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Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP)

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The Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) is a partnership of the four international global change research programmes DIVERSITAS (International Programme on Biodiversity), International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on global environmental change (IHDP), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The ESSP recognises the Planet as a complex system regulated by physical, chemical and biological processes, and influenced—as never before— by human activities. This creates new challenges to achieving global sustainability in terms of climate, biodiversity, food provision, health and freshwater resources. The partnership, therefore, was established to design science-based solutions to these issues by applying a more integrative approach. It brings together researchers from diverse fields, and from across the globe, to undertake an integrated study of the Earth System, the ways that it is changing, and the implications for global and regional sustainability.
The ESSP contributes to this endeavor through: (i)joint projects; (ii)integrated regional studies, (iii) capacity building, and (iv) open science conferences. So far, it is implementing four global-scale Joint Projects of the four parent programmes, namely on water resources (GWSP), food systems (GECAFS), the carbon cycle (GCP), and human health (GECHH), as well as a small set of integrated regional studies, the first one being the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). IHDP contributes to the joint projects on carbon, water, food and health and actively facilitated the establishment of the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). IHDP cooperates closely with START (Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training), which is the capacity building and regional research component of ESSP. IHDP activities on advancing Earth Systems Science include assistance to ESSP Joint Projects, and co-ordination within the ESSP framework.
In 2007, the ESSP Scientific Committee met for the first time, chaired by Professor Rik Leemans of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. The ESSP has been reviewed and is developing a strategic plan which will transform the partnership into a true alliance of the partner programmes. IHDP provided and continue to provide strong and visible input to this strategic planning process. Other community-wide activities include a new bioenergy activity; a CGIARESSP challenge programme proposal on climate change, agriculture and food security; interactions with the conventions and assessments, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the IPCC. All of these activities have had input from IHDP. The ESSP is also working in partnership with its Parent Programmes in developing a communications strategy and has published a report on carbon reductions and offsets.
Website: http://www.essp.org/


DIVERSITAS - an International Programme of Biodiversity Science

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Plants, animals, their genetic diversity and their diverse habitats are being threatened as never before by factors such as habitat loss, overexploitation of resources and climate change - all of which result from human activities. These changes in biodiversity will have far-reaching and unanticipated consequences on our planet's life-support systems as well as on the services that humans derive from ecosystems. DIVERSITAS provides an international framework for scientists around the world to address the questions posed by biodiversity loss.
The mission of DIVERSITAS is to:
  • Promote integrative biodiversity science, linking biological, ecological and social disciplines in an effort to produce socially relevant new knowledge
  • Provide the scientific basis for the conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity
  • Draw out the implications of conservation policies as well as for those promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity
DIVERSITAS seeks to:
  • Develop common international frameworks for collaborative research
  • Form research networks to tackle focused scientific questions
  • Promote standardised methodologies
  • Guide and facilitate construction of global databases
  • Facilitate efficient patterns of resource allocation and undertake analysis, synthesis and integration activities on particular biodiversity themes
  • Promote the practical application of cutting-edge science to support policy and contribute to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Contact:
DIVERSITAS Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) 57, Rue Cuvier - CP 41 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Phone: +33 1 40 79 80 41
Fax: +33 1 40 79 80 45
E-mail:
URL: http://www.diversitas-international.org


International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)

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IGBP was founded in 1987 by the International Council for Science (ICSU) at a time when the need for an international collaborative research endeavour on the phenomenon of global change first emerged.
The vision of IGBP is to provide scientific knowledge that improves the sustainability of the living Earth. IGBP studies the interactions between biological, chemical and physical processes and their interactions with human systems, collaborating with other programmes to develop and impart the understanding necessary to respond to global change.
IGBP's research goals are:
  • to analyse the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that define Earth system dynamics
  • to analyse the changes that are occurring in these dynamics
  • to analyse the role of human activities in these changes

Contact:
IGBP Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Box 50005 104 05 Stockholm Sweden
Phone: +46 8 16 6448
Fax: +46 8 16 6405
URL: http://www.igbp.net



World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)

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The WCRP was established in 1980 under the joint sponsorship of International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and has also been sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO since 1993.
The World Climate Research Programme is uniquely positioned to draw on the totality of climate-related systems, facilities and intellectual capabilities of more than 185 countries. Integrating new observations, research facilities and scientific breakthroughs is essential to progress in the inherently global task of advancing understanding of the processes that determine our climate.
The two overarching objectives of the WCRP are:
  • to determine the predictability of climate patterns
  • to determine the effect of human activities on these climate patterns
To achieve its objectives, the WCRP has adopted a multi-disciplinary approach, organising large-scale observational and modelling projects as well as facilitating a focus on aspects of climate that are too large and complex to be addressed by any one nation or single scientific discipline.

Contact:
WCRP World Meteorological Organization 7bis, avenue de la Paix P.O. Box 2300 1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 730 81 11
Fax: +41 22 730 8036
E-mail:
URL: http://wcrp.wmo.int





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