Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) Synthesis Process and Conference

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Research on the complex interactions among human and natural components of the integrated Earth system have highlighted the need to understand both individual and collective perceptions and actions of human beings, because people operate both as individuals and as members of groups and institutions. Institutions figure prominently both as causes of large-scale environmental changes and through direct response and through establishment of the frameworks of responses to changing environmental conditions. This award continues support for the International Project Office (IPO) of the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) project. IDGEC is one of four major core projects of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change Programme (IHDP), which is an international collaborative research program overseen by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), with cooperation from the International Social Science Council (ISSC). The IDGEC Science Plan has guided a research program that has addressed the role of institutions in causing and confronting large-scale environmental changes. The plan focused on issues of causality, performance, and design, and it drew attention to analytic themes relating to institutional fit, interplay, and scale. The IDGEC IPO has provided a range of services designed to maximize the likelihood of IDGEC projects being successful in meeting the goals of the science plan. Among the functions undertaken by the IPO were staffing for the IDGEC Science Steering Committee, the project's main administering body; conducting liaison with IHDP staff and leaders; promoting IDGEC science; presenting and publishing IDGEC scientific results; and managing and mobilizing the IDGEC network. This award will continue that effort into the final phase of IDGEC's operation as a formal scientific program. The award will support a synthesis process that will culminate in a major conference in December 2006 to "harvest" the principal scientific findings of IDGEC. It also will provide support to explore the policy relevance of these findings and to identify key themes suitable for emphasis during the next phase of work in this field. Funds made available through this award will provide support for the planning and operation of the synthesis conference as well as the preparation of manuscripts for publication following the conference. The IDGEC-IPO has played a critical role in the success of this research project by catalyzing and coordinating a global network of scientists pursuing a common research agenda. Through continued support for the IPO and the synthesis activities that will bring IDGEC to its formal conclusion, the infrastructure for the conduct of current and future international collaborations focusing on this important set of problems will be strengthened, and the U.S. will give a positive signal to other nations regarding the value and utility of major international collaborative efforts