First Inter-Governmental Meeting
1996, Chiang Mai
The First Inter-Governmental Meeting was held on
March 25-26, 1996 in Chiang Mai, Thailand and it was
attended by representatives from 12 countries.
Observers were present from the IGBP, the
International START Secretariat, SASCOM,
TEACOM and WCRP.
The Meeting noted that during its deliberations it had
agreed on a program of activities, and established
mechanisms for their timely and effective
implementation. It was agreed that another
Inter-Governmental Meeting should be held
preferably in March 1997.
Some of the important outcomes of this meeting were:
- agreement that the general policy-making and
decision-making role for APN should be vested
in the annual Inter-Governmental meeting;
- APN should organize itself as set out below for
an initial period of two years, during which the
APN will develop general guidelines and
procedures for its long-term operation;
- establishment of a Steering Group and Scientific
Planning Group;
- that the Steering Group, the Scientific Planning
Group or the Interim Secretariat could invite
relevant experts to contribute to APN scientific
activities;
- establishment of priority research topics and
activities; and
- acceptance that member arrangements would
continue to evolve.
Proposed Scientific Program
The Chair of the First Meeting of the Scientific
Planning Committee meeting held on 25-26 January
1996 in Tokyo reported on the conclusions from that
meeting and from a Satellite Meeting on Asian
Monsoon-ENSO issues held on 24 January 1996, and
on the APN project development cycle. The Meeting
expressed its appreciation to those involved for the
successful effort they had made in translating
previously agreed general APN priorities and
directions into concrete program possibilities.
Inventory
Inventory activities were discussed under item
6
below.
Priority Topics and Activities
- Monsoon
The Meeting agreed with the proposed limited
APN support for the AAN (Asian AWS
Network) component of GAME (GEWEX Asian
Monsoon Experiment), a WCRP project.
- ENSO
The WCRP representative advised the Meeting
of a proposal being developed with the aim of
improving climate prediction availability and
usefulness for users, with particular reference
to the ENSO phenomenon. A report was
presented involving a proposed International
Research Institute (IRI) dealing with similar
issues. It was agreed that these proposals had
the potential to facilitate action on the priority
climate issues already identified in APN
discussions. It was agreed that these proposals
could be further developed by a small group
with participation from APN, IGBP, IHDP,
NOAA, START, WCRP, and WMO.
This group could be responsible for
- making arrangements for undertaking
preliminary or demonstration studies;
- planning
a workshop; and
- generating involvement of other
interested organizations, covering subject
matter interest and funding support
possibilities.
It was noted that the group should set
the process in motion as soon as possible.
A representative of the United States Country
Studies Program made a presentation outlining
the support for Country Studies to Address
Climate Change. The Meeting noted that this
work contributed to regional knowledge which
would be relevant for climate prediction work.
-
Regional Climate Modeling
The Meeting noted the advice from the Interim
Secretariat that it would be able to provide
some support to initial action by TEACOM,
with the intention that when practicable it could
be expanded on a regional basis.
-
Human Dimensions Study
The Meeting endorsed the proposed action by a
small group including APN, IHDP, SASCOM,
and START representatives to plan a joint
APN-START workshop to be hosted by
SASCOM in November 1996 on the broader
Human Dimensions topic for the APN region. It
was noted that the human dimensions study
being pursued by the Interim Secretariat was
nearly complete, and that it confirmed the
desirability of such a workshop. It was also
noted that there was an opportunity for this
workshop to be a joint activity with the Global
Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem core project
of the IGBP.
-
LUCC Study
The Meeting endorsed the limited support for
LUCC activities proposed by the Interim
Secretariat, noting that a proposed satellite
workshop in Kyoto, Japan in November 1996
would provide an opportunity to bring together
the LUCC methodologies within the APN
region, and to explore compatible approaches
for research development.
- Other Priorities
The Interim Secretariat confirmed that further
exploratory work could be arranged on
freshwater problems and on regional activity on
aerosols and acid deposition issues. It was
noted that the developments on climate
prediction would, if successful, deal with some
elements of freshwater problems. The
greenhouse gas issue could be kept under
review.
The Meeting also agreed that global
change-related integrated assessment models
such as AIM (Asian Pacific Integrated Model)
should be encouraged where possible in the
course of APN activities.
The Meeting noted with appreciation the
communication developments being undertaken
by the Interim Secretariat, involving an APN
mailing list system using e-mail, an APN Home
Page on the World Wide Web, an APN file
transfer protocol to be set up at the Interim
Secretariat, and the installation of a server to
facilitate these developments.
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