The IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 11 No. 3 (1 March 2011)

The IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 11 No. 3 (1 March 2011)
Contents
1.      New nominations for IUGG Officers due by 27 March
2.      Agenda of the IUGG Council Meeting
3.      News from the Local Organizing Committee for the XXVth IUGG General Assembly
4.      Report on the ENHANS Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa
5.      International Union of Geological Sciences celebrated its 50th Anniversary
6.      IUGG General Assemblies and International Geological Congress
7.      The Sixth World FRIEND Conference focused on the Mediterranean Basin
8.      IUGG-related meetings occurring during March - May 2011
1.      New nominations for IUGG Officers due by 27 March
Given below is the list of nominations for the IUGG Bureau and the Finance Committee as submitted by the Nominating Committee. The positions and the nominated candidates are:
President：Harsh Gupta (India, IASPEI)
Vice-President：David Jackson (USA, IASPEI)
Michael Sideris (Canada, IAG)
Guoxiong Wu (China, IAMAS)
TreasurerAksel W. Hansen (Denmark, IAMAS)
Bureau Members (Positions #1, #2, and #3)
Isabelle Jane Ansorge (South Africa, IAPSO)
Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi (Mexico, IAGA)
Pierre Hubert (France, IAHS)
Kenji Satake (Japan, IAPSO/IASPEI)
Finance Committee
Position #1: Zoltan Hajnal (Canada, IASPEI)
Position #2: David Rhoades (New Zealand, IASPEI)
Positions #3 and #4: David Collins (United Kingdom, IACS/IAHS)
Jan Krynski (Poland, IAG)
Juan Vilas (Argentina, IAGA)
The Report of the Nomination Committee together with the Curriculum Vitae of the candidates is posted on the IUGG web site (http://www.iugg.org/nominations/NominCommRep_CVs.pdf).
The officers of the Union and Associations, and the National Committees for IUGG may make further nominations and/or recommendations to the Nominating Committee. If new nominations for a given position are supported by at least three Presidents or equivalent officers of National Committees of Member Countries, and if they are accompanied by the written acceptance of a possible nomination and a resumé outlining the position, research interests and Union related activities of the candidates, they shall be added to the list above. The deadline for adding nominations is 27 March 2011. The resulting final list of nominations will be completed and distributed by 27 April 2011.
Any questions concerning the nomination procedure should be sent to Prof. Masaru Kono (masarukono@gmail.com).
2. Agenda of the IUGG Council Meeting
According to IUGG By-Law 6 the Council Agenda should be sent to the Member Countries four months in advance. The IUGG Council meetings are open only to Adhering Body Delegates, Listeners designated by Adhering Bodies in Associate Status, the IUGG Executive Committee and Finance Committee, and guests invited by the President. A report of the decisions of the Council, including the officers elected for the 2011-2015 term, will be presented at the General Assembly Closing Ceremony on 7 July 2011.
3. News from the Local Organizing Committee for the XXVth IUGG General Assembly
By the deadline of 7 February, the number of submitted abstracts was more than 5,500. This excellent outcome indicates the tremendous work done by the conveners of the assembly’s symposia, the Scientific Program Committee of the General Assembly, the Local Organizing Committee, and ARINEX - Conference Professional Organizers. The IUGG Executive Committee thanks all these people and those who submitted their papers to be presented at the IUGG General Assembly in Melbourne. This assembly will be a world-class event with a state-of-the-art high quality scientific programme. Important Dates
28 March – Notification to the authors about the acceptance of their presentations at the IUGG General Assembly
11 April – Early-Bird Registration deadline. Payment of the registration fee should be made at this time. Payment of the registration fee after this date will attract the higher standard registration fee rate.
4. Report on the ENHANS Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa
The ENHANS International Workshop “Extreme Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk in Africa” provided an opportunity for the research community of the African countries and international experts to discuss and analyze major topics related to extreme natural events and disaster risk. The workshop served as a platform to establish links and networks between African experts with relevant international organizations. The workshop was hosted by the Aon Benfield Natural Hazard Centre, University of Pretoria, and was based on invited presentations by African and foreign experts in natural hazards and disaster risk analysis. The Workshop’s scientific program can be found at the workshop’s web-page: http://www.technoscene.co.za/hazardsws.
The Workshop’s participants adopted the following recommendations to governments and funding institutions in cooperation with the relevant ICSU bodies, United Nations agencies and other international entities, that:
(1) the African Centre for Natural Hazards, Disaster Risk Analysis and Management (ACHADEME), a network of already existing research and educational centers or new institutions in the African countries, coordinated by one of the network’s partners, be set up;
(2) Education at all levels on natural hazards, disaster risk reduction (prevention, mitigation and preparedness) and post-disaster recovery should become a priority topic of the national disaster risk reduction policies of African countries;
(3)Disaster risk management and climate adaptation centers be established in African countries;
(4)As an essential part of a strategy for risk reduction, more infrastructure for reservoir holding and irrigation during dry seasons needs to be developed in the African regions affected by repeated threats of droughts and floods;
(5)An efficient collaboration be encouraged between natural and social scientists and engineers, medical professionals as well as with mass-media and policy-makers;
(6)Insurance industry be more actively developed and involved in disaster reduction efforts;
(7)A partnership be promoted between the corporate industries and the scientific community towards establishing observation systems to enhance the application of geosciences in disaster risk reduction;
(8)A joint statement of the African national academies related to science education on natural hazards and disaster risks in Africa be issued; and
(9)The ICSU Regional Office for Africa, with input from ICSU Scientific Unions and UN agencies, to develop action on the science policy interface related to disaster risk mitigation in Africa.
The full text of the recommendations will be soon available at the ENHANS web-page: http://www.enhans.org.
The Pretoria workshop was highlighted in the U.N. SPIDER Newsletter http://www.un-spider.org/news-en/4847/2011-02-04t123100/un-spider-enhans...,
The Insurance Journal：
The ENHANS is a project of the International Council for Science (ICSU) led by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. ENHANS supporting partners are the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Geographical Union (IGU), the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), the Scientific Committee of the Program “Integrated Research on Disaster Risk” (IRDR), and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) of IOC-UNESCO. The ICSU Regional Offices for Africa (ROA), Asia & the Pacific (ROAP), and Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) are involved in the relevant parts of the project providing links to the regions.
The principal goals of the ENHANS project are (i) to improve understanding of critical phenomena associated with extreme natural events and to analyze impacts of the natural hazards on sustainable development of society; (ii) to promote studies on the prediction of extreme events reducing predictive uncertainty and on natural hazards mitigation; to bring the issues into political and economical policies; (iii) to disseminate knowledge and data on natural hazards for the advancement of research and education in general and especially in developing countries; and (iv) to establish links and networks with the international organizations involved in research on extreme natural hazards and their societal implications setting up a consortium of experts of ICSU Unions and several major intergovernmental and multi-national organizations involved in the project. The goals of ENHANS will be achieved via scientific meetings and open forums bringing together research experts, decision makers, and disaster management, insurance agency and mass media practitioners. The project will place a special emphasis on the importance of research on extreme natural hazards and disaster risk mitigation in the most vulnerable regions of the world, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia, and the Pacific region.
5. International Union of Geological Sciences celebrated its 50th Anniversary
The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) was established in 1961. IUGS promotes and encourages the study of geological problems, especially those of worldwide significance, and supports and facilitates international and interdisciplinary cooperation in the earth sciences. To celebrate its 50th anniversary and to highlight IUGS achievements for half a century, a special event was held on 21 February 2011 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. IUGS President A. Riccardi, ICSU Executive Director D. Chen, and Assistant Director General for Natural Sciences of UNESCO G. Kalonji welcomed participants to the anniversary event. Representatives of several organizations including M.-L. Chanin (Academie des Sciences, France) and Orhan Altan (ISPRS President), who spoke on behalf of ICSU GeoUnions, addressed the attendees. A keynote presentation “How Earth made us” was delivered by I. Stewart (University of Plymouth, UK). The event was followed by a conference on the topic “IUGS looking into the future”. IUGG Secretary General Alik Ismail-Zadeh attended the IUGS 50th anniversary.
6. IUGG General Assemblies and International Geological Congress
Following two requests received from the IUGS German National Committee on 17 November 2009 and from the EuroGeoSurveys on 19 April 2010, for a long-term coordination of IGS and IUGG General Assembles, with the main objective of reducing scheduling and venue conflicts, the International Geological Congress Council (IGCC) in its last meeting (Brisbane, June 24-25 2010) decided to propose to IUGG the establishment of a working group (WG) to consider the issue. IUGS President Alberto Riccardi sent an invitation to IUGG to accept this proposal.
The IUGG Bureau at its meeting in Cairo discussed this proposal and, considering the importance of consultations in coordination of the Unions’ assemblies, decided to accept the invitation and appointed Dr. Aksel Hansen, Dr. Alik Ismail-Zadeh and Dr. David Jackson (alternate) as members of the IGCC/IUGS - IUGG WG. Dr. Ernesto Abbate, Dr. Peter Bobrowsky, and Dr. Anders Solheim (alternate) will represent IGCC/IUGS.
The first meeting of the WG was held in Paris on 22 February in conjunction with the IUGS Executive Committee meeting. E. Abbate (IGCC), P. Bobrowsky (IUGS) and A. Ismail-Zadeh (IUGG) took part in the meeting. Also A. Ismail-Zadeh attended the IUGS Executive Committee meeting on 22-23 February as a listener.
7. The Sixth World FRIEND Conference focused on the Mediterranean Basin
Jointly organized by the Faculty of Science and Techniques of the University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah of Fez (Morocco) and the Laboratory “HydroSciences Montpellier” (France), the 6th World FRIEND Conference took place in the Palais des Congrès of Fez, 25 - 29 October 2010. Since 1984, FRIEND (Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data) has been aiming at developing and strengthening the exchanges between researchers in the field of hydrology. More than 150 participants coming from 36 countries put together their knowledge about “Global Change: Facing Risks and Threats to Water Resources”. Dr. Gordon Young, the President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, attended the Conference. IUGG co-sponsored the Conference.
In order to reach a better assessment of the risks linked to global change, five topics have been considered during the Conference: (i) Hydro-hazards, (ii) Adaptation strategies, (iii) Anthropogenic pressure on limited water resources, (iv) Environmental information and monitoring systems, (v) Large scale hydroclimatic variability and impact. Steering Committee meetings of various FRIEND groups as well as the FRIEND Inter-Group Coordination Committee (FIGCC) meeting were hold. Dr. Henny Van Lanen (Netherlands) took over from Dr. Trevor Daniell (Australia) as new FIGCC Chairman for the next four years. It was also decided that the next World FRIEND Conference will take place in Asia in 2014. The Red Book corresponding to that FRIEND Conference (IAHS Pub n°340) shows 87 papers.
The Mediterranean Basin region faces strong population increase and deals with poor, unequal and overexploited water resources. Climatic scenarios are not fair when considering the next decades: an expected decline of the precipitations and an increase of the temperatures are supposed to worsen the hydrological situation. This very specific context had been taken into account when deciding to organize this FRIEND Conference in a Mediterranean country. The goal was reached as the conference was a perfect occasion to underline the extreme fragility of water resources in the arid and semi-arid Mediterranean areas in connection with both the climate worsening and the overexploitation of the resources. In order to mitigate such consequences, several major issues were underlined during the Conference: increasing the study of underground waters (particularly karstic aquifers, very common all around the Mediterranean), improving the analysis of anthropogenic activities impacts both on quality and on quantity of water resources or, more, coupling climatic scenarios with models taking into account water uses, etc. These issues are considered as priority fields of research primarily, but not only, for Mediterranean hydrologists, but not only. The conference also emphasized interface areas such as coastal environments. Indeed, they are places of many and heavy socio-economic stakes, and they have to face an increasing touristic exploitation.
Received from Eric Servat and Alain Dezetter, Conference organizers.
8. IUGG-related meetings occurring during March – May 2011A calendar of meetings of interest to IUGG disciplines (especially those organized by IUGG Associations) is posted on the IUGG web site (http://www.IUGG.org/calendar). Specific information about these meetings can be found there. Individual Associations also list more meetings on their web sites according to their disciplines.
March
-21-25, IUGG, IAPSO, SCOR, WCRP, Mauritius, “Towards an Observing System for the Greater Agulhas System: Building links and capacity for East African participation”.
-21–25, AGU, Santa Fe, USA, Chapman Conference: Climates, Past Landscapes, and Civilizations.
-March 27 – April 1, IAHS, Monaco, International Symposium on Isotopes in Hydrology, Marine Ecosystems, and Climate Change Studies
April
-3-8, EGU, Vienna, Austria, General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union,
-11-14, IAHS, UNESCO, Vienna, Austria, International Conference: The Status and Future of the World’s Large Rivers
-18-21, IAHS, WMO, Exeter, UK, International Symposium “Weather Radar and Hydrology”
-20-21, IAHS, Nanjing, China, International Symposium on Climate Change and Water
May
-2-5, IAHS, Vienna, Austria, HydroEco 2011: 3rd International Multidisciplinary Conference on Hydrology and Ecology: Ecosystems, Groundwater and Surface Water - Pressures and Options
-9-12, AGU, Charleston, USA, Chapman Conference: Modeling the Ionosphere/Thermosphere System
-16-20, IAG, Bad Kötzting, Germany, 17th International Workshop Laser Ranging
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 11 Number 3 (1 March 2011)
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