Earth System Governance Project - SSC

Transcription

1 Earth System Governance Project - SSC Version for General Use Minutes of the 2 nd meeting of the Scientific Steering Committee (ESG SSC-2), April 2009, Bonn, Germany Participants Frank Biermann (chair), Norichika Kanie, Heike Schroeder, Bernd Siebenhüner, Ruben Zondervan (executive officer), Cristobal Reveco (intern) 1. Earth System Governance Network Earth System Governance Associate Faculty ESG SSC-1: The Associate Faculty of the Earth System Governance Project is a group of not more than 100 individual scientists of high international reputation, nominated and invited by the ESG SSC for a period of 3 years with renewal upon decision by the ESG SSC, who will take over (shared) responsibility for the development of research on particular analytical problems, crosscutting themes or flagship activities of the Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan. See Annex 1 for a detailed summary of the ESG SSC-1 decisions. The ESG SSC reviewed the list of researchers nominated for Associate Faculty at the ESG SSC-1. Currently, 22 researchers have accepted the invitation. Europe and North America are currently very well represented in the Associate Faculty. Most of the pending invitations from the first round are to researchers from developing countries but nevertheless, nominations for additional Associate Faculty should aim at improving the geographical balance of the Associate Faculty. Associate Faculty members should be included in all major ESG events, both in those organized by ESG (e.g Amsterdam Conference) and those with ESG participation (e.g. ISA Annual Convention). Task for the members of the ESG SSC is to provide guidance, develop projects and activities, and to work together with the Associate Faculty on their respective analytical problems, crosscutting themes, and flagship activities. The ESG SSC-2 identified who of the ESG SSC will act as liaison to each of the current 22 Associate Faculty and identified some potential activities. See Annex 2 for an overview. The ESG SSC decided to invite following researchers to the Associate Faculty: - [list only available for ESG SSC members] In addition, following decisions regarding new Associate faculty nominations were made: - A researcher from Central America should be invited. Suggested is Adrian Fernandez (?) Heike Schroeder will supply background information. - At least two positions will be reserved for researchers from China Frank Biermann and Ruben Zondervan will propose candidates as part of a comprehensive China-Strategy after their trip to China in October They will seek and take into account advice by Oran Young. 1/8

2 - Three positions will be reserved for researchers from South-East Asia Louis Lebel is invited to suggest candidates. - One position will be reserved for a researcher from Russia Bernd Siebenhüner will contact Elena Nikitina for suggestions and Ruben Zondervan will identify suitable candidates as well. Following names were suggested but a decision has been postponed to the ESG SSC-3 - [list only available for ESG SSC members] 1.2. Earth System Governance Scientific Steering Committee The ESG SSC-1 decided to appoint in 2009 two more SSC members from Africa, Latin America, and / or Middle East until the 16 th IHDP SC meeting on 1-3 May The ESG International Project Office (IPO) received several dozens suggestions from the IHDP / ESSP community and prepared a background document with basic information on all suitable candidates. The ESG SSC-2 reviewed this document and assessed the candidates according to the following criteria: - Academic track record including publications (academic quality) - Managerial track record, networks and affiliations (institutional fit) - Academic discipline and research focus (content fit) Based on the result of this assessment, the ESG SSC-2 decided to nominate to the IHDP SC: - Professor Susana Camargo Vieira, professor of law at the Universidade de Itaúna, Brazil - Professor Pius Z. Yanda, Director of the Institute of Resource Assessment of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Note: The IHDP SC accepted both nominees and appointed them to the ESG SSC on 2 May 2009 for a three year term. Susana Camargo Vieira and Pius Z. Yanda have accepted their appointment Earth System Governance Research Fellows ESG SSC-1: Earth System Governance Fellows are early to mid-level career colleagues who seek to link their own research projects with the broader themes and questions advanced by the Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan. Senior fellows are researchers or assistant/associate professors that have held a doctoral degree for at least 5 years and/or have produced 12 or more international peer-reviewed publications (including articles and book chapters) linked to the Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan. Applications have to contain a CV and a letter of motivation. The ESG Executive Officer decides on behalf of the ESG SSC on acceptance / rejection and will ask the ESG SSC for guidance on a case-by-case basis. The network of research fellows will be managed by two coordinators. Ruben Zondervan reported that five Research Fellows have been accepted, no applications had to be rejected, and about 7 applications are being processed. The procedure as set up at the ESG SSC-1 is working well. Ruben Zondervan will provide an overview of the Research Fellow network by the end of July. 2/8

3 The ESG SSC stressed that obvious candidates should be encouraged to apply for the Research Fellow Network. All ESG SSC members will approach those colleagues in their institutions and research projects that are working on relevant topics. In particular those involved in the Earth System Governance Research Centres and from developing countries Earth System Governance Research Centres Since the start of the Earth System Governance Project, following Earth System Governance Research Centres have been established: Amsterdam, Chiang Mai, Colorado, Stockholm, and Tokyo. The Research Centre Oldenburg is not yet implemented but agreed upon. The efforts to establish a research centre in Beijing are pending and will be evaluated and re-structured in the comprehensive China-Strategy that will be written by Frank Biermann and Ruben Zondervan in October [some paragraphs only available for ESG SSC members] With Colorado a formal MoU has been agreed. This MoU can serve as a template for the other Research Centres. The IPO will distribute the document to all ESG SSC members. The ESG SSC decided to include a sunset-clause of 3 years in all future Research Centres arrangements. The IPO will set up forwarding addresses for all Research Centres (e.g. chiangmai@earthsystemgovernance.org) and will maintain and improve the pages for the Research Centres at the project s website. During the discussion on the Research Centres, the idea for an Earth System Governance Speakers Series emerged. Basically, relevant lectures and presentations by members of the ESG SSC (or Associate Faculty) could be framed as being part of a global series. The series could be linked to the research centres (e.g. Earth System Governance Speakers Series - Tokyo ). The project s website and the mailing lists (under construction), could be used to globally advertise this series but also, once the technical requirements are met, to broadcast the series online to a global community. It will be up to the individual ESG SSC members to identify which presentations could become part of the series. 2. Publications 2.1. Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan Printing of the Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan has been finalised just days before the ESG SSC-2 and the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 were it will be presented to the IHDP community. Norichika Kanie presented the ESG SSC with the translation in Japanese of the Science Plan. The ESG SSC would welcome further translations of the Science Plan or at least the executive summary. Both versions will be made available online as soon as possible. The printed copies of the Science Plan will be distributed to the members of the ESG SSC for further distribution at their institutions and the IPO will distribute copies to all relevant persons in the ESG and IHDP network. In total, copies are printed Special Issue of International Environmental Agreements (INEA) As agreed upon at the ESG SSC-1, the Earth System Governance Project will propose a special issue with INEA. The ESG SSC-2 discussed the draft proposal and set following time line: 3/8

4 - Submission of abstracts: 11 May Submission of draft articles: 1 July 2009 Revised time-schedule as of June 2009: abstracts on 20 June 2009 and draft articles on 1 August The abstracts will be included in the proposal and send to the editors of INEA. The draft articles will be circulated among the authors for internal review and cross-referencing. The deadline for the final articles will depend on the publication date of the special issue. The ESG SSC-2 agreed that it would however be good to have the final versions available as Earth System Governance Working Papers at the 2009 Amsterdam Conference, 2-4 December (see also 2.4.). Frank Biermann and Ruben Zondervan will be the editors of this special issue. Ruben Zondervan will collect all abstracts and papers and organise the internal review Earth System Governance Series with MIT Press The idea is that the four IDGEC-Synthesis books will become the first books in a new Earth System Governance Book Series with MIT Press. The proposed editors Frank Biermann and Oran Young have written a proposal to MIT. Manuscripts for this series need to have a clear link to the research questions outlined in the Science Plan. The proposal will be developed further at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 by Frank Biermann and Clay Morgan from MIT. Early June 2009 the proposal has been accepted by MIT 2.4. Earth System Governance Working Paper Series The ESG SSC-2 decided to start an Earth System Governance Working Paper series. In order to ensure basic quality, all papers will be reviewed by at least two reviewers drawn according to the analytical problem that the paper addresses from the ESG SSC, the ESG Associate Faculty, and the Senior ESG Fellows. The editorial board will be the ESG SSC and the ESG Executive Officer will be the managing editor of the series. After publication of the papers in academic journals, the working paper will be removed from the project s website and replaced by (a link to) the published article. Following papers have been identified as potential working papers: - The condensed version of the Science Plan, later to be published as first article in the proposed INEA Special Issue (Biermann, Frank, Michele M. Betsill, Joyeeta Gupta, Norichika Kanie, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, Heike Schroeder, Bernd Siebenhüner, and Ruben Zondervan) to be prepared by Biermann and Zondervan - The other 6 articles in preparation and proposed for the INEA Special Issue to be prepared by the respective authors - The paper by Young, Underdal, and Breitmeier on the regime databases (comparing and contrasting findings) Zondervan will ask the authors. - A paper already submitted by ESG Research Fellow Francesca Spagnuolo The ESG SSC members are encouraged to identify suitable papers and to stimulate colleagues to consider participation in this series. The IPO will inform and invite the ESG Network once the first paper is released. 4/8

5 3. Earth System Governance Events The ESG SSC-2 discussed the planned ESG conferences. - The 2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Earth System Governance. People, Places, and the Planet will be the launch event for the project. This conference will be outside Amsterdam on 2-4 December Frank Biermann is the chair of this conference. - A workshop on Forest Governance with strong ESG components will be held in Spring 2010 in Oxford. Heike Schroeder is coordinating this event. - The World Ecological Economics Conference will be held August 2010 in Oldenburg and Bremen. Bernd Siebenhüner is in the organization committee and will try to include a governance stream in the conference, most likely with focus on Adaptiveness (or Flagship Activity on the Economic System). - In Spring 2011 a conference is planned in Colorado. Theme of this conference is still being discussed. Michel Betsill will chair this conference. - A large ESG conference is planned in Tokyo in autumn Focus of the conference will be on Architecture and Agency. Norichika Kanie will chair this conference. As soon as the basic information of the conferences is available, they should be announced on the ESG website. This also applies for smaller events like the ESG Speakers Series. 4. Fundraising Like all IHDP projects, ESG receives USD per year to cover the costs of the SSC meetings. If the meetings cost is less than this grant, the remaining funds can be used under very strict conditions for some travel expenses. In addition, the salary for the ESG Executive Officer is provided by the IHDP Secretariat for No other funding is secured. Fundraising thus has a high priority. A joint proposal with the KLSC project for a so called Priority Programme (approx. 10 million for 6 years) has been submitted to the German Research Foundation (DFG). If this proposal is rejected, then all other fundraising activities should be given high priority and will be crucial. On 27 April 2009 the DFG informed that the Priority Programme has not been accepted. In addition or as an alternative to the large Priority Programme, ESG will also write at least one proposal to the DFG for a smaller research grant. Other potential German sources could be the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (in particular a programme of the human dimensions of climate change, and a call for projects in the area of land use (and land-use governance). Ruben Zondervan will explore the options. - [some paragraphs only available for ESG SSC members] On the level of the European Union the opportunities of grants from the European Institute of Technology & Innovation, the European Research Council, and from new Calls of the 7 th Framework Programme will be explored by Ruben Zondervan. 5/8

6 5. Other Issues 5.1. Consultations with IHDP SC Chair The ESG SSC-2 was joined by Oran Young, chair of the IHDP SC, on Sunday morning 26 April Frank Biermann reported the developments of ESG since the launch of the project in October 2008 and summarized the outcomes of the ongoing meeting. Oran Young informed that his most recent book has been accepted by MIT Press and could maybe become an ESG publication. Oran Young supports the plan for a comprehensive China-strategy and he will be available for advise and to broker contacts for the China trip by Frank Biermann and Ruben Zondervan in October. He also stressed the importance of a strategy and interaction between ESG and other IHDP projects and ESSP joint projects. In particular the Global Land Project is interested to strengthen landgovernance research. GECAFS is entering its synthesis phase and will in part transform to the new (and well funded) CGIAR Challenge Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture & Food Security. This could impact the ESG flagship activity on Food Systems. The International Council for Social Science (ICSU) is starting a Visioning Process to identify the course and research questions on global environmental change in the coming decades. They will soon request nominations for a visioning meeting with early-career scientists in September Each of the four global programmes, in consultation with their projects, can nominate a candidate. In May 2009 Dr. Philipp Pattberg, VU University Amsterdam, has been jointly nominated by IHDP and ESG as IHDP s candidate for the visioning meeting. The selection process by ICSU is in progress Earth System IHDP Open Meeting 2009 ESG will be well represented and active at the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 on April 2009 in Bonn. Besides a number of panel sessions, the project will be presented in a special session together with IRG and KLSC, and it will be represented with a banner and information material in the exhibition. Michele Betsill and Ruben Zondervan will participate in a working session by IHDP and IAI that is intended to explore future cooperations and networks in governance research in the Americas. Frank Biermann, Norichika Kanie, and Ruben Zondervan will attend the workshop of the affiliated COMPON project on 26 April. A dinner for with the ESG SSC has been planned for Saturday 25 April and a dinner with all available Associate Faculty, Research Fellows and colleagues involved in the Research Centres has been planned for 28 April. All ESG SSC members participating in the IHDP Open Meeting 2009 are committed to use the opportunity to promote ESG and to make contacts in particular in regard to concrete research activities and funding. 6/8

7 5.3. Next ESG SSC Meeting The third ESG SSC meeting is scheduled on 1 December 2009, back to back with the 2009 Amsterdam Conference, at the conference venue in Volendam (close to Amsterdam). 7/8

8 Annex 1 Associate Faculty The text below is taken from the internal document on ESG Associate Faculty from 18 November 2008, prepared and distributed by to the ESG SSC by Frank Biermann on 25 November [the text of this document is only available for ESG SSC members] Annex 2 ESG SSC contacts to the Associate Faculty - [this annex is only available for ESG SSC members] 8/8