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Chairperson's Summary
Second
Inter-Governmental Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change
Research (APN)
March 27-28,
1997,
Tokyo, Japan
Summary Report from the Chairperson,
Mr. Hironori Hamanaka
This Meeting was attended by representatives from
Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand,
Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United
States of America, and observers from IHDP,
ENRICH, SASCOM, TEACOM, and the International
START Secretariat.
1. Opening
Welcome and opening remarks were given by Mr.
Tsuneo Suzuki, Parliamentary Vice Minister of the
Environment Agency of Japan, on behalf of Ms.
Michiko Ishii, Minister of State, Director-General of
the Environment Agency. He emphasized:
- Japan's commitment to helping solve global
change problems, including the holding of the
Third Conference of the Parties for the
Framework Convention on Climate Change in
Kyoto in December this year, and
- the necessity of integration of natural science
with social sciences, especially in the
Asia-Pacific region.
He expressed the hope that the APN can help
strengthen collaboration on global change research in
the APN countries.
2. Selection of Chair and Adoption of
Agenda
Mr. Hironori Hamanaka of Japan was selected as
Chairperson, and Mr. Aca Sugandhy of Indonesia was
selected as Vice-Chairperson. The agenda was
adopted as proposed.
3. Report
from the Scientific Planning Group Meeting
The Director of the Interim Secretariat introduced the
Summary Report from the Co-chairpersons of the
SPG. He indicated that the SPG had proposed support
for several projects, and that its conclusions left room
for consideration of proposals by the APN Steering
Group, e.g. on the climate issues raised at the very
recent meetings in Indonesia.
The Director of the International START Secretariat
suggested that a good approach for the proposed
1999 Open Meeting on Human Dimensions would be
to embed it in a more broadly based Global Change
Forum as a means of bringing all the different
elements of global change research together.
The Chairman of the IHDP Scientific Committee
endorsed the SPG proposals. He said they would be
good for human dimensions development in the
region, that it would be useful to inform the IHDP
Secretariat of the developing activities as it may be
able to help with their progress, and suggested
suitable text be included in the next IHDP newsletter.
An Indonesian representative pointed out that the
APN was emerging as one of the strong global change
research groups in the human dimensions field and
reminded the meeting of the need to take account of
several common issues as these activities developed:
(1) ensuring a clear focus for each activity (2)
geographical representation, and (3) capacity building
involving cooperative efforts and partnerships. A
representative from Japan indicated that these
proposals confirmed that a streamlined development
had occurred over a couple of years. A suggestion
from the representative from Malaysia that
assessment arrangements would have to be built into
the programme was accepted.
The Meeting endorsed the Co-chairpersons' Report
of the SPG and authorized the Interim Secretariat to
support projects in accordance with its suggestions.
4. Procedures for Selecting Research
Topics
Some drafting suggestions for the draft Procedures for
Selection of Research Topics and Workshop Activities
were made and accepted. These are included in the
attached Procedures document. In discussion there
was suggestion of the need to develop criteria and
guidelines as soon as possible, and to make sure that
these draw on and are consistent with previous APN
discussions, especially on APN research fields. The
Director indicated that the Interim Secretariat
intended to send a draft to all SPG members soon, so
that criteria and guidelines, including on who can
apply, can be promulgated well before September, the
proposed deadline for proposals.
There was some discussion about the problems
that may arise where both APN and national programme
funds are sought. There was a suggestion that using
an endorsement process involving national global
change committees might help. There were other
suggestions on criteria and guidelines that the Interim
Secretariat indicated it would take into account.
These covered issues such as ensuring benefit for
developing countries, cooperation and partnerships,
collaboration between developing and developed
countries, and the need for a common reporting
format. A representative of the United States advised
that it would be possible to work with the IAI in
this
development phase, as it already had considerable
relevant experience.
5. Revisions in Mandate of Steering
Group
The Director in introducing the proposed new
mandate indicated that the major change involved
giving the Steering Group the task of assisting with
development of APN funding arrangements. The
proposals were accepted.
6. Financial Report and Budget
The Director presented the APN financial report for
the fiscal year 1996-97 and explained the draft budget
for fiscal year 1997-98. He and the Chair explained
that the Japanese national budgetary process had not
been completed, but this might occur within a week.
There were some minor changes suggested to the
report documents, for example, to reflect the
contributions from SASCOM and India's National
Physical Laboratory to the Human Dimensions
Workshop and START contributions to the LUCC
workshop. The Meeting expressed appreciation to the
Environment Agency of Japan for the generous
support illustrated by the report.
There was recognition that there will be
requests to accommodate some as yet unfunded initiatives in the
SPG report, such as the proposed workshops on land
use issues and climate issues. It was pointed out that
some of last year's contribution from the United
States could be available to help with these. There
was also recognition that the Steering Group may
need to review priorities as the year developed, and
that consideration of the budget proposals suggested
that in future, greater clarity may be needed about
possible matching of funds to activities accepted by
the SPG.
A representative from Japan proposed that in the
future items be grouped together under a limited
number of categories, such as operations and research
themes. He said this would be helpful for potential
donors.
The Director indicated that the various points made
can be taken into account in the future.
A representative from the United States
advised that on behalf of the United States Global Change
Program, he could confirm continued support involving
$250,000 (approximately 30 million yen) for the fiscal
year 1997-98 to support the broadening of
participation by developing countries in APN
activities. He said he would discuss the details of how
this might be applied to the APN activities with the
APN Interim Secretariat and the International START
Secretariat. The Meeting thanked the United States
for its continued generous support.
7. Financing for APN
In introducing this topic, the Chairperson said that it
covered a very important issue. The paper could
stimulate thoughts for the Steering Group to
consider, and there need be no attempt to draw
conclusions at the Meeting. Representatives raised
and discussed the following issues:
- establishing links with political
processes and international conventions would provide a sound
basis for securing greater funding,
- securing adequate political backing
for APN will make fundraising easier,
- some more attention by APN to
technology transfer and applied research, some of which
would be marketable, could help attract private
sector involvement; the private sector could
even be involved in APN meetings,
- making APN arrangements easily accessible
to the private sector, e.g. through the Homepage
could indicate to private companies involved in
research where there is potential for mutually
satisfactory joint arrangements between them
and APN interests,
- the APN could usefully link research,
government, and private sector interests,
thereby becoming more attractive for financing,
- reliance on funding from
the Global Environment Facility alone may not be enough,
- consideration
of levy possibilities inevitably raises institutional issues such as
membership
and participation rules,
- the lack of formality in APN arrangements is
probably a constraint on raising funds from
member countries,
- there should be clear recognition that
investment in national programmes relating to
global change research can be an effective way
to support international efforts such as those of
APN, and
- a more systematic approach to financing and
institutional arrangements would help overcome
the fairly ad hoc decision making that has
occurred on this occasion.
A representative of the United States provided
some elaboration of the approach taken by the IAI, which
has a system involving core, programme, and project
funds, and levy arrangements. It was noted that
although the APN would no doubt develop its
individual approach, there would be much to learn
from the IAI experience. The Director confirmed that
the IAI is routinely invited to APN meetings, and that
IAI similarly invites the APN to send representatives
to its meetings, but so far it has been difficult for
regular attendance to be arranged. A representative
of the United States advised that some IAI
representatives could visit to work with the Steering
Group if desired.
Further work is to be done by the Steering Group and
Interim Secretariat during the coming year so that
options can be circulated during the year and
considered at the 1998 Inter-Governmental Meeting.
8. Rules of Procedure of IGM and SPG
- Rules of Procedure of IGM
The Director introduced the draft Rules,
explaining that the APN had reached a point
where establishment of rules for meetings
seemed desirable. The drafts were based on
provisions in some existing international
arrangements.
A representative of the United States
suggested that the two sets of Rules and the
provisions on the mandate of the Steering
Group might be combined into one document.
Many suggestions about the Rules
were made. They are to be taken into account in revised
drafts that the Interim Secretariat will circulate
and review again in the light of any further
comments received, with a view to sending out
final versions before the next IGM. The Rules
prepared on this basis could be used at the next
IGM and SPG, with any further changes made in
the light of experience.
The points made at the meeting that would be
taken into account in the revision process were:
- include a preamble, perhaps based on
reference to United Nations activities
(Indonesia undertook to provide some
suggested words),
- the term "nominate" could be
replaced by
"designate,"
- the Rule might encourage the inclusion of
SPG members in country delegations,
- clarify the rights and obligations
of country representatives and observers,
- provisions should be made for
attendance by the Co-chairpersons from the SPG,
- the reference to other
international organizations should be broadened to
cover any international organizations
considered relevant, especially for APN
research activities,
- donors should be invited as observers,
- provision should be made for private
sector observers,
- consideration needs to be given to
whether there should be one or two Vice
Chairs; a continuing role between
meetings for the office holders supports
two,
- provisions should be made for the election
of officers for a term, to recognize the
need for a continuing role, e.g. the Chair
on the Steering Group,
- the detailed provisions of Rules of Order
and Debate could be omitted,
- the provision on decision making could be
worded differently to emphasize the
consensus element,
- a mechanism for dealing with situations
where a decision was needed where there
was not consensus should be developed,
without departing from the general spirit
that consensus should be the basic
principle,
- the provision on Summary Records could
be reworded and provision made in the
Rules for the keeping of records and
associated documents generally by the
Secretariat,
- an "Entry into Force" provision would be
preferable to "Enforcement," and
- a reference to Liaison Officers could be
included.
- Rules of Procedure of SPG
It was accepted that many of the points made on
the Rules of the IGM would be applicable when
revising the Rules for the SPG. The following
points apply specifically to the SPG:
- the tasks for the SPG
could be included,
- the
reference throughout should be to 'members',
- the membership provisions
should reflect the position that members act for a term
in a personal capacity, and that the
selection of members by countries should
include the criterion that the person is
knowledgeable about global change
research activities generally so that they
can contribute positively to a wide range
of APN interests,
- provision could be made for alternates,
- consideration could be given to what,
if any, provision should be made should a
member continue to fail to attend,
- the provision for Co-chairs should
involve a term covering at least two successive
meetings,
- provision is needed to refer to the
obligation of the SPG to report to the
IGM, and
- records of SPG meetings need to be
circulated more widely than to the
members, in particular to the APN
governments.
8.Other Business
- Name of Secretariat
The Meeting endorsed the suggestion
from the Director that the Interim
Secretariat henceforth be permanently
described as the Secretariat. A
representative from Japan confirmed that
this change reflected a positive and active
position of support by the Environment
Agency of Japan for the long term
development of the APN.
The Meeting unanimously
expressed its highest appreciation for this generous
offer.
- Co-chairpersons of the Next
SPG
The Director raised the need to clarify
the question of Co-chairpersons of the
SPG over the coming year. He proposed
that Dr. Aprilani Soegiarto and Prof. Keiji
Higuchi continue in the roles. The
meeting endorsed this proposal, which
was accepted by the Co-chairpersons with
appreciation for the confidence of the
delegates.
- Australian Comments
The Australian representative advised
that the Australian contribution to the
meeting had been limited because of the
need to await the outcome of several
reviews under way in Australia about the
scope, scale, organization, and
management of publicly funded research
activities. He went on to relate some
positions taken by the Australian
Environment Department in the review
process that seemed to be relevant to
APN activities, such as:
- change,
including global change, is inevitable and should
not be seen as simply a negative,
- human
dimensions elements of global change are extremely
important,
- a transdisciplinary
approach should be encouraged, and
- researchers should
convey their research outcomes to the general
public by putting them into
easily understandable contexts, such as
bio-cultural landscape concepts.
- IHDP Report
The Chairman of the IHDP Scientific
Committee provided an update on IHDP
developments. He informed the Meeting
of a calendar of likely events, including
proposed activities at the Open Meeting
at Laxenburg, Austria, in June 1997. He
said that at the moment, the points
underlying IHDP development were:
- the need to
study interactions between nature and society,
- a bottom-up
approach,
- the use of programmes already
underway or in preparation
at the national or regional level as a main
focus of IHDP,
- modesty and
reluctance about developing its own large scale
programmes,
- a primary role as a service
institution,
- high priority
for achieving a stronger profile and greater
involvement by social science in
global change research, and
- a special emphasis on regional and cultural diversity.
9. Chairperson's Summary
A Chairperson's Summary record of the meeting
was endorsed by the Meeting.
10. Next Meeting
The Director advised that Australia had offered
to host the next SPG at Canberra in late 1997
or early 1998, and that China had offered to
host the next IGM in Beijing in late March 1998.
The Meeting accepted
these offers with appreciation.
The Meeting expressed its sincere
appreciation to the Government of Japan for hosting this
Meeting, and to the Secretariat for its excellent
organizing of the Meeting.
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