Supporting Regional Capacity Contributions to LOICZ II Development at the IGBP/IHDP LOICZ II Inaugural Open Science Meeting, 27-29 June 2005
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Asia‐Pacific Network for Global Change Research Supporting Regional Capacity Contributions to LOICZ II Development at the IGBP/IHDP LOICZ II Inaugural Open Science Meeting, 27-29 June 2005 Final report for APN project 2005-13-NSY-Lansigan The following collaborators worked on this project: Project Leader Felino Lansigan, University of the Philippines, Los Banos, Philippines, [email protected] LOICZ IPO, Germany, [email protected] Professor Nick Harvey, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Adelaide University, Australia, [email protected] Professor Ramesh Ramachandran, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India, [email protected] Dr M. Rafiqul Islam House 4/A, Road 22, Saimon Centre 5th Floor, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh, [email protected] Dr Elena Andreeva, Laboratory of regional studies and geoinformatics, Institute for System Analysis of Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp.60-letya Octyabria, Moscow 117312, Russia, [email protected] Dr Janaka Ratnasiri, Project Office, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, 120/10 Vidya Mawatha, Colombo 00700, Sri Lanka, [email protected] Dr Gullaya Wattayakorn, Aquatic Resources Research Institute and Department of Marine Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand, [email protected] Dr Apichart Anulkularmphai, 71/4 Setsiri Road, Samsen Nai, Phyathai, Bangkok 10400 Thailand, [email protected] Supporting Regional Capacity Contributions to LOICZ II Development at the IGBP/IHDP LOICZ II Inaugural Open Science Meeting, 27-29 June 2005 2005-13-NSY-Lansigan Final Report submitted to APN ©Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research Overview of project work and outcomes Non-technical summary LOICZ is developing a devolved regional organisation to ensure its research and synthesis is both relevant to regional and local needs and is informed by stakeholders from the scientific, societal and geo-political communities. Theproject provided support for regional scientists from natural and human dimension disciplines to contribute their expertise and knowledge of regional issues and needs into the scientific agenda into first global forum of the Inaugural Open Science Meeting of LOICZ. The organisation of the meeting included a set up of key note and plenary sessions followed by interactive workshops which were organised along and across the LOICZ II themes and crosscutting activities. APN supported participants played an active role in these activities. The meeting was attended by over 270 scientists from 52 countries and provided a vibrant and diverse forum for exchange and dissemination of global change science relating to the world’s coastal zones. The workshops provided a series of status assessments coupled to the theme structure of LOICZ as well as an evaluation of future science needs. A series of meetings were held between the LOICZ IPO, Regional nodes (existing and planned) from the APN region with regional scientists to specifically plan future LOICZ-related activity. Objectives The main objectives of the project were: The Inaugural Open Science Meeting will be the first forum to bring together the broad geographic and scientific scope of new LOICZ research for the next decade. LOICZ II will employ its devolved regional structure to bring together the broad scientific social and natural science community to address regional geographic, temporal and institutional scope of Earth system and management oriented research for the next decade by addressing a number of challenges to be met by the global environmental change research community and inherent opportunities. 1. LOICZ will involve and draw on a wide range of individual experiences and expertise from a diverse and global group of regional researchers. 2. It will promote vital discussions along and across the 5 Themes and crosscutting activities outlined in the LOICZ II Science Plan & Implementation Strategy. 3. It will identify and prioritize society’s global, regional and local coastal issues that need specific scientific attention and formulate key questions for future work on coastal change and human dimensions underlying the catchment-coast continuum scale where appropriate. A vital element will be to debate and recognise the application of current research and products, how information transfer to users can be enhanced in the future, and to determine a strategy to provide a broad support for the LOICZ II implementation that has a strong regional buy-in. Amount received and number years supported 2005-2006: 15,000 USD, 1 year of support. Activity undertaken The LOICZ Inaugural Open Science Meeting (IOSM) had 4 components: 1. Plenary Presentations with invited speakers exemplified the broad domain of research themes that are encompassed within the LOICZ Science Plan and Implementation Strategy (SPIS) and addressed some of the science challenges that face the next 10 years of LOICZ activity. 2. Contributed Sessions provided opportunity for some 140 speakers to present the principal outcomes of recent research findings. Morning sessions linked to the research themes identified in the LOICZ SPIS were given context by an invited keynote speaker who kicked-off each session as well as acting as a co-convenor. In the afternoon continuation sessions presented papers that cross the theme structure of the LOICZ SPIS. 3. Workshops provided an opportunity for groups to discuss specific areas of research and interest to LOICZ, and identify the gaps in knowledge, the future challenges and identify the contribution that future activity directions that should be taken up by LOICZ. Each workshop prepared a short report of their deliberations to report back to the whole meeting in Plenary to close each day. 4. Poster presentations were an important feature in the LOICZ IOSM and complemented the oral presentations. The posters were available to view throughout the meeting. Results The LOICZ Inaugural Open Science Meeting 2005 ushered LOICZ’s second decade as a global change program. Building on its strengths in examining material fluxes from catchments to coast, the LOICZ project will now embark on a broadly expanded research framework focusing on the interactions between humans, ecosystems and material fluxes as drivers of coastal change. Over the three days of the meeting, a community of some 270 coastal scientists and managers representing 52 countries engaged in an exciting dialogue about these interactions, their trajectories of change, including ways to approach sustainable coastal scenarios. Two plenary addresses each day provided an overview of the challenges facing the global environmental community. Plenary addresses were followed by oral presentation sessions where a keynote talk and paper presentations provided insight of future research needs and work in progress in regard to the research themes covered by the LOICZ Science plan. The meeting also importantly included afternoon workshops to develop research proposals and action plans targeting knowledge products. The meeting provided opportunity for researchers and practitioners to forge new linkages or renewed ties with colleagues to pursue LOICZ related activities. Relevance to APN scientific research framework and objectives Within the APN Research Framework the proposal addressed three of the main issues; namely, Changes in Coastal Zones and Inland Waters, Integration of the findings of natural science findings with social and economic factors and Input to policy-making and implementation. Further priority issues reflected in the APN Research Framework such as Climate Change & Variability and Changes in Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biodiversity were also addressed in the discussions being strong potential drivers of social choice and thus of flux changes to the coastal zone. A stronger and broader integration of Asia-Pacific scientists from all disciplines in future LOICZ activity can draw on improved understanding of the relevance of global change in coastal systems for life support function and feedbacks into the coupled natural and societal systems that are essential for appropriate management of coastal zones. To feed resulting questions into the dynamic LOICZ II agenda at a Regional to local level is an important in order to engage in a “science–policy–public“ dialogue addressing scientific information needs as well as human development and implementation issues. Self evaluation Feedback from the meeting indicates that the meeting was a success and, as well as providing an opportunity for scientists from the APN region to present their work and/or contribute and participate in workshop activity, was a significant career development for the participants. The meeting also provided ample opportunity for scientists from the APN region to network with others both from within the APN region and other regions of the world. Potential for further work The participation of supported scientists has already led to a greater involvement within the LOICZ network in the APN region centred on the LOICZ regional nodes based in Sri Lanka and Singapore. Publications All presentations and a meeting report will be available on the LOICZ website as well a hard copy LOICZ Meeting report. References N/A Acknowledgments The meeting attracted significant contributions from other funders for which LOICZ gratefully acknowledges their support. LOICZ also acknowledges the enthusiasm and contributions from all the scientists that attended the meeting. Technical Report Preface The LOICZ Inaugural Open Science Meeting