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Great lyric singer CP sings while top scientists and decision-makers welcome hundreds of participants
from all over the world, to the former German Parliament.
Bonn, 27 April 2009. - A grand piano surprised
hundreds of participants on Monday 27 April
morning, as they arrived at the opening ceremony
of the 7th International Science Conference on the
Human Dimensions of Global Change in Bonn,
Germany. Near the piano, the German lyric singer
CP captivated the audience by interpreting some
of his most renowned songs. Following the performance,
top panellists discussed the main challenges
of demographic change.
The Importance of Plurality
The artistic performance was followed by the
introductory speech of the IHDP’s Executive
Director, Andreas Rechkemmer. Dr Rechkemmer
stated that the Open Meetings are a „privileged
international platform for exchange and networking
in the human dimensions community“.
The Mayor of Bonn, Bärbel Dieckmann, emphasized
the role of the city as a catalyser for networking
and international cooperation in the field of
sustainable development.
Multiple speakers, including the State Secretary
for Education and Research, Germany, Frieder
Meyer-Krahmer, the IHDP Scientific Committee
Chair, Oran Young and Heide Hackmann, who
spoke on behalf of the two of the IHDP institutional
sponsors, ICSU and ISSC, highlighted the
importance of the human dimensions perspective
in addressing the increasing challenges of global
change.
Other speakers were the UNU Council Chair
Hebe Vessuri, the Vice Minister for Science and
Technology from China, Yanhua Liu, and Hans
Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam
Institute for Climate Change Research.
Prof. Mayer-Krahmer emphasized the need for
strengthening the bridge between research and
policy-making to transform theory into practice.
Heide Hackmann stressed the importance of IHDP
in bridging the gaps between science and action especially
through the programme’s various capacity
building activities, such as the IHDP Open Meetings
and the International Human Dimensions
Workshops (IHDW).
Chinese Vice-Minister for Science and Technology,
Liu Yanhua, described the many social challenges
faced by China, especially those related to
land use changes, air pollution, and the impacts of
urbanization and industrialization.
In his turn, Schellnhuber warned of what „we
haven’t seen on the pipeline yet“, referring to the
challenges presented by global change in general
and global warming in particular. The intensification
of solution-oriented research is needed,
Schellnhuber concluded.
„ Social Challenges and Demographics“
The challenge of demographics in a rapidly
changing world was the main subject of the Plenary
Session of the first day of the IHDP Open Meeting.
Lori Hunter, from the University of Colorado,
Boulder, USA, chaired the session, which focused
on the interactions between global change and human
health, urbanisation, pollution and resource
usage. Environmental chang¬e is expected to alter
the availability of resources such as the availability
of freshwater, the productive capacity of soils and
patterns of human settlement. We do not, however,
know the extent and geographical distribution
of these changes, nor can we know how environmental
change may influence human societies and
political systems.
Wolfgang Lutz, from the International Institute
for Applied Sciences in Austria, stressed the
importance of the population forecasting. Global
population has increased from 1.6 billion to 5.1
just during the 20th century. This almost exponential
increase of the world population in the last
century is part and parcel of the global changes we
are experiencing. He also made a strong point that
women education is crucial for strengthening our
capacity to cope new population challenges.
Flavia Pansieri, the Executive Coordinator
of UN Volunteers, emphasised the role of voluntary
actions in the providing sustainable solutions
to the greatest social challenges of global changes.
But, she stressed, volunteering does not meant
travelling to exotic or dangerous countries: „Volunteering
can be done from home“.
Finally, Xizhe Peng, the Director of Fudan
University, stated technology is not fast enough to
cope with rising CO2 emissions in China.
In spite of the scope of the problems,
all the panellists coincided in a same optimistic
message: international science conferences like
the IHDP Open Meeting are a first, positive step
towards a coordinated, plural action to mitigate,
adapt and prepare societies to face the increasing
challenges of global change.
