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Towards a Global Geoscience Initiative – London Meeting 2009

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Meeting Summary

An informal group comprising John Ludden (chair) (BGS), Tom Beer (IUGG), Nic Bilham (GSL), Ed de Mulder (IYPE) (first part of the meeting), David Dent (IYPE Board), Wolfgang Eder (IYPE Board), Manual Grande (EGU), Jack Hess (GSA), Pat Leahy (AGI), Robert Missotten (UNESCO), Edmund Nickless (GSL) and Roland Oberhaensli (ILP) met on 16 July 2009 at the Geological Society of London, Burlington House, London

  • to establish whether the concept of a global geoscience initiative is viable,
  • to discuss institutional arrangements, and the roles and relationships of key organisations (including IYPE, whose activities will draw to a close in June 2010),
  • to discuss how working science communities might be engaged, and
  • to agree on next steps in the process.

In seeking to establish a global geoscience initiative, no new structures or institutions were identified as there are already suitable vehicles (UNESCO, the International Unions, etc). Support of these institutions will be invaluable. The continuing success of International Years depends on their being seen to have a distinct end, and a clear legacy, so IYPE (and the other years) should be used to lever support for the current initiative among existing institutions.

Institutional support from the International Unions and UNESCO is likely to be a key determinant of success. A repurposed IGCP was suggested as a possible institutional vehicle for the programme.

It was agreed that the theme(s) of the programme should be associated with clear societal goals. A useful starting point would be to consider the role of geoscience in delivering the ‘Millennium Goals’, at a global, national and regional level. Some broad trends in societal drivers for science are common to many countries, such as stimulating economic competitiveness, and living with environmental change – recognising these broader social agendas will help attract funding. A clear link between the science programme and societal goals will also help to sustain continuing outreach projects, and will help to show to those outside the community the vital role of Earth scientists in addressing the great challenges of the future.

While institutional support and some joined up international effort to give the project identity, stimulate new funding, etc, are essential, it was agreed that excellence in the science itself depends on allowing a more organic, ‘bottom up’ approach. A key challenge is to engage scientific communities, as well as funding bodies and other institutions, and to knit together these ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down’ elements. A programme which enables access to (possibly new) international infrastructure might be attractive in this respect.

The Earth sciences tend to be fragmented, and relatively restricted to disciplinary silos. The project must therefore be seen to be genuinely interdisciplinary, and will add real value if it is seen to help counter institutional as well as disciplinary fragmentation, so that there are fewer but stronger and more cohesive voices talking to outside audiences. In order to engage a truly global community, the project must not be seen as Euro-centric or colonialist.

It was suggested that the programme should not be ‘global’ simply in the sense of involving activity in many countries, and being globally organised, but should also involve global processes – this has been a strength of the oceanography community.

Although it was recognised that it was not the purpose of the meeting (or of the group) to fix on a theme (or themes) for an global science programme and pre-empt discussions later in the year, it was agreed that it would be helpful to generate some ideas, which might be a useful starting point for those discussions. A number of possible themes, often inter-related, were identified and discussed.

A possible model is to identify a broad overarching theme, such as landscape, which would span the ten year lifetime, say, of the programme, with three distinct successive three-year phases (an attractive timeframe for many funding bodies) addressing more focused topics, e.g. deltas. It was noted that most of the suggested themes inevitably involve climate change/environmental change, but as a driver rather than a research topic in its own right – which clearly locates them in a societal context. It was agreed that in the end, attractive and focused themes must be identified, rather than very diffuse subject areas such as energy or water.

The need to raise political support and awareness among funding bodies was recognised, but it was agreed that this should be left until after the third Town Hall Meeting at EGU, capitalising on the process which will have taken place at Town Hall Meetings at GSA and AGU, in gathering support raised in the global geoscience community.

The aims of the Town Hall Meetings are:

  • to establish whether the concept of a global geoscience initiative is viable,
  • to discuss institutional arrangements, and the roles and relationships of key organisations (including IYPE, whose activities will draw to a close in June 2010),
  • to discuss how working science communities might be engaged, and
  • to agree next steps in the process.

TOWARDS A GLOBAL GEOSCIENCE INITIATIVE –TOWN HALLS

Sponsors: American Geological Institute (AGI), British Geological Survey (BGS), Geological Society of America (GSA) and Geological Society of London (GSL)

Background: The activities associated with the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) will shortly come to an end. Looking back over the three years of IYPE, there have been many notable successes, particularly in its Outreach program.

Several members of the IYPE board, along with representatives of some other Earth science institutions, have started to explore whether there is scope to launch a global geoscience initiative, in response to the ‘call to arms’ embodied in the Tsukuba Declaration put forward by participants in IYPE and three other International Years — the International Polar Year, the Electronic Geophysical Year, and the International Heliophysical Year. Such an initiative, while independent of IYPE and the other International Years, would constitute a fitting legacy, contributing to global scientific understanding and international capacity building, and complementing the outreach achievements of IYPE.

The vision of the group developing this proposal is that it should:

  • be inclusive, and involve a geoscience community which is broad both in terms of discipline and nationality,
  • have a clear socio-economic context, and global societal relevance,
  • focus on a globally significant science theme, and preferably involve global processes, and
  • attract the support of scientific communities, funding agencies, governments and other institutions in many countries, under the umbrella of UNESCO and the geoscientific International Unions.

While some initial thought has been given to how such an initiative might work, and to possible science themes, it will only be a success if it has the support and involvement of a broader community of Earth scientists. ‘Town hall’ meetings are therefore being held at the GSA Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon (October 2009), at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California (December 2009), and at the EGU Meeting in Vienna (May 2010). The proposal will also be discussed at the closing IYPE event in Lisbon (November 2009), and at events in other parts of the world over the coming months. Discussion Summary

Edmund Nickless and P. Patrick Leahy 06 January 2010