title title
Japanese |
** HOME **
About APN
Proposals
Activities
Products
Meetings
Links
Calendar
Site Map
HOME > APN Products > 2000/2001 Projects > Project 2000-06

Search


Acronyms

Access

Logo

Contact

2000/2001 Projects
PDF version
PROJECT #2000-06
International Human Dimensions Workshop 2000- Human Dimensions Issues in the Coastal Zone

Project Leader Dr. Nick HARVEY
Associate Professor and Head
Department of Geographical and Environmental Studies
Adelaide University, South Australia 5005
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61-8-8303-5923
Fax: +61-8-8303-4383
Email nick.harvey@adelaide.edu.au
Funding US $10,000
Participating countries Fiji, the Philippines, Vietnam, with Australian involvement through the project leader


Introduction/Background
The programme of IHDP is designed around three main objectives of promotion of HD-GEC research, research capacity building and developing international scientific networks. START, co-sponsored by the three Global Environmental Change Programmes (IGBP, WCRP and IHDP) also has the objective of capacity building. The IHDW events contribute directly to the objectives of IHDP and START.

Global change issues will remain high on both the science and political agendas of the 21st century. Appropriate assessment of these issues cannot occur without a greater involvement by the human and social science communities than has been evident to date. We need to provide opportunities for a new generation of young human and social science scholars, as well as scholars trained in interdisciplinary research and those who can bridge the natural and social sciences, especially from the developing countries, to enhance their capacity to deal with - and to achieve greater access to - this exciting field. These scholars need a forum in which to discuss how they are addressing the challenges of doing interdisciplinary research on the human dimensions of global environmental change.

In 1998 the first IHDP/START IHDW was held. There was a report on the workshop in the IHDP newsletter Update (3/98) and a full report is available on the IHDP web site (www.uni-bonn.de/IHDP). 23 scientists (13 women, 10 men selected from a total of 121 applications) from 20 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America participated in the meeting. The meeting was very successful in developing a network of young scientists in developing countries linked to the IHDP. Several of the participants have, in the meantime, established human dimensions activities in their country and almost half of them had papers accepted for the major human dimensions conference held in Japan in June 1999. Based on the excellent quality of the participants, and overall positive experience of the second IHDW, we are sure to improve on this record for the next Open Meeting of the international HD research community, which will take place in Brazil in October 2001.

Sessions of the IHDW 2000 were organised around a major theme: "Human Dimensions in the Coastal Zones". This was not a workshop on coastal zone issues, but this theme was used as a framework in which to apply the various research approaches and results from IHDP projects. In coastal regions, human activities are contributing to significant environmental changes and at the same time these regions are expected to experience major consequences as a result of global environmental change (GEC). Throughout the world, most urban development and economic activity occurs in the coastal zone. There is, therefore, a need to understand the driving factors of GEC in the coastal zone, the vulnerability of humans and human settlements in this zone to projected changes, and possible response options.

Major questions addressed throughout the workshop included:
1) What are the unique relationships between humans and the intense biophysical gradients characterising the coastal zone?
2) How does GEC feed back and affect the lives of those living along the coast?
3) What are the roles and effects of social structures and institutions at local, national, and international scales on coastal environments?
4) What are the characteristics of 'successful' institutional responses to GEC in the coastal zone?
5) How do people make decisions about land use in the coastal zone, and what are the implications of these decisions?
6) What types of change in the coastal zone affect human security?
7) Are 'vulnerability' and 'risk' useful concepts in understanding impacts of, and responses to GEC in the coastal zone?
8) Can we make useful generalisations about the causes and consequences of urbanisation in the coastal zone, and understand the implications of this for policy development?
Both organisers and participants alike felt that future IHDWs should continue to be organised around such major themes that can better facilitate integrated scientific approaches.

Outline of activities conducted
Current scientific research must be increasingly involved with the development of practicable solutions to tangible real-world problems. This is only possible through inter and transdisciplinary research in collaboration with key actors in society, including grassroots, policy and industry levels.While this method of research represents a great opportunity, it carries with it an additional burden for the new generation of human dimensions of global environmental change (HD-GEC) researchers. To discuss how they are addressing these challenges, the IHDP and START invited 28 scientists, representing 20 countries from all over Asia, Africa and Latin America, to Bonn, Germany from 10-19 September 2000 for the second bi-annual IHDP/START International Human Dimensions Workshop for young developing country scientists.

Over 350 applications were received for the 30 workshop slots (2 last-minute cancellations were received) - a strong indication of the interest and relevance of the IHDW event. Participants were selected on the basis of age (under 40 years), educational qualification (minimum requirement of Master's degree), application packages (which included a sample of research and statement of interests), region, gender and disciplinary background. The final group consisted of 16 women and 12 men, and was a mixture of social and natural scientists (from such diverse backgrounds as economics, anthropology, engineering, oceanography, political science and coastal zone management).

The guiding theme of the workshop was "Human Dimensions in the Coastal Zone". The workshop was opened by a keynote talk from Professor Volker Linneweber of Magdeburg University, Germany, on "Coastal Zone Management and Environmental Psychology". The workshop was then divided into four major sessions organised by the Science Projects of IHDP: Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS); Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC); Industrial Transformation (IT); and Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC). During these sessions the participants also gave presentations on their own research, which corresponded with the session themes. The workshop sessions were designed to be "interactive" - departing from a more traditional format of lectures and discussion. The participants had the opportunity to experiment with tools used in interdisciplinary human dimensions research, to work in small groups on assigned problems and to find ways to link their own research interests to research foci of the IHDP projects. In addition, a full day interactive session was organised by members of the project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) on "Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone" (LOICZ). Evening sessions were scheduled to highlight other key coastal zone research initiatives at both the German national, regional and international level, including a representative from UNESCO's Environmental and Development in Coastal Regions and Small Islands initiative. For two half-day sessions the participants worked in smaller working groups to write short Policy Briefing Papers on "Human Dimensions Issues in the Coastal Zone". These papers were based on the participants' own disciplinary and regional perspectives integrated with the information they received during the course of the workshop.

Outcomes/Products
The workshop programme was both intensive and diverse - with a focus on all major human dimensions research themes in the context of coastal zones. One of the main outcomes of the workshop is the building and integration into the international HD community a network of young scientists in developing regions. The workshop took place to serve this group, i.e. the young, interdisciplinary, international GEC community. The IHDP and START philosophy is a bottom-up one - which means the development of its programmes by and for the GEC research community - to build on their responses, feedback, enthusiasm and activity. The work being done on the local, national and regional levels comprise essential scientific approaches in studying and determining the impacts of GEC. The IHDP require participants - once back home in their regions- to take on an ambassadorial role for the IHDP as a research programme, among colleagues in their institutes and networks; to enter into a self-confident dialogue with other social and natural scientists; and to face the research challenges of the present and future together with them in integrated approaches. On the other hand, the participants, through local networks, provide a new and rich source of expertise and regional perspective which will not only help to support the IHDP and START in their research activities - but also the entire GEC research and policy communities.

The most exciting aspects of the workshop were the research linkages, networks and plans for future collaboration among participants. This excitement was also felt by session leaders, who also left with new perspectives on their research, and new contacts in their communities. Several ideas were discussed among participants and session leaders for joint projects and initiatives to be developed for possible input to major GEC conferences in 2001 (Global Change, Amsterdam and HD Open Meeting, Brazil). Many of the participants plan to submit abstracts to participate in these major conferences. Two groups that formed as a result of the workshop are elaborating their own projects - one which will develop a network of Latin American and African researchers on land use and land cover change issues, and the other to design and distribute a course manual and study guide on HD in the coastal zones (in printed and CD-ROM multi-media versions). Other participants are interested in acting as contact points for national HD communities in their countries, with the goal of establishing national committees. IHDPs already successful Seed Grant Initiative was suggested as a mechanism to assist in this.

Future directions/Follow-up work
Research proposals have been submitted to the LUCC project for guidance and endorsement. Several workshop participants are working together with members of the LUCC SSC and Focus Offices to elaborate these proposals and submit them for funding. Participants, especially from Argentina, Brazil, Fiji, the Philippines, Senegal and South Afirca, have become more active in the national coordination of HD research activities. In some of these countries, national HD committees already exist, and in others, participants are establishing national contact points/committees for HD research activities. Many of the participants intend to submit abstracts to the HD Open Meeting in Brazil, 6-8 October 2001. The IHDP is encouraging and working with these scientists to facilitate this. A listserv and website section is maintained by the IHDP Secretariat, and is of particularly use to workshop participants. Discussion on research activities, development of proposals, information exchange about workshops and conferences, etc. takes place through the listserv. The website is used to post research papers of the participants for discussion and feedback.