Towards a Global Geoscience Initiative – AGU Meeting of the Americas, 2010

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Meeting Summary

AGU Meeting of the Americas: Wednesday 11 August 2010, Iguassu Falls, Brazil.

Speakers:

• Michael McPhaden (American Geophysical Union) — Communicating the Science of Climatic Change
• Alberto Riccardi (International Union of the Geological Sciences) — Global Research Initiatives and Something Else
• Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi (The World Academy of Science (TWAS), Mexico Chapter) —Latin American and Caribbean S & T Cooperation Agency: A Proposal

The fourth and final town hall meeting to discuss the desirability of a Global Geoscience Initiative was held at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting of the Americas, Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, on August 11, 2010. This meeting was sponsored by The Geological Society of America (GSA), The American Geological Institute (AGI), The Geological Society of London (GSL), and The British Geological Survey (BGS). The four town hall meetings were conducted under the auspices of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) with support from UNESCO and the International Union of the Geological Sciences. The AGU meeting focused on three invited presentations on key global scale geoscience challenges.

Michael McPhaden, President of the American Geophysical Union presented “Communicating the Science of Climatic Change.” Dr. McPhaden pointed out that there are several grand challenges facing society in the 21st century that include not only climate change but also issues such as energy availability, sustainability, food security, infrastructure needs, division of wealth, and biodiversity. He emphasized that the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stating that the warming of the climate are unequivocal. He reiterated the findings that the warming is carbon dioxide driven, pointed out a 2-5 degree Celsius warming is expected in the next century, recognized that sensitivity and the many feedback mechanisms are poorly understood but research is focused on reducing this uncertainty. Dr. McPhaden pointed out that although the scientific community is almost universally (96%)in agreement with the findings, only about 60 percent of the general public are in agreement with the findings. Recent polls show that this percentage is declining.

Dr. McPhaden identified several barriers to acceptance of the IPCC results including for example, complexity and uncertainty, economic costs of social change, and media portrayals. The challenge before the geoscience community is to communicate with the public more effectively in light of the various barriers. He mentioned the importance of the communication role of various professional and scientific societies in educating the public and policymakers especially in the context of climate change. He also pointed out that the use of scientists in the media, such as weatherman may be a key aspect of any communication effort. These individuals enjoy public trust but often are not fully informed concerning the science and in fact, about 27 percent of weathermen don’t believe that there is global warming and 1/3 of those polled don’t think there is consensus among the scientific community. Dr. McPhaden clearly made the case for the need for stronger science leadership in societal issues and the need to communicate the reality of situations and potential consequences of human actions or non-action.

The second presentation was by Prof. Alberto Riccardi, President, International Union of the Geological Sciences (IUGS). His presentation was entitled “Global Research Initiatives and Something Else.” Prof. Riccardi discussed the legacy of IYPE and its numerous accomplishments. He pointed out that in addition to IYPE, the Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), the International Heliophysical Year, and the International Polar Year (IPY) also took place providing the geosciences an opportunity to collaborate. These international years led to the World Geosciences Forum held in Japan and resulted in the development of the Tsukuba Declaration encouraging a continuation of geoscience efforts in the both research and outreach. Prof. Riccardi emphasized the importance of the geoscience community eliciting interest in it efforts, the need to define a limited number of world-class projects that would have significant societal impact. Certainly, climate change and its impacts would be of significance. However, Prof. Riccardi also pointed out that water issues should also be considered and that these efforts should include issues associated with water development as well as education and capacity building internationally.

He encouraged the geoscience community to consider the both long-term aspects, such as political, social, and economic commitment to solution and short-term aspects such as effective collaboration mechanisms to the long term success of the geosciences contributing to societal issues. He also pointed out needs for success such as stronger development of interdisciplinary capacity and international cooperation. Prof. Riccardi also identified some tools that can be used to affect change including the various geounions of the International Council of Science (ICSU). He pointed out that professional and scientific societies like AGU, GSA, AGI and many others have a role to play though their memberships and influence on the geounions.

Prof. Riccardi stated that some potential solutions to the geoscience community working in concert may be strategic mergers, improved coordination and structural alignments, and a unified strategic plan for the geounions. The scope of coordination should include research initiatives, priorities and agendas, geoinformation and education (the OneGeology project, and the Earth Science Education Initiative in Africa were given as good examples), and the global geoscience workforce (such as the UNESCO, IUGS, and AGI workforce project).-

The third presentation was made by Dr. Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi, representing The World Academy of Science (TWAS), Mexico Chapter. His presentation was entitled “Latin American and Caribbean S & T Cooperation Agency: A Proposal.” Dr. Fucugauchi argued that a science and technology agency should be formed to increase investment in science, especially the geosciences. He referred to the UNESCO science report which stated that investment in research and development (R&D) in Latin America and the Caribbean is very small relative to the GDP of the region. Furthermore, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina account for more than 85 percent of the investment in R&D. There are many challenges facing the region including limited numbers of scientists, ‘south-south’ collaboration and the need for funding.

Dr. Fucugauchi noted that a Latin American and Caribbean government cooperating agency has been proposed in the past but it has never been implemented but the opportunity for change may be present. There are a number of models that have merit for consideration including some of the S&T organizations formed in the European Union (all Europe research councils and funding agencies). He cited the formation of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation as a vehicle for increased funding in R&D with an accompanying improvement in economic growth.

The discussion that followed the presentations focused on enhancing the credibility of science. The question posed was “How does geoscience address ideological challenges and outright lies in an effective manner?”. Dr. McPhaden said the recent AGU editorial in the Wall Street Journal that addressed concerns raised about bias in the peer review systems is a good example of proactive approaches the geoscience community must use to inform the public. Effective, clear, concise, and accurate communication of geoscience must be a critical element of any global geoscience initiatives.

Dr. Fucugauchi was asked why he thought the Latin American and Caribbean S&T was appropriate at this time. He pointed out that several countries are already working collaboratively. Dr. Fucugauchi believes that the political desire to establish more effective mechanisms for S&T currently exists and that there is now recognition of need for an independent S&T agency among political leaders in the region.

Prof. Riccardi was asked to prioritize the next steps he outlined for the global geoscience community. He replied that a common strategy for the geounions that are part of ICSU is critical in defining a clear path forward.-

P. Patrick Leahy and John Hess 1 September 2010

Presentations