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wikiADAPT goes live - 03 December A new wiki-based research resource for climate change adaptation goes live at COP13 wikiADAPT is intended to be a flexible, accessible, inclusive medium for enhancing the knowledge base of the climate adaptation community, and uses a wiki foundation to enable rapid and effective collaborative work. It is hitting the ground running at its public launch in COP13 in Bali, December 2007, with more than 190 pages already live, and over 150 collaborators registered during its trial stage. weblink: http://www.wikiadapt.org A local perspective on rural vulnerability in South Africa - 06 August In response to a recently published SEI report entitled, Adapting to climate, water and health stresses: insights from Sekhukhune, South Africa , a young community member from one of the villages where the research was conducted commented as follows: You have raised important factors that I think are very critical to my community like Aids/HIV, water and education. I would like to add my view on the issue of education in my community. Because our village is very small we almost all know one another and mostly we are relatives. For the past few years I realized the numbers of youth who are matriculated (completed and passed their final secondary school exams) mostly are males and they move on to do their desired career. I only know less than 10 ladies in my village who have gone very far with their career and that is a challenge to our community. While recognizing that poverty is in our community, we must not be deterred from achieving our goals. Lack of education in our community has seen the community lose lots of projects in the past few years. They have lost an open cast mine which I think would help to enhance the quality of life of our people. And for that loss I blame the lack of education among us as a community. Even though I think there has been progress, I think we still have a long way to go. I also blame our local municipality for not giving the youth a chance to prepare themselves for the future. The fact is that they always say we must come to them if we need help. I remember in 2006, after completing my studies in civil engineering, I went to the municipality to enquire if they can offer me experiential learning. To my surprise they sent me from pillar to post and even went as far as saying that I must check the local newspapers for job vacancies, but I was not looking for a job but training. What I am trying to show here is that the local municipality does not do enough on skills development and upliftment of the lives of our people. I remember when I went to university my lecturer asked me why I want to study civil engineering. My reply to him was that I want to enhance the quality of life of my community, but this has never been the case that I have contributed anything to the people of Greater Tubatse. But I have done my bit in Bophirima and Tshwane, where I was given a chance. What I am saying is that they are not doing enough to uplift the standard of living to our communities. It does not make sense for a local boy to render his service very far, while he can do the same for his community if given a chance. On AIDS/HIV, I think it is a global challenge but it can be defeated through education. The lack of education has seen more people dying. In my experience in my community I think our people need to be educated a lot about this disease, especially youth because in most cases they are the casualties. And without the youth there is no future. I have seen some brothers and sister going down because of Aids. I think we need a few workshops so that we can know in detail how to avoid the disease. Even though poverty is one of the challenges facing my community I cannot use it as excuse for this disease. By Katlego Mphula Napo weblink: Conference on Food Security and Environmental Change - 02 August The University of Oxford will host an international conference on “Food Security and Environmental Change: Linking science, development and policy for adaptation” between Wednesday 2 – Friday 4 April 2008. The purpose of the conference is to engage the research and policy communities addressing food security, environmental change and food policy... The purpose of the conference is to engage the research and policy communities addressing food security, environmental change and food policy by: * Presenting and discussing research on GEC, food security and food systems, and decision support dialogues from the broad international community * Presenting and discussing findings from conceptual and regional research supported by the ESSP Joint Project “Global Environmental Change and Food Systems” (GECAFS) * Bringing together scientists and policy makers from diverse backgrounds to forge new partnerships Conference themes include: * Concepts and methods for GEC research related to food systems; vulnerability and adaptation; scenarios; and decision support * Regional research, including case studies from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Southern Africa, Caribbean, Europe and elsewhere * Development agenda and policy processes regarding GEC and food security * Emerging issues and frameworks for analysis and policy development of adaptation options for food systems to GEC The Call for Papers is now open and further information about sessions and how to submit abstracts can be found on www.foodsecurity.elsevier.com weblink: http://www.foodsecurity.elsevier.com IPCC Fourth Assessment report to be released tomorrow - 01 February The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issues a set of comprehensive reports about every five years, detailing the latest consensus on climate science, compiled and exhaustively reviewed by over 2,000 scientists and the governments of 154 countries. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issues a set of comprehensive reports about every five years, detailing the latest consensus on climate science, compiled and exhaustively reviewed by over 2,000 scientists and the governments of 154 countries. The first report, due for release tomorrow (2 February 2007), details the physical science basis of climate change, including progress in understanding and attributing climate change, how climate has been behaving in the past and projections of future climates. Three other reports will be released later on in the year to complete the Fourth Assessment set. A report on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability will be released on the 6 April; another on mitigation of climate change will appear on 4 May; and finally a summary of these three reports aimed at policy makers will be available on the 17 November. For more information and to download copies of the recent and past reports visit the IPCC website at http://www.ipcc.ch/ weblink: http://www.ipcc.ch/ 2007 Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability - 17 November The Munich Re Foundation and the United Nations University (Institute for Environment and Human Security) will host a second Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability. The theme for 2007 is Megacities: Social vulnerability and resilience building. The Munich Re Foundation and the United Nations University (Institute for Environment and Human Security) will host a second Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability. The theme for 2007 is Megacities: Social vulnerability and resilience building. It will take place from the 22nd to the 28th July at the Hohenkammer Castle, near Munich, Germany. PhD candidates doing their dissertations on topics related to social vulnerability and megacities are invited to apply by the 15th January. For more information visit the websites www.ehs.unu.edu and www.munichre-foundation.org weblink: http://www.ehs.unu.edu Collection of climate change and gender resources - 13 October Siyanda (a gender and development online resources database) has recently featured an up to date collection of documents looking at the gender aspects of climate change. Siyanda (a gender and development online resources database) has recently featured an up to date collection of documents looking at the gender aspects of climate change. Although gender issues have not played a major role in climate protection discussions until very recently, in the last couple of years there has been more of a conscious effort to address questions of gender. The Siyanda feature provides summaries for all of the documents. weblink: http://www.siyanda.org/search/results_adv.cfm?Keywords=climatechange06&Subject=0&Donor=0&Langu=E&StartRow=1 TGICA IPCC- Workshop - 13 October The IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA) is organizing an expert meeting on climate-society-environment interactions that are important to understanding climate change and its potential implications: Integrating Analysis of Regional Climate Change and Response Options. The IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA) is organizing an expert meeting on climate-society-environment interactions that are important to understanding climate change and its potential implications: Integrating Analysis of Regional Climate Change and Response Options. The purpose is to explore and stimulate innovative research on connections and feedbacks across space, time and systems at scales appropriate to mitigation and adaptation decision-making. The 3-day expert meeting will be held June 20-22 2007 in Nadi, Fiji. See http://tinyurl.com/rlxyu for a conference announcement, a call for paper abstracts, and a form for submission of abstracts. Abstracts are requested no later than 30 November 2006. Approximately 40 persons will be selected from the submitted abstracts and invited to participate in the conference. Financial support will be available for invited participants from developing and transition economy countries. A web site for the conference is being implemented and will be made available soon. weblink: http://tinyurl.com/rlxyu New programme on Global Change Ecology launched - 08 August The University of Bayreuth has launched a new interdisciplinary programme devoted to exploring critical contemporary environmental concerns. The University of Bayreuth (in cooperation with the universities of Augsburg and Wuerzburg) has launched a new elite programme on Global Change Ecology. The program is devoted to understanding and analyzing important and consequential environmental concerns of the 21st century. Problems of an entirely new and interdisciplinary nature require the establishment of innovative approaches in research and education. A special program focus is the linking of natural science perspectives on global change with approaches in social science disciplines. weblink: http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/gce/ |