Social Challenges of Global Change - IHDP Open Meeting 2008

While still reaching out to the large and diverse international human dimensions community, it is expected that this Open Meeting will be highly applicable to the South Asian region generally and India in particular. Together with the local host and co-organizer, a unique developing-country institution with a main focus on energy, environment and sustainable development on a global perception and a local focus, the IHDP will follow up on outcomes from the last Open Meeting in Bonn in 2005, which tried to outline the need for a more specific and selective scientific approach.

With the theme of the 7th Open Meeting, “Social Challenges of Global Change,” IHDP wants to indicate the need to incorporate not only the general discussion about climate change, but also many other environmental changes which happen in our society: resource shortages, the destruction of ecosystem services, new threats to human health. At the first planning meeting of the ISPC, which took place in Bonn at the end of June this year, the planning committee agreed on four core questions, which should cover the widespread aspects of Social Challenges of Global Change:

How do we deal with demographic challenges?

How do we deal with limitations of resources and ecosystem services?

How do we maintain social cohesion while increasing (global) equity?

How do we adapt institutions to address global change?

Contributions to this conference will need to relate to one of the questions mentioned above and the numerous cross-cutting issues and topics that intersect them, as laid out in the 7th Open Meeting concept note

Call for Contributions opens at the end of August 2007!

For more information contact Lis Mullin, openmeeting@ihdp.unu.edu