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The UN
Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability released its
report last week. Based on it, experts from IHDP’s Urbanization and Global Environmental
Change Project (UGEC) argue: Understanding urban development and how its
components interact with the environment are key for creating successful
guidelines aimed at achieving global sustainability.
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News | UGEC
News | UGEC
Deadline is
February 17, 2012
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News | IHDP Scientific Committee
Professor Sir
Partha Dasgupta, chairman of the IHDP Scientific Committee, will head a
high-level expert group set up by the Indian government to evaluate the impact
of economic growth on the environment. The panel will provide a road map for a “green
national accounting” system to help evaluate India’s GDP after taking into
account environmental costs and impacts.
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Announcement | IHDP Secretariat
We are starting the New Year with exciting news at IHDP as we announce
the addition of two eminent scholars to the IHDP Scientific Committee:
The Honorable Professor Ruth Oniang’o, and Professor Dan Ariely. Both
Professors Oniang’o and Ariely will bring valuable insight and expertise
to IHDP’s work in addressing the human dimensions of global change, and
we are delighted to welcome them to the Committee. |Read more
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IHDP Secretariat
UNU-IHDP and UNU-ISP in collaboration with DIVERSITAS
have been commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan to undertake
a survey on the process of the
new Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
The survey is reaching out to natural and social scientists as well as relevant
stakeholders to solicit their feedback in the nascent stages of the establishment
of the platform. |Read more
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Call for Applications/Nominations
Our Scientific Committee is looking for new members! The ideal candidates have a scientific background in either anthropology, behavioural sciences, humanities or sociology, and should be willing to start in 2013. Deadline for applications/nominations is 31 January 2012. Click below to find out more on the requirements, tasks and application procedure.
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Policy Briefs | Planet under Pressure
The latest press release on Planet under pressure was issued today, 23 November. Please click here to download it. A series of policy briefs are now available as part of
the scientific preparations for the conference taking place in London,
March 26-29 2012. The briefs specifically target policy-makers in the Rio+20 process,
aiming to give them access to the latest scientific thinking on
sustainable development issues. |Read more
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Report | IPCC
With regard to the IHDP central
field of research - humans affecting the environment and being affected by it,
the forthcoming “Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and
Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” from the International Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) confirms the relation between extreme weather events and climate change. |Read more
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SC Meeting | IHDP
Twenty scientists from across the world accepted the invitation of
Professors Partha Dasgupta and Anantha Duraiappah to join the 18th IHDP
Scientific Committee Meeting from
20-22 October. The event, hosted by the IHDP
National Committee in China (CNC-IHDP) took place in Nanjing, China. The aim of the annual meeting of IHDP’s governing
body is to provide advice regarding the further strategy for the
programme’s research, and development of the activity portfolio. |Read more
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Capacity Development
IHDP recently organised a Training
Workshop on Asian Development Pathways and transitioning towards a “Green
Economy
” in Nanjing, China. Participants of the workshop represented
the scientific community and public and
private sectors from across the Asia-Pacific region.
At the centre of the event was the question
of how to transform the basic economic
sectors of Asian countries to be environmentally and economically sustainable.
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Journal 'Science' | GLP
The authors of the report
"Paying for Ecosystem Services: Promise and Peril", published
in the Nov. 4 issue of the journal Science, take a critical look at
the opportunities and possible pitfalls related to existing environmental
markets and market-like mechanisms. They touch on issues including
lessons learned from existing payment schemes, uncertainties in the science
underpinning the various schemes in question, and the dangers of perverse
incentives.
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IHDP Secretariat
The
IHDP Secretariat (UNU-IHDP) had invited young scholars to take part in a
scientific writing contest. We're happy to announce that based on accordance
with the selection criteria, three winners could be chosen.
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Social Science Survey | IHDP Secretariat
Scientists across all disciplines share great concern that our planet is in the process of crossing dangerous biophysical tipping points. The results of a new large-scale
global survey
among 1,276 scholars from the social sciences and humanities demonstrate that the human dimensions of the problem are equally important but severely under-addressed.
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Water Energy Food Nexus Conference
Dear reader,
We invite you to participate in a stakeholder survey
that will provide input into the "Bonn 2011 Water, Energy and Food
Security Nexus - Solutions for a Green Economy" conference to be held
from 16 to 18 November 2011 in Germany. The survey results will also feed into the Rio+20 discussions on Green
Economy in the context of Poverty Eradication and Sustainable
Development. |Read more
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PLoS ONE journal | Secretariat
Why do class inequalities exist within the majority of cultures around
the world? IHDP Science Officer Deborah Rogers, together with former
colleagues from Stanford University, recently published a paper in PLoS ONE
on this question. Their study modeled the demographic consequences of
unequal access to resources, and found that several factors, including
the comparatively unstable populations and rapid migration of stratified
societies, may have allowed them to conquer and displace egalitarian
societies throughout history. |Read more
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PLoS ONE journal | UGEC
Researchers from IHDP’s core project UGEC just co-published
a meta-analysis in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, revealing the risks of
explosive urban growth for people and the environment and providing the first estimate of how fast urban areas grow and may grow in the future.
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Discussion Forum | ESG
The Earth System Governance
Project has started a new major initiative related to the upcoming
“Rio+20” UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The Rio conference is
less than a year away, and likely to be the biggest intergovernmental
event in our field in a decade. What is clear from the preparatory
process is that fresh ideas from the policy and academic community are
needed. |Read more
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Secretariat

The IHDP Secretariat (UNU-IHDP) is pleased to
announce its first scientific writing contest for a new magazine to be launched
in late fall 2011.
The contest is open to young scholars from all
over the world (graduate students, PhD students or postdocs). Scholars from
developing countries are particularly encouraged to take part. The Secretariat
will select five winners to be awarded a cash prize - and will publish their
work in its magazine’s first issue.
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Secretariat
The Annual Report 2010 provides a
comprehensive overview of IHDP’s mission and objectives as well as an extensive
update on the latest activities and progress of IHDP’s global research network,
its projects and partners.
One of the most substantial innovations introduced
with this report is a summary of key findings and recommendations provided by
IHDP projects, addressing a broad range of vital issues such as food security
and human health.
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Planet Under Pressure
Save the date for the scientific kick-off for Rio+20: The Planet Under Pressure Conference in London from 26-29 of March 2012.
The international conference will be the biggest gathering of global
environmental change specialists in advance of the United Nations Rio+20
Summit: 2,500 scientists, policymakers, industry and media
representatives will meet to hear the latest research findings on the
state of the planet and discuss concepts for planetary stewardship and
societal and economic transformation towards global sustainability. |Read more
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Secretariat
In the June edition of ‘International Innovation’,
IHDP Executive Director Anantha Duraiappah talks about the programme’s work and explains why it is crucial
that we understand the social and cultural drivers of human behaviour in order to bring about more sustainable
societies. |Read more
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IWR | Secretariat
Science Officer Pablo Muñoz recently shared his expertise in wealth
accounting at the ProEcoServ workshop in UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, focusing on the context of measuring
natural capital and more generally in the realm of using inclusive
wealth as an indicator of societies’ progress. |Read more
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Nobel Laureate Symposium | ESG
On May 16-19, more than
twenty Nobel Laureates, several leading policy makers and some of the
world’s most renowned thinkers and experts on global sustainability
gathered at the Third Nobel Laureate Symposium at the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences in Stockholm in the presence and with the support of HM
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. |Read more
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Opinion
The world
watched in horror on March 11 as the fifth-largest earthquake on record slammed
the Tohuku and Kanto regions of Japan, and has remained transfixed as a series
of natural and unnatural disasters have followed in its wake. Read more on why
Japan should look at traditional land-management practices for a long-term
sustainable reconstruction.
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Vacancy | IHDP Secretariat
IHDP Secretariat | Bonn, Germany
Deadline: Applications accepted year-round |Read more
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Announcement
IHDP is pleased to announce the appointment of Sir Partha Dasgupta as
the new chair of its Scientific Committee. Professor Dasgupta takes on this position at a
felicitous moment within a rapidly evolving global environmental change
landscape. Find out about his long and distinguished career in working
at the frontiers of social sciences and the value his leadership will add to IHDP. |Read more
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Call for Nominations/Applications
Our Scientific Committee is now looking for
three new members! The ideal candidates have a scientific background in either
anthropology, behavioural sciences/economics or sociology, and should be
willing to start in fall 2011. Deadline for applications/nominations is 15 May
2011. Click below to find out more on the requirements, tasks and application procedure.
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Live Webcast | IHDP Secretariat
Don't miss out on IHDP's Science Officer Deborah Rogers speaking at a side event at the 2nd Meeting of the UNCSD Preparatory Committee on March 8. The event
titled "Planetary Boundaries and the Urgent Need for Societal
Transformations" will be organized by UNU-IHDP together with ICSU and
IGBP and will take place at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Click here to register for the live webcast |Read more
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Science Magazine
As governments prepare for endorsing the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), four prominent scientists involved in its creation argue for a radical transformation of the relationship between science and society. |Read more
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Survey | IHDP Secretariat
IHDP, in partnership with ISSC and UNESCO, just
launched a global survey to document how social sciences and humanities
scholars view research priorities related to global environmental change (GEC).
We are inviting scholars to give feedback on their role in GEC and will be
using the results to illustrate incentives and disincentives for engaging in
this field and to frame the global sustainability research program from a
social sciences perspective. To take the on-line survey, please click on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/IHDPSurveyLink.
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Journal Climate and Development | GECHS
A special issue of Climate
and Development is now available, offering new knowledge and opinion in
the emerging field of 'sustainable adaptation'. The articles present
empirical evidence from diverse contexts such as Vietnam, Kenya, and the
UK, and discuss the conceptual and practical challenges of how to
understand adaptation through the lens of sustainability.
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IHDP Update 1, 2011
 Questions about the links between global change, human health, and the
environment have become critical to the well-being of mankind. It has
become increasingly apparent that the IHDP community has a key role to
play in addressing health as a cross-cutting issue. Edited by Thomas
Krafft, Mark Rosenberg, Gabriela Litre and Lucilla
Spini, this Update brings together contributions from GECHH project
researchers and the wider IHDP community. |Read more
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Bonn Symposium 2010

IHDP’s
Dr. Anantha Duraiappah gave the opening speech of the Bonn Symposium 2010. He
highlighted the work of IHDP (particularly the IT projects findings in this
context) and its move toward the inclusion of human behavior with regard to a
changing climate and what it entails for not only renewable energies and
current dependencies, but also human well-being.
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Programme News
Hello
and welcome to the human dimensions blog. This new feature is run by
the IHDP secretariat, with writing and contributions from the whole
human dimensions research community. It will also be the central part
of the new "community" section of our website, where we will feature
calls, events, vacancies, and news from the wider network, making it a
great resource for our the whole resaerch community. We have many new
and exciting features coming.
Infographics explaining the scientific work and findings of our projects
Ask an Expert where questions from you will be answered by our members of our scientific community
Debates about current events in the world and the scientific community
Guest Bloggers from our research community sharing their specialities
Current Headlines related to human dimensions research from mainstream media
And of course news and announcements from the network
We
will be posting blog entries about three times a week, and current
headlines almost every day. So check back soon to see what's coming
next.
We want to keep this section of the website open to input from the whole community, so please contact me, Louise Smith, (smith@ihdp.unu.edu) to contribute. |Read more
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View full events calendar
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Workshop | The Mountain Research Initiative
Saturday, 21 April 2012, Vienna, Austria
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Conference | ESG
28 - 31 January 2012 | Tokyo, Japan
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View all calls
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Call for proposal | START
February 29th, 2012 at midnight,
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International START Secretariat
Deadline: February 16, 2012
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View all programme news
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News | UGEC
News | UGEC
Deadline is
February 17, 2012
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View all vacancies
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IHDP Secretariat
IHDP Secretariat, Bonn, Germany
Deadline: Until filled |Read more
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Vacancy | Fenner School of Environment and Society
Closing date: 3 February, 2012 |Read more
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Vacancy | University of California
Irvine, United States
Deadline: Friday, March 30, 2012 |Read more
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Vacancy | IHDP Secretariat
Application deadline: until filled
Start date: March 2012
|Read more
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