforts in effecting partnerships within and beyond the ICSU family to strengthen capacity building, especially for developing countries, and to broaden outreach to teachers and young scientists. In this connection, the GA also decided to continue the mandate of the Committee on Capacity Building in Science (CCBS) only for one year. The GA also decided to dissolve the Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries (COSTED), and to set up a Policy Committee on Developing Countries and four ICSU Regional Offices for developing countries. The PAA on Capacity Building in Science is expected to develop strategies for bringing synergies to a wide range of capacity building activities of the ICSU family, and provide inputs to future discussions on the future course of the CCBS. 2 Working definition of “Capacity Building” developed by the ICSU Advisory Group on the Possible Role of ICSU in the Areas of Capacity Building in Science and of Science Education in 1992. The group was called partially as a follow-up to UNCED. Based on the recommendation of the group, the 24th General Assembly in 1993 established the Committee on Capacity Building in Science (CCBS) replacing the Committee on Teaching of Science. 3 ICSU 2002. ICSU Series on Science for Sustainable Development No.5: Science Education and Capacity Building for Sustainable Development.
Scope of the PAA on Capacity Building The scope of the PAA should cover a wide range of capacity building activities carried out by the ICSU Unions and National Members and Interdisciplinary Bodies, to provide an overall picture of those activities and propose action to strengthen synergies among them. The PAA should also take into account relevant efforts made by outside organisations and identify value-added role of ICSU and ways to develop partnership with other organisations, not only in the science sector but also other sectors such as education and development aids sectors, to complement each other.
Major ICSU Activities in relation to Capacity Building A one-day special session was held on the occasion of Unions Presidents Meeting in February 2001, inviting representatives of the ICSU Interdisciplinary Bodies, to exchange information on their major capacity building activities. As illustrated later also by a draft compendium on capacity building. a wide range of capacity building activities are being carried out by the ICSU family – ICSU Unions Members, National Members, and Interdisciplinary Bodies. In particular, many of the Scientific Unions are actively engaged in a wide variety of educational activities in respective disciplines. Following are the only selected examples of capacity building activities of the ICSU family. The Committee on Capacity Building in Science (CCBS) was created in 1993 with the mandate covering the following three areas: i) primary school education in science and mathematics, ii) the public understanding of science, and iii) the isolation of scientists. Over the past few years, CCBS has been focused on science and mathematics education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels mainly thorough the organisation of international conferences to exchange best practices on curriculum development, hands-on science education programmes and other ways to ensure quality of science and mathematics education. These conferences contributed to connecting the science and education communities, in particular, in the host country of the conference. For example, the CCBS Conference held in China in 2000 has also served as an opportunity to launch reform efforts in primary school efforts in primary science. In addition, the CCBS, in association with IAP, is developing a functional website liking relevant homepages of organisations/programmes. The 27th GA decided to continue the mandate of CCBS only for one year (till the end of 2003). The Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries (COSTED) was established in 1966 and for over decades has carried out a range of projects to facilitate participation of developing countries’ scientists and to strengthen the scientific and technological capacity of developing countries through the work of its Central Secretariat in India and seven regional secretariats. An in-depth review of COSTED was carried out in 2001-2002 and based on recommendation from this review, the 27th GA decided to replace the seven regional secretariats by four ICSU Regional Offices in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, and Arab Region. ICSU/TWAS/UNESCO Short-Term Fellowship Programme in the Basic Science, originated in 1990, aims at promoting capacity-building through international cooperation in the basic sciences. Specifically it is enabling scientists, particularly young scientists, form developing countries and Central and Eastern Europe, to carry out short-term studies in well-established scientific centres. The ICSU Executive Board recently reviewed the programmes and suggested that they should focus more on the least developed countries. ICSU’s longer-term role in this programme should be considered in the context of the PAA. Global Change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START), is a programme of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP), established in 1992, developed a system of regional networks of collaborating scientists and institutions on global change issues. Its objective is to build indigenous capacity, especially in developing countries, to address scientific and policy aspects of global change by strengthening and connecting existing institutions, training scientists and providing them with improved access to data and research results. International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), a programme of the Committee on Dissemination of Scientific Information (CDSI), was established in 1992 in cooperation with UNESCO and TWAS. It is a cooperative network of partners whose aim is to enhance worldwide access to scientific information, and to improve its flow within between countries, especially those with less developed systems of publication and dissemination. There are many other ICSU subsidiary bodies that have capacity building activities focusing on research capacity building in specific areas in developing 4 ICSU. 2001. ICSU Compendium of Capacity Building Activities (draft)
The Panel will:
A minimum of two physical meetings of the Panel might be expected in addition to “virtual” discussions via e-mail and telephone. Input from the relevant members of the ICSU family will need to be solicited and analysed; it may be desirable to conduct ‘face to face’ interviews with representatives of key bodies. The Panel will be asked to prepare a report to the ICSU Committee on Scientific Planning and Review (CSPR), which will include an overarching mission statement and strategic framework for ICSU and recommendations on roles of new and/or existing interdisciplinary bodies and joint initiatives in the area. This report will be
ICSU will provide financial resources to carry out the review, including travel and accommodation costs for the Panel members to participate in the necessary meetings. The ICSU Secretariat will provide administrative support to the Panel, including assistance with communication among the members and organisations of meetings. The final report will be the responsibility of the Panel, although the ICSU secretariat will assist in its preparation as necessary.
Membership of ad hoc panel for PAA on Capacity Building in Science Chair: Jorge E. Allende [Santiago, Chile] Members:
Scoping Group Natural and Human-Induced Hazards At its meeting in April 2005, the Executive Board gave the go-ahead for a scoping study on hazards. The aim is to take a broad proposal to the October 2005 General Assembly identifying a niche in the hazards field where ICSU can use its unique attributes to make an impact on both research and public policy, probably through a substantial programme lasting some years. Subject to GA approval, a Planning Committee will then set out the details of the programme and propose how it might be implemented. Membership Chair : Gordon McBean (Canada) Members:
Observer: (invited by the Chair)
Ad hoc Advisory Group
on Consortium for Science and Technology for Sustainable Development ICSU, together with the Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability (ISTS) and the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), has formed an Ad hoc Advisory Group for the Consortium on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development to help formulate goals, an integrated agenda for research and development, capacity building, and linking research to action. The Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability (ISTS); the International Council for Science (ICSU); and the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) have decided to establish a Consortium for Science and Technology for Sustainable Development. The idea for a Consortium developed during discussions at the Mexico City Synthesis Workshop, May 20 – 23, 2002 (ICSU Series on Science for Sustainable Development No. 9, 2002) and was discussed further at an informal meeting in Paris in November 2002. The initial members of the Consortium are the organisers of the May 2002 Mexico City Synthesis Workshop on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development (see Annex ). Other organizations may join at a later date. The underlying purpose of the Consortium will be to promote and strengthen efforts around the world to enhance the contribution of science and technology to sustainable development. To this end, the Consortium will take into account whenever possible ongoing and planned efforts of numerous individuals, groups and institutions worldwide currently engaged in science and technology for sustainable development. The Consortium partners have agreed that a widely inclusive Ad hoc Advisory Group should be formed to help formulate goals, an integrated agenda for research and development, capacity building, and linking research to action, an implementation plan, and the structure of the Consortium, and expand its intellectual, societal and institutional scope.
Mandate The Advisory Group established by the Consortium founders is asked to recommend:
Guidelines In fulfilling its mandate, the Advisory Group is asked to take into account the following guidelines:
Chairs:
Members:
Ex Officio Members:
Background 2 Sustainability concerns have occupied a place on the global agenda since at least the 1980s, with publication of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Strategy and the Brundtland Commission’s report Our Common Future. The prominence of that place has been rising, however. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reflected a growing consensus when he wrote in his Millennium Report to the General Assembly that “Freedom from want, freedom from fear, and the freedom of future generations to sustain their lives on this planet” are the three grand challenges facing the international community at the dawn of the 21st century. Science and technology are increasingly recognized to be central to both the origins of Secretary-General Annan’s three challenges, and to the prospects for successfully dealing with them. Despite the importance of achieving sustainability, and the centrality of science and technology to strategies for doing so, a great imbalance exists in the resources and attention devoted to harnessing science and technology in the service of the goal of sustainable development. Efforts to harness science and technology (S&T) for sustainability have largely had to draw on research and development (R&D) systems built for other purposes – begging monitoring data from the world’s military establishment, piggy-backing on the already over-extended international agricultural research system, and borrowing insights gained from basic research programs on global environmental change. With a few important but relatively small and under-funded exceptions, efforts to “sustain the lives of future generations on this planet” still lack dedicated, solution-driven R&D systems of anything like the scale or maturity of those devoted to security and development per se. Calls for strengthening S&T programs targeted on sustainable development were increasingly heard during the 1990s following the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio. Many of the earliest and most thoughtful contributions to this discourse came from the developing world through the work of individual scholars and of institutions such as the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), and the South Center. A further regional perspective was provided by the African Academy’s Millennial Perspective on Science, Technology and Development. European thinking of the late 1990s was exemplified in Schellnhuber and Wenzel’s Earth Systems Analysis: Integrating Science for Sustainability, the European Union’s Fifth Framework Programme, and a special issue on “Sustainability Science” published by the International Journal of Sustainable Development. A number of national academies of science or other advisory bodies – including those of Brazil, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States also addressed the links between sustainability and global change. With the turn of the Millennium, discussions on science, technology and sustainability intensified significantly. On the political side, impetus was provided by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in August 2002. In the policy arena, international environmental assessments were increasingly called on to address sustainability issues. On the scientific side, national and international stock-taking on the first decade of global environmental change research and planning for the decade ahead provided additional opportunities for rethinking the relationships among science, technology and sustainability. In response to this increased attention, during the two-year period leading up to the World Summit organizations representing the international scientific and technology communities conducted more than a dozen fact-finding studies, discussions, conferences, and workshops that addressed the question “How can science and technology contribute more effectively to achieving society’s goals of sustainable development?” These “consultations” reflected a wide range of perspectives. The InterAcademy Panel (IAP) of the World’s Scientific Academies led the way with a May 2000 symposium on the contributions that science and technology could make to a transition toward sustainability. The Global Change Research Programmes – IGBP, IHDP, WCRP, and DIVERSITAS – made sustainability a focus of their forward-planning efforts at a major Open Science Conference in Amsterdam (July 2001) and a smaller follow-up meeting in Paris (February 2002). The International Council for Science (ICSU) was invited, along with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to serve as the official representative of the scientific and technological community during the preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). In this capacity ICSU brought together the IAP, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and a number of other international scientific organizations in a survey of progress made and lessons learned in efforts to apply science and technology to sustainability since the 1992 Rio Conference. The Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability (ISTS) – an ad-hoc, international group of scholars working on problems of environment and development – organized a series of global and regional workshops to assess what on-the-ground efforts to promote human well-being while protecting the earth’s life support systems most need from science and technology in different parts of the world. Finally, ISTS, TWAS, and ICSU jointly organized a pair of workshops on institutions to harness science to sustainable development (Trieste, February 2002; Cambridge, April 2002) and a synthesis workshop in Mexico City (May 2002) that brought leaders of these various efforts together to produce a consensus statement on science, technology and sustainable development that was used in the World Summit preparatory process. After the WSSD, ICSU held its General Assembly in September 2002 and passed a resolution to set up, in collaboration with other interested partners, a program on Science for Sustainable Development. The TWAS General Assembly in October 2002 emphasised again the important role of science and technology in sustainable development and the TWAS contributions to the evolving agenda. The Steering Group of ISTS met in November 2002 and agreed that the Initiative should seek further funding to continue its aims of developing the research and development agenda on science and technology for sustainable development, to enhance linkages between knowledge and action and to strengthen infrastructure and capacity for conducting and applying science and technology for sustainable development. A small, informal meeting of the sponsors of the Mexico City Synthesis Workshop was held in Paris (14-15 November), chaired by Prof. Jane Lubchenco, President of ICSU. The participants agreed that further efforts to develop and implement the action agenda shaped at Mexico City were still needed in the wake of the WSSD, and that great opportunities exist for pursuing that work through an expanded consortium, incorporating other groups from the science, engineering and development communities. The Paris group agreed to explore the prospects for bringing together a broadly representative planning group to carry forward such a program.
Footnotes 1 The Consortium activities should be complementary to ongoing activities of the Consortium Partners and other activities looking at the human-environment system from the perspective of sustainable development, e.g., the Earth System Science Partnership of ICSU and its partners, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Resilience Alliance, relevant Type II Partnerships from WSSD, numerous programmes identifies during the Mexico City Workshop and other planned or ongoing initiatives related to harnessing science and technology for sustainable development. The planning and implementation phases should also include as much as possible participation from the wide range of initiatives that are based locally and work on the implementation of sustainability transitions world-wide. 2 For references in this section, please see the Background paper for the Mexico City Workshop, published in the ICSU Series on Science for Sustainable Development and also available on http://sustainabilityscience.org
ICSU International Polar Year 2007/8 Planning Group Planning Group on the International Polar Year (IPY) In response to the considerable interest from many polar and global research bodies, the Executive Board (EB) of ICSU established an International Planning Group in February 2003 to develop the concept of an International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007-08. The Board has now approved an IPY programme in 2007-08 providing a major opportunity to intensify and enhance Polar Regions research. As with previous Polar Years, and the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), this IPY has the potential to capture the public’s imagination and increase awareness of the crucial role of the Polar Regions. IPY 2007-8 is envisioned to be an intense campaign of coordinated polar observations and analysis; it will be bipolar in focus, multidisciplinary in scope, and truly international in participation. Its activities will hopefully attract and develop the next generation of polar scientists. The scientific goal is to increase understanding of the role of Polar Regions in planetary processes and to explore polar environments. It will also address the human dimension associated with the rapid changes now occurring in these regions. A key objective will be the exploitation of opportunities afforded by new Information Technologies to achieve previously unprecedented participation in IPY science. Terms of Reference of the ICSU IPY 2007/8 Planning Group (i) To gather, summarise and make widely available information on existing ideas for an IPY serving as a clearinghouse for ideas; (ii) To stimulate, encourage and organise debate amongst a wide range of interested parties on the objectives and possible content of an IPY; (iii) To formulate a set of objectives for an IPY; (iv) To develop an initial high level Science Plan for an IPY which engages younger scientists throughout the planning process; (v) To develop a specific set of objects targeted at formal and informal education as well as the general public in the next IPY; (vi) To develop a proposed mechanism for the design, development, guidance, and oversight of an IPY; (vii) To present a draft plan to the ICSU EB at their February 2004 meeting; and (vii) To report to the ICSU 28th General Assembly in 2005 a plan for
an IPY in 2007/8 for final endorsement.
Chair :C. Rapley, (United Kingdom) Members:
Priority Area Assessment Panel on Data and Information The PAA will help define ICSU’s role and future strategy in addressing the emerging issues surrounding science in the Information Society. The immediate outcome of the PAA will be a report and key recommendations that will be published and widely disseminated. This report will form the basis for future actions by ICSU and ICSU family members and partners, including the development of new research projects or programmes, the development of policy initiatives and definition of new priorities for the ICSU grants programme.
Working Group on Energy and Sustainable Societies
Review on Roles and Responsibilities of Science
and Society Given the changing demands with regard to ethics and science, the Executive Board made a proposal to the 27th General Assembly of ICSU, in September 2002, that an ad hoc committee be established to carry out a broad strategic review to 1) define potential priority areas where action from ICSU is required and 2) define appropriate mechanisms and structures to address these priorities effectively. This proposal was approved by the ICSU members.
Chair : B. Gustafsson,
(Sweden) Members:
Working Group on Basic Sciences At a meeting of the ICSU Unions in February 2001, several Unions agreed
to work together to produce a position statement on the value of basic
sciences. In February 2003, the ICSU Executive Board approved a proposal
to bring together the work that was subsequently done by several Unions
and establish an ad hoc working group to develop an ICSU statement aimed
at policy-makers.
Chair :J. A. de la Penã, Mexico [Mathematics] Members:
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