International Council of Scientific Unions Newsletter No.62 August 1996

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC UNIONS - ICSU SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL\nNewsletter No.65 August 1997 Code Number:NL97009 Sizes of Files: Text:\n100.8K Graphics: No associated graphics files MEETING REPORTS ADVISORY\nCOMMITTEE FOR THE ICSU'S PROGRAMME ON CAPACITY BUILDING IN SCIENCE\nJulia Marton-Lefevre, Executive Director, ICSU The first meeting of the\nAdvisory Committee for the newly launched ICSU Programme on Capacity\nBuilding in Science (PCBS) took place in Paris at the end of June. The\nMembers of the Advisory Committee are listed. The meeting was also\nattended by a number of invited observers from UNESCO and the U.S.\nNational Academy of Sciences. The Advisory Committee reviewed plans for\nlaunching a Programme organized around the previously identified themes\nof Primary Level Education; Public Understanding of Science, and the\nOrganization of Actions to Reduce the Isolation of Scientists. It was\nagreed that the Programme should initially concentrate on a few highly\nvisible pilot projects in each of the areas and that some of these\nshould begin immediately. FIRST MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON\nRESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN SCIENCE (SCRES) Oslo, Norway, 19-22 June\n1997 Kathinka Evers, Executive Secretary, SCRES The recently\nestablished Standing Committee on Responsibility and Ethics in Science\n(SCRES) held its first meeting 19-22 June 1997 at the Norwegian Academy\nof Science in Oslo, Norway. The main task of the meeting was to\nestablish the precise role that SCRES should play in the future: what\nare its main goals? what does SCRES aim to produce? who is the intended\naudience? The first discussion focused on how the committee intends to\noperate, and how it should communicate with other ICSU members. ICSU\nPRESS ACTIVITIES: ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING IN SCIENCE Sir Roger Elliott,\nChairman ICSU Press When the General Assembly in Washington received\nthe report of the UNESCO/ICSU Press Expert Conference on Electronic\nPublishing in Science it charged the ICSU Press Committee with the task\nof undertaking the follow-up activities which derived from the\nrecommendations of the Conference. SPOTLIGHTS ON SCIENCE WORLD CLIMATE\nRESEARCH PROGRAMME (WCRP): Further Strategic Steps in Internationally\nCoordinated Climate Research: a report of the eighteenth session of the\nJoint Scientific Committee (JSC) for the WCRP H. Grassl, Director, WCRP\nThe WCRP is jointly sponsored by ICSU, the World Meteorological\nOrganization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission\n(IOC) of UNESCO. Overall scientific guidance for the programme is\nprovided by the ICSU/WMO/IOC Joint Scientific Committee (JSC),\nconsisting of eighteen scientists selected by mutual agreement between\nthe three sponsoring organizations and representing the atmospheric,\noceanographic, hydrological and polar science communities. At the kind\ninvitation of the Atmospheric Environment Service of Canada, the\neighteenth annual session of the Committee was held in Toronto from 17\nto 21 March 1996. IGCP: INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMMES CENTRAL\nTO THE IGCP ENVIRONMENTAL DEBATE Edward Derbyshire Chairman IGCP What's\nin a name? Seen from outside, a programme with the title of\n"international Geological Correlation Programme" might appear rather\nnarrow and prescriptive. in particular, the word "correlation" could\neven be construed as indicating that the IGCP is concerned with\nensuring that national programmes conform to some kind of scientific\nnorm. in fact, neither of these two impressions could be farther from\nthe truth. It may not be generally known that the IGC]? is widely\nregarded as the most successful international collaborative programme\nof its type. Jointly sponsored by UNESCO and the international Union of\nGeological Sciences (lUGS), it brings together researchers in all\naspects of the study of the solid earth sciences. It is open to\nscientists from any nation, and may be led by geoscientists of any\nnationality. This is vitally important for, after all, geological\nboundaries do not stop at national borders! THREAT TO FULL AND OPEN\nACCESS TO DATA Ferris Webster, Chairman, ICSU Group on Data and\nInformation New intellectual property laws may have potential adverse\neffects on the conduct of science and education. That was the principal\nconcern of the Group on Data and Information of the International\nCouncil of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the Commission on Data Access\nof the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), which met\njointly at ICSU Headquarters in June. At issue is the protection of\ndatabases that lack creativity in the selection, arrangement, or\npresentation of the information even though they may require a\nsubstantial amount of time, effort, or financial investment to produce.\nThe creative elements of databases are already protected under\ncopyright. The proposed sui generis right would in addition protect the\ncontents (i.e., the facts themselves) of databases. Thus, all. sorts of\ncompilations of data or datasets that have traditionally been in the\npublic domain for lack of sufficient "originality" (to make them\ncopyrightable) will now be protected against unauthorized uses and\nwould enable the database owners to charge at whatever level they chose\nfor authorized use. ENVIRONMENT EARTH COUNCIL: RIO+5 - FROM AGENDA TO\nACTION Rio de Janeiro, 13-19 March 1997 Sophie Boyer King,\nEnvironmental Science Officer, ICSU The Earth Council was set up in\n1992, with ICSU's sponsorship, and is principally aimed at encouraging\nnon-governmental bodies to be involved in environment and development\nissues. The culmination of these activities led to a series of events\nin Rio de Janeiro in March 1997, five years after the Earth Summit:\nRio+5, from Agenda to Action. ICSU agreed to contribute to the Earth\nCouncil's Rio+5 activities, providing inputs before the conference, and\nplaying an important facilitator and participatory role during the\nMarch events. As part of preliminary reporting activities, ICSU\nconducted a survey among its members regarding the progress and\ndifficulties in the implementation of ASCEND 21 (Agenda of Science for\nEnvironment and Development into the 21st Century). Responses received\nwere incorporated into a Special Focus Report, one of the many\ndocuments which shaped the Rio+5 agenda. DIALOGUE SESSION ON SCIENTIFIC\nAND TECHNOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES Fifth Session of the Commission on\nSustainable Development, United Nations, April 1997 Sophie Boyer King,\nEnvironmental Sciences Officer, ICSU ICSU was invited by the UN\nCommission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) to participate in and\nfacilitate a dialogue session of scientific and technological\ncommunities with UN government delegates, as part of the Fifth session\nof the CSD. Each Major Group had three hours in which to make\npresentations and respond to questions from the floor, in a first-time\nevent at a UN session. JOINT SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COMMITTEE FOR\nGLOBAL OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM (J-GOOS) Sophie Boyer King, Environmental\nSciences Officer, ICSU The fourth meeting of J-GOOS took place in Miami\non the 23-25 April 1997. During the two days preceding J-GOOS IV, the\nJGOOS ad hoc planning group had met to discuss the progress and\ndirection of the J-GOOS plan, GOOS 1998. J-GOOS was informed of a\nproposal to merge the Strategic Sub Committee (SSC) of the\nIntergovernmental Committee of GOOS (I-GOOS), with J-GOOS to form a\nGOOS Steering Committee. This committee would have more executive\nfunctions than the present J-GOOS and would include members from\noperational organisations to reflect this. After some discussion,\nJ-GOOS endorsed the proposal for a restructured GOOS. The new director\nof the GOOS Project Office, Dr Colin Summerhayes, updated participants\non the activities of the office, including increasing coordination with\nthe various communities which contribute to the development of GOOS.\nIGBP AT UNGASS EXHIBITION During the Special Session of the United\nNations General Assembly on Rio+5 (UNGASS), an exhibition was held\nshowing "Sustainable Development in Action". The IGBP was part of this\nexhibition and presented posters that were specially developed for this\nevent. In addition, the homepage was made available for browsing and a\nselection of IGBP Reports and Newsletters was displayed. ENVIRONMENT\nOCEAN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE: The 1998 WOCE Conference, Halifax, N.S.\nCanada, 24-29 May 1998 World Ocean Circulation Experiment: WOCE is a\ncomponent of the World Climate Research Programme investigating the\nrole played by the ocean circulation in the earth's climate system. Its\naim is to develop improved ocean circulation models for use in climate\nresearch. The WOCE observational phase from 1990-1997 has used\nsatellites and in-situ physical and chemical measurements to produce a\ndata set of unprecedented scope and precision. WOCE is now entering its\nphase of Analysis, interpretation, Modelling and Synthesis (AIMS) which\nwill continue until the end of WOCE in 2002. The reconciliation of\nmodel results and observations, and ultimately the assimilation of\nocean data into models, presents the ocean science community with a\nnovel set of challenges. HOUSE NEWS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ICSU\nJean-Francois Stuyck-Taillandier has been appointed to replace Julia\nMarton-Lefevre and will become Executive Director of ICSU, for an\ninitial 2-year period, as of 1 September. NEW EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF\nSCRES Kathinka Evers, a native of Sweden, graduated in Philosophy at\nthe Lund University and later obtained a doctorate in philosophy of\nscience and logic in 1991. NEW CHAIRMAN OF IGBP Dr. Berrien Moore III\nwas recently appointed to replace Dr Peter Liss as the Chair of the\nSC-IGBP and will start his term at the beginning of 1998. Moore is a\nmathematician from the USA and is Director of the Institute for the\nStudy of Earth, Oceans and Space at the University of New Hampsh

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