IHDP - The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change - Press Release
Date: 6 March 2006
UNEP Governing Council: Strengthening the Scientific Base of Environmental Governance is Essential
At the recent 9th Special Session of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, held in Dubai from 7-9 February 2006, many speakers highlighted the importance of strengthening the scientific base of global environmental governance. UNEP reported on its work and outlined findings from recent assessments, including the annual Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), One Planet, Many People, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
IHDP Research Contributes to Global Assessments
Researchers from the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change community have regularly contributed to these global and regional environmental assessments. For example, the IHDP core science project Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC) developed four global scenarios and as many as 30 sub-global assessments for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. IHDP researchers are also chapter authors for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports.
Global Environmental Governance: A Controversial Issue, and another IHDP Research Topic
In addition to the named assessments, multidisciplinary social science research can shed light on processes of global change negotiations. Researchers of the IHDP core science project Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) are exploring these international negotiation processes in order to better understand why some institutional responses to global environmental change are more efficient than others, and why some institutions contribute to the problem rather than the solution. The question of international environmental governance, which was also raised at the UNEP Governing Council, is of high relevance. Countries should follow the polluter pays principle, and clear environmental goals have to be set. For the effective implementation of such goals and principles, the institutional architecture of international environmental governance has to be reformed and strengthened. Although countries such as the US remain to be reluctant towards a strong global environmental organization, the issue continues to be negotiated.
Further Items on the Agenda: Chemicals, Energy, Early Warning, Water
UNEP's Governing Council was held back-to-back with the International Conference on Chemicals Management, and a draft decision on the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management was adopted. Further important themes discussed at the Governing Council include energy and environment, with a call for a new global sustainable energy policy that addresses climate change and provides access to energy. The value of using the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism for capacity building and technology transfer to developing countries was emphasized. Also, water, as well as monitoring and early warning were on the agenda. All these themes represent further research topics within IHDP, a programme dedicated to promoting and coordinating research, capacity building and networking on the human dimensions of global environmental change.
For further questions please contact:
Ula Löw, Communications Manager
IHDP - International Human Dimensions Programme
On Global Environmental Change -
Walter-Flex-Str. 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: +49-228-739061; Fax: +49-228-739054
Email: loew.ihdp@uni-bonn.de
Web: http://www.ihdp.org
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Ula Löw
Communications Manager
IHDP
International Human Dimensions Programme
on Global Environmental Change
Walter-Flex-Str. 3
53113 Bonn
Germany
Tel: +49-228-739061
Fax: +49-228-739054
email: loew.ihdp@uni-bonn.de
http://www.ihdp.org
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http://www.ihdp.org
http://openmeeting.homelinux.org/abstract_listing.asp over 100 scientific abstracts on global change research
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Biology, Environment / ecology, Geosciences, Oceanology / climate
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