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APN Newsletters | ||||||
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Human
Dimensions Workshop The APN/START/SASCOM/GCTE workshop on Human Dimensions Issues was held on 20-23 January 1997 in New Delhi, India with the full collaboration of the IHDP. Participants came from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and from Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI, APN's counterpart in the Americas), the IGBP, IHDP, GCTE, the International START Secretariat, and its Regional Committees in the region. Leading speakers from the region and elsewhere informed the workshop about major global change issues where the human dimensions element is significant and so far lacking the attention it deserves. These global change issues are changes in biodiversity, land use/land cover and land form changes, the toxification of ecosystems by pollution, and changes in the composition of the atmosphere contributing to climate changes and tropospheric and stratospheric ozone problems. The workshop also had the benefit of reports from countries in the region. These confirmed the range and scale of global change issues that are still without adequate responses. Together with the expert presentations on particular issues, they pointed to simply a continuation and worsening of problems from business-as-usual practices. It was clear that new approaches to lifestyles and commercial activities will be necessary if sustainability is to be achieved. It was equally clear that any distinction between present and future problems is artificial, as there are already substantial impacts, in particular, from biodiversity and land use changes. Proposals for possible follow-up activities were developed by three working groups: (1) food security issues, (2) the vulnerability of people in the face of pressure on freshwater supplies and declining water quality, and of the uncertainties about health status changes flowing from global changes, and (3) policy support issues necessary to improve the flow of information to decision makers in government, business, and other key sectors of society. In relation to food security it was noted that there are several continuing activities relevant to the region being undertaken by global research science programmes. The recommendations for follow-up were that support continue for the regional work being developed within the framework of the land use and land cover change (LUCC) programme jointly organized by the IGBP and IHDP, that the human dimensions elements of LUCC be strengthened, particularly in relation to land use dynamics, land use allocation, land management, and strategies for the future to ameliorate or avoid problems, and that a workshop be arranged on land use management in response to the impacts of extreme events. There was also recognition in the food security context that additional work would be required on the relationship of the monsoon, global change, and factors affecting food production. The vulnerability group confirmed the great range of issues raised by consideration of fresh water and health, and recommended the preparation of a state of the art report on these issues by expert individuals and institutions. This would require the establishment of a network of active individuals. It was recommended that the issues raised by this report be discussed at a follow-up workshop involving natural and social scientists. The immediate outcome of the workshop on this topic would be a research plan integrated natural and social science elements of the problems, and made the full connection between health and global change issues. There was also recognition that there may be value in selecting some research sites in the region which involve trans-boundary water supplies. The recommendations on policy support included the need for strong support for the proposed START capacity building programme covering training for participation in integrated assessment modeling. A recommendation was made for exploration of the extent to which concepts and knowledge conducive to achieving sustainability are prevalent in different cultures and groups in the region and elsewhere -- an Eco-consciousness project. It was recommended that collaboration be established between APN and IAI on ENSO issues. The IAI representative strongly endorsed this. It was noted that this issue could be dealt with in more detail at a planning meeting on climate prediction and applications in the region, being held in February 1997. It was confirmed that urban and industrial transformation issues are important and should be included in relevant workshop follow-up activities. The need to continue development of indicators useful in testing and judging progress in pursuing sustainability was endorsed. This was associated with the desire for further consideration of effective state of the environment reporting in the region. The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to develop a strong working relationship with the recently reorganized IHDP, including considering support for attendance of researchers from the APN region to an IIASA-sponsored open meeting on Human Dimensions in Austria this June, and considering hosting the next open meeting in this region in 1999. The APN will be considering how best to carry these matters forward at its Scientific Planning Group and Inter-Governmental Meetings in March. Acronyms: IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme), IHDP (International Human Dimensions Programme), GCTE (Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems), START (SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training for Global Change).
Land Use - Land Cover Change (LUCC) Workshop
The meeting was jointly sponsored by APN and the International START Secretariat. At past meetings of APN, delegates have underlined LUCC as a priority research topic under the research field of terrestrial ecosystem change and impacts. Participants came from China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Austria, France, and the United States, representing over 10 different research studies, and the IGBP Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) Core Project steering committee. The importance of human activities modifying terrestrial ecosystems in this region is readily evident in the view from space where much of the current land surface has been modified to croplands and atmospheric measurements of chemical components indicate marked changes in the regional bio-geochemistry. Several ongoing research efforts in the region focus on changes in human related factors which control land use changes, and the interaction of these factors with global environmental changes. In this workshop, the establishment of a new network was proposed for LUCC researchers in the Temperate East Asia region, to be named LUTEA. The steering committee of LUTEA, currently consisting of Dennis Ojima (Chair), Zhao Shidong, Chuluun Togtohyn, Liu Yanhua, Fu Congbin, and Teitaro Kitamura, has identified several key scientific issues related to land use/cover change:
The LUTEA network's objective is to investigate the role and consequences of changes in climate, ecosystem dynamics, human demography, and socio-economic transitions on land use and land cover in Temperate East Asia during the past 100 years and into the next decade. The region of study includes China, Korea DPR, Korea R, Japan, Mongolia, and Eastern Russia. The steering committee has selected four topical issues to define the initial set of studies and integration activities. The topical issues are:
Integration activities of the Network are:
Plans for LUTEA network activities include:
News from GAME (GEWEX Asian Monsoon Experiment) About GAME The Asian monsoon system is a key component of the global energy and water cycle, both in the seasonal and inter-annual variations. Because of the tremendous impact of the Asian monsoon system on ecosystems, societies and agriculture in the Asia-Pacific region, the APN has identified it as a high priority research topic, and has been contributing equipment and funds in this field. APN support has focused on GAME, in particular on creating a network of automatic weather stations. A March 1997 GAME/AAN workshop to be held in Cheju Island, Korea, in conjunction with the 3rd International Study Conference on GEWEX in Asia and GAME, will be an opportunity for scientists to discuss objectives and observations, and make preparations for the GAME Intensive Observation Period (GAME-IOP) scheduled for 1998.
GEWEX (Global Energy and Water cycle EXperiment) started in 1989 as a major sub-programme of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), which itself is sponsored by World Meteorological Organization, International Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and the International Council of Scientific Unions. It focuses on the quantitative estimate of energy and water cycle processes, and understanding hydro-meteorological processes of the earth climate, which will provide a basis for long-range forecasting of the regional and global climate. To unravel these issues, GAME (GEWEX Asian Monsoon Experiment) started in 1996, as a major continental-scale energy and water cycle experiment, led by the GAME International Science Panel which involves China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and the U.S.A. The aims of GAME are to understand the role of the Asian monsoon as a major component of the global energy and water cycle and to improve the seasonal forecasting of monsoon and regional water resources, along with the feedback processes associated with the variability of the monsoon. The scientific strategy of GAME to achieve these two scientific goals consists of (1) monitoring by satellites and in-situ surface observations, (2) process studies based on the four regional experiments (Tropics, Sub-tropics, Tibetan Plateau and Siberia), and (3) modeling of hydro-meteorological processes in the climate system. One project of GAME is the Asian AWS Network (AAN) for which the Phase I plan (1996-2000) is to place about 10 flux-type Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) in strategic locations in the region of monsoon Asia. A summer 1996 field test in the humid tropics (Thailand) of one proto-type PAM-III for GAME was successful, and a cold climate test is now being conducted in Hokkaido, Japan. One major result of recent GAME AWS measurements was a better understanding of the essential role of the water in paddy fields in determining the diurnal cycle of surface heat and CO2 fluxes. The GAME GAME-Tibet study has resulted in good simulations of the diurnal cycle of wind and heat transfer, and data sets of surface wetness and snow. The data sets obtained through the activity and implementation of GAME are to be utilized and shared by the scientific communities and the meteorological and hydrological operational agencies of the world under the general agreement of WMO/WCRP framework, through the GAME Archive and Information Network (GAIN). The GAME International Project Office is housed at the Institute for Hydrospheric-Atmospheric Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan. The Internet address is as follows: http://www.ihas.nagoya-u.ac.jp/game/index.html.
The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is an inter-governmental organization created to support the promotion of global environmental research in the Asia-Pacific Region. Japan is currently serving as the Interim Secretariat. The APN decides on activities through annual Inter-Governmental Meetings (IGM), which receive input from the Scientific Planning Group (SPG) and the Steering Group.
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