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Dr. Shuzo Nishioka Director Global Environment Research Group National Institute for Environmental Studies 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba Ibaraki 305 Japan

Report of the Second Meeting
of the International Scientific Planning Committee (ISPC)
of 1999 Open Meeting

The meeting was held in Yokosuka, December 11-12, 1998. Participants were Jill Jaeger (Co-Chair), Shuzo Nishioka (Co-Chair), Eckart Ehlers, Yoshinobu Kumata, Lisa Graumlich, Yanhua Liu, Elena Nikitina, Ronald Rindfuss, Roberto Sanchez, and Youba Sokona of the ISPC. Kazuko Watanabe of APN and Hiroaki Imura, Akie Narita, Sachiko Takahashi, Michio Takaku of IGES were also present. Of the ISPC members, Angela Liberatore and Rajendra Pachauri were unable to attend.

 The purpose of the meeting was to select papers for presentation in the 1999 Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Research Community (hereafter referred to as 1999 Open Meeting) and to set its program.

 In the meeting held in the morning of December 11, points that should be considered for 1999 Open Meeting were discussed. After brief introduction of each member of ISPC, Nishioka went over the agenda of the meeting according to the Briefing Book (included in the packet).

 Then the following points were agreed by all members of the ISPC. First of all, it was agreed that a participant should no give more than one presentation and one appearance. It was also agreed that though many of the submissions do not deal with human dimensions of global change, local studies with potentiality of growth should be presented in the meeting. Then, it was agreed that there should be time for poster sessions with presence of the author in the room in the program. Jaeger proposed that time for discussions of themes such as environmental networks, programs, or education should be included in the evening program. It was agreed that the emphasis should be placed on the quality rather than on quantity, and a chair of each session should be given considerations.

 Another important factor decided at the meeting was this. Considering the growing demand for natural-scientific approach to the issue of HDGEC, it was agreed that an official statement from ISPC should be issued at the end of the meeting. What has been done in the past two Open Meetings, present state of studies, and what kind of studies should be done in future should be clarified, especially to guide researchers in developing countries.

 Following the morning meeting, the group inspected the rooms at the Shonan village Center in Hayama, the venue of 1999 Open Meeting.

 In the afternoon of December 11 at the Shonan Village Center, selection of papers (topics 1-6) were done in three sub-groups: Group 1 on Conflicts/Decision was attended by Ehlers, Nikitina, Kumata, and Sokona, Group 2 on Demo/Life-Style was attended by Jaeger, Rindfuss, and Sanchez. Group 3 on Land/Evaluation was attended by Nishioka, Graumlich, and Liu.

 In the morning meeting on December 12, results of the sub-meetings of the previous day was reported.

 After the plenary meeting, the group divided into three sub-groups to select papers (Topic 7): Group 1 on Others/Climate, Vulnerability, Impacts, and El Nino was attended by Nishioka, Sanchez, and Graumlich. Group 2 on Health, IA/IRA, Sustainable Development was attended by Ehlers, Liu, Nishioka, and Rindfuss. Group 3 on Business, Trade, Urbanization, Industrial Transformation was attended by Jaeger, Kumata, and Sokona.

 As the result of selections, out of 313 abstracts and 40 session proposals submitted (see ref 1), 196 abstracts were selected, and they were combined to make 45 sessions and one poster session (see ref 2).

 In the afternoon of December 12, people who should get financial support and time scheduling of the session was decided.

 Other details concerning 1999 Open Meeting were decided. It was agreed that a booklet of abstracts should be published. It was decided that a photocopy machine should be available to participants. It was emphasized again that time has to be strictly kept for each presentation at sessions. Possibility of holding a Book Exhibition by publishers were discussed.

 Budget and possible sources of funding was discussed. Venue for the next meeting to be held in 2001 was briefly discussed. It was also decided that a transitional committee to prepare 2001 meeting will be set up at a meeting of ISPC scheduled on June 26. It was confirmed by co-chairs that undecided items will be discussed by the Co-Chairs, IGES Secretariat, and the Japanese local committee, and that members of ISPC will be contacted by e-mail for important information or decisions.