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2007 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam - Netherlands, 24 – 26 May 2007
The conference and its objectives
Human activities have contributed to the global environment change. Human is the only species that can save the planet. In the last decade, a project called Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) conducted a research on governance and institutions within the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). The research is expected to continue by bringing additional components to the earth system governance, that is by being more adaptive. At the same time equity and fairness from the global to local governances need to be considered.
The 2007 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental was the seventh event in the series of annual European Conferences on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, which brought the latest development on the human dimensions research. This 2007 Amsterdam Conference addressed the theme "Earth System Governance: Theories and Strategies for Sustainability”, and had an objective to integrate the latest development on the human dimensions research. Specifically, the conference brought latest knowledge and experiences in the earth system governance. The 2007 Amsterdam Conference also served as a venue for discussion and debate on the future directions in global change research on governance and institutions.
The conference was attended by around 280 participants coming from all continents representing international organizations, national research and public institutions and universities. It was organized by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and co-hosted by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Global Change Committee), the Netherlands Research School for Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE), the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, AIRD Environment Canada, and four European research programmes: ADAM, NeWater, REFGOV, Harmoni-CA and Glogov.org. The conference was endorsed by the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and by the World Academy of Art and Science. The whole programmes took place in the Vrije Universiteit’s campus on May 24 – 26, 2007.
The organization of the conference
In the last decade, research on governance and institutions within IHDP was conducted through its core project Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC). The project ended in December 2006 with its Synthesis Conference in Bali, Indonesia. The opening keynote speeches addressed the outputs of the IDGEC and the earth system governance as a crosscutting theme of global change research. Five research and governance challenges were proposed as the core of the earth system governance in this global change research theme which were adopted as the structure of the presentations and discussions in the conference. They were: architecture of the earth system governance; adaptive governance; agency beyond the state; accountability and legitimacy of the earth system governance; and allocation mechanisms in environmental governance. Two additional research problems were included: the theories and methods for analyzing earth system governance, and the reflexive governance of global public goods. In addition to the keynote addresses, the conference presented major academic presentations in eight parallel semi-plenary sessions, and about 170 presentations of research papers which were grouped in seven themes of 50 parallel panel sessions all together. There were also five side events as part of the conference.
The closing session started with a roundtable discussion in institutionalizing research on institutions followed by a presentation of call for papers for 2008 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. A remark by the chair of the conference officially closed the conference.
The papers in the adaptive governance panels were closely related to the challenges on adaptation to climate change from the governance perspective. TroFCCA Southeast Asia made a contribution by presenting a paper entitled: "A rapid vulnerability assessment method for designing national strategies and plans of adaptation to climate change and climate variability". The Abstract and Presentation files are available.
The conference has made a significant contribution to direct the future research in the field of the human dimensions of global environmental change. It successfully identified gaps and emerging issues from the presentations and discussions during the conference. Geographical distribution gaps were also identified of which papers from developing countries are relatively very few. Side events which run consultations with participants from Central and Eastern European countries, participants from developing countries, plenary and semi-plenary speakers (invited experts), and students, were found to be helpful in better shaping the future researches and project initiatives.
More information on the conference can be found at:
http://www.2007amsterdamconference.org/index.htm