Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP)
The ESSP is a partnership for the integrated study of the Earth System, the ways that it is changing, and the implications for global and regional sustainability.
The urgency of the challenge is great: In the present era, global environmental changes are both accelerating and moving the earth system into a state with no analogue in previous history.
Click here for ESSP Briefing Paper.
The Earth System is the unified set of physical, chemical, biological and social components, processes and interactions that together determine the state and dynamics of Planet Earth, including its biota and its human occupants.
Earth System Science is the study of the Earth System, with an emphasis on observing, understanding and predicting global environmental changes involving interactions between land, atmosphere, water, ice, biosphere, societies, technologies and economies.
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT - Project Officer, Global Environmental Change and Human Health
The ESSP Joint Project on Global Environmental Change and Human Health (GECHH) is recruiting a Project Officer to manage the International Project Office at the UNU-INWEH in Hamilton, Canada.
Closing date for applications: 14 August 2009.
Click here for more details.
CGIAR Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture & Food Security - Opportunities for Global Environmental Change Researchers
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Challenge Program "Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security" (CCAFS) is a major collaborative endeavour between the CGIAR and their partners, and the ESSP. It is aimed at overcoming the additional threats posed by a changing climate to achieving food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving environmental management in the developing world.
The main objectives are:
- Overcome critical gaps in knowledge of how to enhance - and manage the tradeoffs between - food security, livelihood and environmental goals in the face of a changing climate.
- Develop and evaluate options for adapting to a changing climate to inform agricultural development, food security policy and donor investment strategies.
- Assist farmers, policy makers, researchers and donors to continually monitor, assess and adjust their actions in response to a changing climate.
The Chairs of the Alliance Executive and the ESSP Scientific Committee are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Thomas Rosswall as Chair of the CCAFS.
CCAFS Report No. 1 which describes the CGIAR Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security is now available.
Vacancy Announcement: Theme Leaders
The Program is now seeking theme leaders.
Get Involved!
GEC researchers are invited to indicate their potential in collaboration with this Challenge Program.
Click here for more details.
Super-size Deposits of Frozen Carbon Threat to Climate Change
- Frozen soil sediment deposit in Siberia. Credit: Edward A.G. Schuur
The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and the boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week -- thereby raising new concerns over the role of northern regions as future sources of greenhouse gases. Dr. Pep Canadell, Executive Director of the ESSP Global Carbon Project at CSIRO in Australia, and co-author of the study says that the existence of these super-sized deposits of frozen carbon means that any thawing of permafrost due to global warming may lead to significant increases of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane.
Click here to read abstract, manuscript and press information.
DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference
The Second DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference on "Biodiversity and Society: understanding connections, adapting to change" will be held from 13 - 16 October 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.
See Conference website (www.diversitas-osc.org) and flyer for more details.
Registration is now open: Click here!
ESSP Land Use Conflicts Session - World Social Science Forum
- Panelists from left to right: Leemans, Klepper, Wiebe, Seto and Juergens
The ESSP, in partnership with the IHDP and the German Global Change Committee, co-convened a session on Land Use Conflicts at the highly successful World Social Science Forum in Bergen, 10 - 12 May 2009. We are extremely grateful for financial support from the German DFG to make this session possible and for the support of the International Social Science Council Secretariat in Paris and the local organisers at the University of Bergen in Norway.
Our Land Use Conflicts session focused on the issue of the competition between food, bioenergy, biodiversity and urbanisation. Conflicts over competing uses of land have a long history. These include conflicts between consumptive uses (e.g. the growth of agricultural crops and the production of timber and biofuels) and non-consumptive uses (e.g. the protection of ecosystems and the provision of habitat for wildlife). Today, these conflicts have grown more intense, with competing demands ranging from these needs of growing cities to the arguments in favour of setting aside large areas of wilderness or for carbon sequestration. This panel session documented these conflicts in quantitative terms but also examined a variety of mechanisms for resolving or managing conflicts over alternative uses of land in an era increasingly dominated by various forms of global environmental change. The session addressed land use conflicts (food, energy, biodiversity, urban) from a truly interdisciplinary perspective, tapping expertise from the social and natural sciences.
PPT presentations:
- Introduction by Professor Rik Leemans, Wageningen University and ESSP Chair.
- Bioenergy by Professor Gernot Klepper, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, German GC Committee Chair and SC-IHDP member.
- Urbanisation by Professor Karen Seto, Yale University, Co-Chair, IHDP-Urbanisation and GEC project (UGEC).
- Biodiversity by Professor Norbert Juergens, SC-DIVERSITAS member.
- Food by Dr. Keith Wiebe, FAO, GECAFS SAC member.
Click here to see session overview, including abstracts and presenter bios.
Water in a Changing Climate
ESSP Research on Bioenergy and Earth Sustainability
The ESSP, led by the Global Carbon Project with support from the IGBP Office in Brazil, has developed a research activity on Bioenergy and Earth Sustainability that will tap GEC programme-wide expertise for the benefit of science and society. There have been many earlier studies on bioenergy but this research initiative is unique in that it develops an Earth system approach to bioenergy, its opportunities and constraints, its contributions to stabilizing atmospheric CO2 as well as trade offs and synergies for engaging in sustainable pathways. This study also provides ample opportunities to evaluate the effects of biomass energy production on food availability and prices, water availability, water pollution, and biodiversity, in addition to analyzing the capacity of bioenergy in climate protection.
You can learn more about this exciting research initiative in an article that featured in the recently published IHDP Science-Policy Update. Click here to see article.
The Update is the magazine for the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change Research (IHDP). This special edition focuses on Science-Policy Dialogues 2008: Energy, Sustainability and Societal Change. Click here to see IHDP Update, ISSN 1727-155X.
ESSP Review
The ICSU/IGFA Review of the ESSP has been released. The review panel, chaired by Professor Louise Fresco, took a consultative and evidence-based approach to assist the development of the ESSP. The review itself is extremely timely as ESSP is in the process of developing a new strategic plan.
Click here to access ESSP review report.
Earth System Governance Project
The Earth System Governance Project is a core project of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), and builds on the results of the former IHDP core project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC). Earth system governance is defined in this project as the interrelated and increasingly integrated system of formal and informal rules, rule-making systems, and actor-networks at all levels of human society (from local to global) that are set up to steer societies towards preventing, mitigating, and adapting to local and global environmental change and, in particular, earth system transformation, within the normative context of sustainable development. Click on the following links to access the project website, executive summary of science plan and project flyer.
GWSP Digital Water Atlas
The Global Water System Project (GWSP) has launched its Digital Water Atlas. The purpose and intent of the Digital Water Atlas is to describe the basic elements of the Global Water System, the interlinkages of the elements and changes in the state of the Global Water System by creating a consistent set of annotated maps. The project will especially promote the collection, analysis and consideration of social science data on the global basis. Click here to access the GWSP Digital Water Atlas.
A Strategy for Global Environmental Change Research in Africa
The African Network for Earth System Science (AfricanNESS) science plan and implementation strategy "A Strategy for Global Environmental Change Research in Africa" has been completed and is now available for download. The plan focuses on four top-level issues: food and nutritional security; water resources; health; and ecosystem integrity. Framed around these issues, the science plan describes a strategy for global environmental change research in Africa that concentrates on eight thematic clusters: rainfall, land cover, livelihoods, cities, diseases and pests, Africa and the earth system, marine, and integrated development. Examples of possible research programs are provided for each of these areas. Finally, the plan outlines a way of implementing and organizing a network of earth system scientists in Africa, and connecting them to scientists around the world. The science plan was developed over a period of three years through the collective efforts of many African scientists, as well as colleagues from outside the African continent. The editors gratefully acknowledge the support from the US National Science Foundation, the South Africa National Research Foundation, IGBP, ESSP, START, and the ICSU Regional Office for Africa. Printed copies of the report are available on request from the IGBP Secretariat; please contact Sofia Roger, IGBP Information Officer.
Click here for electronic version of the report.
Carbon Neutral
The Global Carbon Project has published an ESSP commissioned report "carbon reductions and offsets" with a number of recommendations for individuals and institutions who want to participate in this voluntary market. Click here to learn more and to download the report from the GCP website.
The ESSP is a joint initiative of four global environmental change programmes:
