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Assessing
Global Environmental Change Research
Bonn,
June 26, 1996. Today
the German Advisory Council on Global Change presents its fourth Annual
Report to Dr. Angela Merkel and Dr. Juergen Ruettgers, the Federal Ministers
of the Environment and of Science and Technology. In the Report "World
in Transition: Challenges for Science" the experts have developed
options for science to address the most pressing issues of global environmental
change. One of the central statements is that the scientific contributions
of Germany have to reflect its above-average responsibility for global
environmental changes.
New priorities for global change research
According to the experts, global change research in Germany is lacking
an international perspective and co-operation, and it is too much focussed
on single scientific disciplines and too little on applied research for
the tangible policy needs. These problems are amplified by often undifferentiated
job cuts in global change sciences. The Council therefore calls for structural
changes within the scientific institutions, though more or less without
providing additional financial resources, but by better utilizing and
connecting existing research capacities. It is necessary to reconsider
existing research priorities, to focus more on global problems as well
as to improve the international scientific cooperation.
In order to facilitate the prioritization of research topics the Council
has developed so called "relevance criteria". These criteria,
e.g. the urgency of a problem or Germany's responsibility, can help to
select the most relevant research topics.
In particular, the Council considers it very important to comprehensively
monitor the environmental as well as social developments on a global scale.
Monitoring of the natural environment calls for large-scale technical
equipment - research ships, satellites etc. - and the development of global
models. Within the social sciences cross-cultural comparative research
as well as comprehensive social monitoring programmes are needed, especially
in order to understand the driving forces of human behaviour.
Foundation of a German Strategy Centre for Global Change
The Council appeals for a foundation of a German Strategy Centre for
Global Change in order to generally strengthen the problem
solving capacity. Such an institution would conduct research on natural
and social global developments in a politically understandable and relevant
manner. Correspondingly, it would have to ensure reciprocal social and
political feedback on its work. Despite shrinking public financial resources
the Council considers establishing such a centre very important.
Initializing new financing mechanisms
The Council further suggests that German industry should initialise and
finance a Global Change Foundation in order to facilitate the dialogue
between science, politics and business. Its activities could become a
topic of the World Exhibition in Hanover in 2000 (EXPO 2000).
Compilation of global reports by the federal government
The Federal Government is asked to compile a Global Report for every legislative
period (in Germany every four years), where the political actions and
initiatives in the field of global change should be presented. It should
also indicate as well as assess the results and developments of global
change research in the aftermath of the 1992 Rio conference.
Identification of the 16 most important global "diseases"
For the first time in its history mankind has reached a point where the
scope and magnitude of environmental and development problems have led
to a serious and global crisis. Science has not yet been able to develop
adequate strategies to cope with this development, since the "classic"
disciplinary approach has no mechanisms to address the complexity and
connectivity of Global Change issues. Therefore a true challenge for modern
GC Science is the development of an approach for this specific problem
structure. Along that line the Council has developed a so-called syndrome
approach that can define, explain and help solve the "diseases"
of our planet. The Council has identified the following 16 syndromes that
encompass the phenomenon of global change as a whole.
Utilization syndromes - Syndromes as a result of inadequate use
of natural resources as inputs for production
1. Overcultivation of marginal land - Sahel Syndrome
2. Overexploitation of natural ecosystems - Overexploitation Syndrome
3. Environmental degradation due to the elimination of traditional agricultural
practices - Rural Exodus Syndrome
4. Non-sustainable agro-industrial use of soils and bodies of water -
Dust Bowl Syndrome
5. Environmental degradation due to the exploitation of non-renewable
resources - Katanga Syndrome
6. Development and destruction of nature for recreational purposes - Mass
Tourism Syndrome
7. Destruction of the natural environment due to war and other military
impacts - Scorched Earth Syndrome
Development syndromes - Problems of people-environment-interactions
resulting from development processes
8. Degrading transformation of landscape due to large-scale projects -
Aral Sea Syndrome
9. Environmental degradation due to the introduction of inappropriate
agricultural production technologies - Green Revolution Syndrome
10. Neglecting environmental standards in the wake of highly dynamic economic
growth - Asian Tigers Syndrome
11. Environmental degradation due to uncontrolled urban population growth
- Favela Syndrome
12. Destruction of landscape due to planned expansion of urban infrastructure
- Urban Sprawl Syndrome
13. Singular man-made environmental disasters with long lasting impacts
- Disaster Syndrome
Sink syndromes - Environmental degradation due to the mismanagement
of waste-related processes
14. Environmental degradation due to large-scale diffusion of long lasting
substances - Smokestack-Syndrome
15. Environmental degradation due to uncontrolled disposal of municipal
waste - Dumping Syndrome
16. Local contamination of soils and bodies of water mostly due to industrial
production - Contamination Syndrome
Syndrome approach as alternative concept for Global Change research
The Council recommends that future German Global Change research should
be, by and large, syndrome-oriented, and it calls upon science to critically
review and further develop this concept.
According to the Report, three syndromes - Smokestack, Sahel and
Urban Sprawl syndromes - are of prime importance and should be
researched upon with high priority. Smokestack refers to the phenomenon
of large-scale diffusion of long lasting substances, for example of CO2
or CFCs. The Sahel syndrome stands for the agricultural overexploitation
of marginal regions. It occurs not only in the Sahel zone itself, but
in numerous other areas of the world, for example in northern Thailand
or northwestern Brazil. The Urban Sprawl syndrome can be found
wherever wealthy cities expand, L.A. being the prime example for this
disease.
Please direct your queries to:
WBGU Secretariat
Reichpietschufer 60-62, 8th Floor
D-10785 Berlin
Germany
Tel. +49 30 263948 12
Fax +49 30 263948 50
Email: wbgu@wbgu.de
All press releases and reports can be downloaded
at http://www.wbgu.de.
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