The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) is an international, interdisciplinary science programme, dedicated to promoting, catalysing and coordinating research, capacity-development and networking on the human dimensions of global environmental change. It takes a social science perspective on global change and works on the interface between science and practice. IHDP is a joint programme of the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the United Nations University (UNU).

IHDP was founded by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) of UNESCO in 1996, and has been a key programme of the United Nations University (UNU)since January 2007. Financed by a broad range of agencies from different countries, IHDP's research programme is guided by an international Scientific Committee made up of reputable scientists from various disciplinary and regional backgrounds.

IHDP fosters high-quality research. The dynamics of climate change, land-use and land-cover change, interactions between institutions and the global environment, human security, sustainable production and consumption systems as well as food and water issues, urbanization and the global carbon cycle are investigated in the context of global environmental change.

Research and Partners

IHDP's programme is designed around three main objectives :

Requiring collaboration from a wide range of disciplines and studies encompassing the local, regional and global scales, these activities are increasingly carried out in conjunction with IHDP's international partner programmes on global environmental change: the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the International Programme on Biodiversity (DIVERSITAS). IHDP is also a scientific sponsor of the Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START) and a member of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). Additionally, IHDP collaborates with intergovernmental bodies such as the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and a variety of UN programmes and agencies.

IHDP's International Secretariat, the central coordinating body of the programme, is based at the United Nations Campus in Bonn, Germany, and is part of the United Nations University (UNU).

Planning for IHDP’s Second Decade

Over the course of the past decade, IHDP has come of age scientifically. The report of the 2006 External Review Committee, commissioned by ICSU and ISSC to assess IHDP’s performance, concluded that IHDP had been successful in developing an international research programme that enhances the involvement of the social sciences in global change issues and that IHDP has contributed to a heightened political and social awareness of the human dimensions of global change. IHDP currently plays a leading role in the global change research community and has been crucial for the development of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). Having completed its first decade of work successfully, IHDP has now articulated a strategy for the next phase of its existence.

IHDP's Strategic Plan 2007-2015 will guide the programme's course of action throughout the next decade in allocating programmatic resources among different activities as well as in setting goals and criteria that will direct IHDP's future work.

IHDP’s Vision

IHDP endeavours to provide international leadership in framing, developing and integrating social science research on global environmental change and to promote the application of the key findings of this research to help address environmental challenges.

Under the Strategic Plan, IHDP will continue to strengthen its role in facilitating cutting-edge research and ensuring both the expansion and reinforcement of global scientific capacity, carrying out it's mission to:

Header Photo by Ben Tubby