International Council of Scientific Unions Newsletter No.59 March 1995

Abstract

Newsletter No. 59 March 1995 Code Number: NL95023 File Sizes: Text: 134K Graphics: Line Drawings (gif) 26K MEETING REPORTS Penetration of Science and Mathematics in the Education of Children in the Primary Schools Sherburne Abbott National Academy of Sciences Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE) Julia Marton-Lefevre, Executive Director, ICSU ICSU's ACE held its 9th meeting in Paris, in January, and reviewed ICSU's involvement in various programmes dealing with the environment, including the three Global Observing Systems (GCOS, GOOS and GTOS), the IGBP (International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme) and the WCRP (World Climate Research Programme). ACE also continued to advise the Executive Board of ICSLI about rotation of ICSUappointed members of relevant environmental bodies. Special Committee on Science in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (COMSCEE) Julia Marton-Lefevre Executive Director, ICSU The ICSU Special Committee, COMSCEE, held its annual meeting in Paris in January, and, before continuing to develop its own programme, it reviewed relevant activities carried out by ICSU family members. These were submitted in response to a request from the Chairman of COMSCEE. A review of the activities of partner organisations represented on COMSCEE, such as the European Union, OECD and UNESCO also took place. Electronic Publishing in the Scientific Domain: An international conference of experts to identify issues of concern and to advise on future action for the benefit of science D.F. Shaw Fellow of the Keble College, Oxford ICSU Press and UNESCO have set up a Programme Committee to plan the Conference of Experts in Electronic Publishing, which is to be held in Paris at UNESCO HQ during the week 19-23 February 1996. The first meeting of this Committee was held at ICSU HQ on 15/16 December 1994 and this report summarises the arrangements so far proposed. INASP Board Meeting London, 9 and 10 February 1995 Carol Priestley, Director, INASP The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) held its meeting on 9 and 10 February in London. It is now in its third year of operation. The Network continues to be run from the small secretariat in London, headed by Carol Priestley as Director, and supported by Pru Watts-Russell as the other member of professional staff. Ard Jongsma returned to the Netherlands in June 1994 to take up work as a freelance journalist. It has, however, been possible to retain his services on a consultancy basis for preparation of some of the INASP publications. The SC-IGBP reports on the 9th meeting Neil Swanberg Deputy Executive Director, IGBP The ninth meeting of the Scientific Committee of the IGBP (SC-IGBP) was held in early December in the small skiresort of Thredbo, Australia. For one day prior to the meeting, the members of the SC participated in a Global Change Seminar at the Australian Academy of Sciences in Canberra, Australia. A series of talks by leading Australian scientists and IGBP Core Project Chairmen provided an excellent counterpoint between national and regional focus and global interests. After this, the SC members proceeded to Thredbo for their meeting. Situated in the Smoky mountains, about a 3-hour drive from Canberra, this off-season locale (late Austral spring) offered a pleasant, inspiring and costeffective environment for the meeting. The all-too-brief glimpse of the Australian countryside and wildlife en route was welcomed by all. Establishment of the new Scientific Committee on Water Research: From COWAR to SCOWAR lanusz Kindler* Chairman The Committee on Water Research (COWAR) was established by ICSU in 1964, as a forum for information exchange among the international nongovernmental scientific associations working in the field of water. In 1976, COWAR became a joint ICSUUITA (Union of International Technical Associations) Committee. By the end of 1992, the General Committee of ICSU reviewed COWAR and recommended that it should become more research oriented in order to meet the challenges of the post-UNCED period. In fact, in recent years COWAR had already been involved in the UNCED process, among others, summarizing research needs of the water sciences arising from the concept of sustainability ({{Water in our common future}}, UNESCO/IHP, 1994). SPOTLIGHTS ON SCIENCE + 1 C? It happened before ! N. Petit-Maire Vice-President, lUGS The world socio-economic and political structures rest, for a large part, upon the presentday climatic conditions, widely dictating the regional availability of fresh water, food and shelter. The study of the realistic archives of the Past (ice and deep-sea cores, continental sediments) provided by long term geological records has shown that the present-day scenario is only transitory within the huge variability of the Earth's climate. Changes in the solar energy received by the planet have induced, at least in the last 2 millions years, alternate cold and warm phases: over the last 20,000 years only, average global temperature has shifted from a glacial maximum (-3 C relative to nowadays) to a warm pattern (+1 C) which peaked between 9,000 and 6,000 years ago, then slowly degradated, due to the slow astronomical trend presently leading the globe toward a new cold phase, at the slow pace of - 0.01 C / century. 6th Meeting of the OECD Megascience Forum Paris, 24-25 January 1995 Francoise Praderie. Coordinator, Megascience Forum During its sixth meeting held in Paris on 24-25 January, government representatives attending the Megascience Forum discussed what the Forum had achieved since the meeting of the OECD Committee for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) at Ministerial level recommended its creation in March 1992. GETTING TO KNOW World Data Centre C-Glaciology Ailsa Macqueen Manager of World Data Centre - Glaciology and William Mills Scott Polar Research Institute This article provides a brief introduction to World Data Centre C for Glaciology (WDCC), one of the less well-known members of the ICSU family. WDC-C has much to offer all those whose research interests relate in any way to snow and ice. European Network for Research in Global Change (ENRICH) Anver Ghazi ,Head, ENRICH Office With less than 250 weeks left to go until the beginning of the twenty first century, formidable tasks remain for the scientific community to monitor and detect, understand and predict changes in the Earth System and its interactions with human beings. A crucial challenge is to make scientific research results accessible and usable for those involved in the decision making process related to the concept of Sustainable Development. Major international scientific programmes under the umbrella of ICSU, such as the IGBP and WCRP, are dealing with these issues. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT Science Publishing in Latin America Kai Inge Hillerud, Chairman, ICSU Press ICSU Press and COSTED/IBN organized jointly on 27-30 November 1994 a Workshop on {{Scientific Publications in Latin America}} in Guadalajara, Mexico. Cosponsors of the workshop were UNESCO, the University of Guadalajara, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and the Academia de la Investigacion Cientifica (Mexico). Guadalajara and the Scientific Magazines of Latin America Ennio Candotti Editor, Ciencia Hoje There is a clear message coming forth from Guadalajara: there is Science in Latin America. Here, we find a rich biological, environmental and cultural diversity. Historical documents of great value for the history of civilization and for natural paleo-history developed here. In Latin America, complex societies were formed and have survived against the most cruel economic and political pressures. E. Candotti, Editor, Ciencia Hoje, Rio de Janeiro, at the Workshop on Scientific Publications in Latin America in Guadalajara Developing a New Science Agenda for Africa A. RANDFORUM's Mandate Prompted by the fact that Africa had so far failed to put into place mechanisms for the economic and social development of Africa, The Research and Development Forum for ScienceLed Development in Africa (RANDFORUM) was established two years ago with the following guidelines: NEWS IN BRIEF New President of the Third World Academy of Sciences Jose Israel Vargas from Brazil was elected President of the Third World Academy of ciences (TWAS) at its recent Council meeting held in Trieste, Italy on 27 January 1995. NEWS IN BRIEF First International Course in Biotechnology of Plants and Microorganisms 25 October to 13 December 1995 Rehovot, Israel The COBIOTECH's Training Centre of Biotechnology in Agriculture, in cooperation with the Otto Warburg Centre for Agricultural Biotechnology, established at the Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is organizing the {{First International Course in Biotechnology of Plants and Microorganisms}} to be held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel, from 25 October to 13 December 1995. LOOKING AHEAD Future Meetings METEOHYTEC 21 UPDATE WMO International Conference on Meteorological and Hydrological Technology and its Management - METEOHYTEC 21 Geneva, 22-26 May 1995. International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics General Assembly Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. July 3-14, 1995 Data Challenges of the 21st Century An Inter-Association Workshop, sponsored by the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI), and co-sponsored by the International Association of Geodesy (lAG), the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (lAGA), the ICSU Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), and the ICSU Panel on World Data Centers (WDC). ICSU Forum 22 October 1995 and SAC IV, 23-27 October 1995 Beijing International Convention Center, Beijing, China The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) The records of ancient China give detailed descriptions of weather and landscape, providing invaluable documentation of climate and landuse change. We search these records for indicators of global change, and whether changes in China did, or did not, correspond to dramatic changes in warm or cold, wet or dry, periods in other parts of the globe. ICSU Forum on Earth System Research The ICSU Forum taking place on 22 October in Beijing is the third one to accompany a Scientific Advisory Council meeting for the IGBP. The first in Paris (France) in September 1990 addressed global change studies in the different ICSU Unions, the second in Ensenada (Baja California, Mexico) covered different aspects of the follow-up to Agenda 21 and the Rio Conference, and the third Forum addresses scientific issues with regard to Earth system research. The Forum, with an approach to the global change work of the ICSU bodies, provides an introduction to the more specific scientific research and results of the IGBP. Conference and Business Forum Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico 26-29 November 1995 This Conference is jointly organized by the Scientific Committee for Biotechnology (COBIOTECH) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) andthe Instituto de Biotecnologia (IBT) de la Universidad Nacional Aut6norna de Mexico (UNAM). This is a first interdisciplinary brainstorming event to discuss the needs, opportunities, and tools for promoting biotechnology through methods of cooperation between all Third Scientific Symposium {{Global Change, Local Challenge}} Geneva, 20-22 September 1995 Background The Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme (HDP) addresses processes that transcend political and cultural boundaries. Understanding and responding to these global scale phenomena requires international coordination and cooperation. HDP contributes to global change research by providing mechanisms to foster collaboration among natural and social scientists, develop compatible and comparable data sets, elaborate common methodologies, and exchange research results. Preparations for 25th meeting of ICSU General Assembly The 25th General Assembly of ICSU will take place in Washington, D.C., in September 1996, hosted by the U.S- National Member of ICSU, the National Academy of Sciences. The General Assembly will open on the evening of 24 September 1996 and will conclude its business by the afternoon of 27 September. A day will be set aside during the Assembly for a Scientific Symposium the programme of which is presently being finalized. OBITUARIES Tribute to Cyril Ponnamperuma by Professor Julian Chela-Flores from Venezuela, TWAS Fellow (Written for TWAS Nezvsletter) PUBLICATIONS ICSU 1995 Year Book The 1995 ICSU Year Book was published in March This valuable reference tool contains 475 pages of information on the Council, its Members, Committees, Associates and partners with details of their activities and chief scientific officers. In addition to an alphabetical address list of over 2,000 leading scientists throughout the world, the Year Book contains a comprehensive calendar of international scientific meetings from the present to the year 2000. It is an essential publication for scientific and university libraries, institutions and individuals with serious interests in scientific research. Guidelines for Scientific Publishing Second edition ICSU Press Publishing Services has concentrated its efforts on being a source of advice and counsel to ICSU bodies in matters relating to scientific publishing, including financial, legal and technical aspects, and as an agent for any family member wishing to engage in the publication of books or journals. It is within this context of this advisory role that these revised Guidelines for Scientific Publishing have been issued. This book may be obtained from the ICSU Secretariat. Universality of Science The eighth edition of Universality of Science}} (1995/1996) is now ready for distribution. This handbook of ICSU's Standing Committee on Freedom in the Conduct of Science (SCFCS) gives advice to organizers of international scientific meetings. The 51-page booklet has kept the same blue cover ever since the first edition and is widely known as {{The Blue Book}}. CALENDAR OF MEETINGS 27 March - 7 April 10-11 April: 12 - 28 April 20 - 21 April 24 - 26 April 02 - 03 May 04 - 05 May 6 May 29 May - 4 June 15 -16 June 21 June 22 - 23 June Copyright 1995 ICSU