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Chief Editor: Ronald F. Abler - Associate Editor: Markku Löytönen - Editors: Giuliano Bellezza, Woo-ik Yu Managing Editor: Giuliano Bellezza- Publisher: Home of Geography This issue is circulated to more than 1000 individuals and bodies.Announcements, information, calls for participation in scientific events, programmes and projects, are welcome. Please send them to g,bellezza@homeofgeography.org Contents of this Issue
3.1) International Congress, Tunis August 2008 3.2) Regional Conference, Tel Aviv, July 2010 4.1) IAG Ethiopia, 26 February - 6 March 2008 4.2) EURAC, Bolzano (Italy), 13-14 March 2008 4.3) ESSI Summit in Villa Celimontana, 13-14 March 2008 4.4) Saudi Geogr. Soc., 14th Assembly, Al Ahsa Province, 10/12-3-1429 (18-20 Apr.08) 4.5) AAG Annual Conference, Boston, 15-19 April 2008
1) Message of Giuliano Bellezza
Dear Friends, geographers or not, it is somehow embarrassing for me to write the opening message in this issue, where you will find one more lot of my englalian in the usual Home of Geography Update, with a summary of my Report to the Meeting of the Villa Celimontana EC, held on 22nd April. This same meeting explains somehow why I write the opening lines. In Roma the meeting has been attended by Markku Loytonen, Anne Buttimer and Ron Abler, and after they had just time to come back home, and fly again toward Moscow, to participate in the IGU EC Meeting one week later. Moreover, Markku is engaged as a candidate in the election of the new Rector of the Helsinki University, Ron is candidate as IGU's next President, Woo-ik Yu, the newly appointed as Chief of Staff of the South Korean Government, is candidate to renew his position as IGU Secretary General, Acting President José Palacio Prieto, new Rector of the Universidad de Mexico had written the Message for the previous issue. But I am no exception, being a candidate for a IGU Vice President, therefore I will be very rapid. I hope you'll like some reports and contributions (see below point 4) coming from meetings of a kind of non geographers: well, I find it very difficult to define them as such. They all are dealing with matters of high geographical interest, and many of them are already co-operating with geographers. Co-operation with ICSU, ISSC, IYPE, UNESCO and other international entities was one of the main goal of the late Adalberto Vallega and of many components of the IGU EC. I will be delighted in seeing the next IGU EC follow straight on this road. These are fields with practical outcomes, and as such attracting funding: one of the main necessity for our community. 2) Communications from IGU Secretariat General
Candidates for IGU Position 1) Slovak Republic: Professor Manfred Fischer, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration 2) USA, China-Beijing, and South Korea: Professor Emeritus Ronald F. Abler, The Pennsylvania State University Candidates for IGU Secretary General and Treasurer, 2008-2010 1) South Korea: Professor Woo-ik Yu, Seoul National University Candidates for IGU Vice President Position 1) Australia. Professor Ruth Fincher, University of Melbourne 2) Belgium. Professor Eric Lambin, Université Catholique de Louvain 3) Canada. Professor Mark Rosenberg, Queens University, Kingston, Canada 4) China-Beijing. Academician Qin Dahe, Academy of Sciences of China 5) China-Taipei. Professor Chang-yi David Chang, National Taiwan University 6) Czech Republic. Professor Ivan Bicik, Charles University of Prague 7) Denmark. Professor Christian Wichmann Matthiessen, University of Copenhagen 8) Egypt. Professor Mahmoud Mohamed Ashour, Ain Shams University 9) France. Professeur Gérard Salem, Université de Paris X 10) Germany. Professor Dietrich Soyez, University of Cologne 11) Israel. Professor Aharon Kellerman, University of Haifa 12) Italy. Professor Giuliano Bellezza, University of Viterbo 13) Japan. Professor Yukio Himiyama, Hokkaido University of Education 14) Mexico. Professor Irasema Alcántara Ayala, National Autonomous University of Mexico 15) Netherlands. Professor Jef Vandenberghe, Free University of Amsterdam 16) Nigeria. Professor Michael O. Filani, University of Ibadan 17) Russia. Professor Vladimir Kolossov, Russian Academy of Sciences 18) Saudi Arabia. Professor Mohammad S. Makki, King Saud University 19) South Africa. Professor Michael Meadows. University of Cape Town 20) Tunisia. Professor Habib Dlala, University of Tunis
3) Next IGU initiatives: Tunis Congress 2008 and Tel Aviv Regional Conference 2010 3.1) Tunis Congress 2008, 12-15 August 2008
Click on the logo to reach the Tunis Congress website 3.2) Tel Aviv Regional Conference 2010 The complete brochure can be seen in: http://www.igu-net.org/uk/news_and_events/IGU_Conference_2010.pdf
4) Reports from Conferences and Meetings 4.1) IAG Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Dessie, Makalle, Axum, 26 February - 6 March 2008 Report on the IAG (W.G. Applied Geomorphological Mapping) and AIGEO meeting on "Environmental Analysis and Geomorphological Mapping for a Sustainable Development", organized by: Department of Geological Sciences ("Roma Tre" University, Rome, Italy), in collaboratio with Department of Earth Sciences (University of Ferrara, Italy), and Universities of Addis Ababa and Makalle, Ethiopia The International IAG-AIGEO meeting on "Environmental Analysis and Geomorphological Mapping for a Sustainable Development" has been held on February 26th, 2008 at the Postgraduate Programme Building Conference Room of the Addis Ababa University with 25 participants from Brazil, Poland, Italy and Ethiopia and the presentation of 10 papers (that will be submitted to Journal of Maps for publication in a special number of the review):
- February 27th (on the way to Dessie): coseismic landforms induced by the 1961 May 29 (M=6.6) earthquake in the Kara Kore-Majete area, located in a marginal graben parallel to the N-S Ethiopian Rift. A major feature among these is a fault scarp in unconsolidated materials opened along the bordering escarpment of the graben. This scarp could be followed over 12-15 km and locally shows a vertical displacement of 2 m. - February 28th (Dessie area): geomorphology of the urban area of Dessie, located in a tectonic depressions located at ca 2600 m a.s.l. on the western Afar margin; landslides of different types, play an important role in the evolution of slopes (mostly made of ignimbrites, volcanic agglomerates and basalt) inducing heavy risk on the built-up area. - February 29th (on the way to Makalle, across the Wollo-Tigray border): the Kobo River distributary channels whose beds are dry for most of the time and water flows only when rainfall yields a sufficient volume of runoff. - March 1st (Makalle area): geomorphological map of Mt. Amba Aradam southern slope made up of the Agula Shales (medium to thick layers of greyish marls and marly clays, interbedded with coquinoid limestones, quartzitic sandstones and gypsum layers of late Giurassic age) unconformably overlain by the Amba Aradam Formation (a 200 m thick sequence of coarse-grained quartz sandstones and conglomerates with lateritic beds, generically referred to the Early Cretaceous); dolerite sills and dykes of Oligocene age cross the bedrock sedimentary formations. Landslides of different typology and deep-seated gravitational deformation are widespread. - March 2nd (Makalle area): the Romanat Church native forest (Olea and Podocarpus trees, preserved in the sacred church area) and the Romanat travertine dam. - March 3rd (Makalle area): the travertine-dammed lacustrine-swampy sequence of the Mai Makden, started before 7310±90 14C yr BP, likely in relation with wetter/milder conditions and developed during the lower-middle Holocene, up to 3450±50 14C yr BP, with alternating incision/aggradation phases. - March 4th (on the way to Axum): the spectacular landscape of Adua, characterized by a high frequence of conic-shaped volcanic plugs. - March 5th (Axum): geomorphology and geoarchaeology of the Axum area, one of the major archaeological sites of Ethiopia including the ancient capital, the funerary zone with stelae fields and the monumental cemetery, the ancient Christian church and the Gondarian church of the 17th century, the Guedit stelae field and the so-called "Tomb of Menelik", the Bieta Giyorgis hill with traces of farming date back to the first millennium BC.
4.2) EURAC, Bolzano (Italy), 13.14 March 2008 2nd Workshop on Applied Remote Sensing in Mountain Regions: How can remote sensing contribute to global change research in mountain regions? Background and objective Mountain areas are amongst the world's most vulnerable regions to global change (SANDEI). Decreasing snow cover and melting glaciers threaten water availability and winter tourism, the highly diverse mountain flora and fauna is endangered by an upward and northward shift of habitats and mountain people are at increasing risk to natural hazards such as landslides, rock falls and flash floods (BENISTON). Many of these phenomena have already been studied by means of remote sensing techniques. Yet, the integration of remote sensing approaches within multidisciplinary global change impact studies remains weak. The 2nd EURAC Workshop on Applied Remote Sensing in Mountain Rettttgion addressed these shortages (1) by discussing how remote sensing can support global change research in mountain regions and (2) by proposing approaches how to integrate remote sensing in upcoming climate change studies and monitoring activities. The workshop was divided in a conference part with more than 30 scientific presentations and posters and an interactive part with group works on the topics of (a) snow, ice and water, (b) land cover, land use and ecosystem dynamics as well as (c) hazard, risks and vulnerability. A summarising plenary discussion formed the meeting's conclusion. The event was a follow-up of the first EURAC workshop held in February 2007, which aimed at identifying the status quo and future potential of remote sensing applications in mountain regions in general. The results of this first workshop have been published in: SCHNEIDERBAUER, S, ZEBISCH, M. & STEURER, C. (2007): Applied remote sensing in mountain regions. Mountain Research and Development, 27.
Participants to the 2nd EURAC Workshop Potential of remote sensing and recent applications The main potential of remote sensing techniques is the provision of area-wide information about any physical objects and phenomena on the earth surface in a repeatable way and across time and space. Remote sensing data dates back until the mid of the 70's and this allows time series analysis of almost 30 years, long enough to study changes of the earth surface which can be related to climate change (e.g. decrease of arctic ice shield). Studies of recent extreme events (e.g. the heat wave 2003) allow conclusions of the "lessons learnt" type for complex impacts of climate and weather extremes. The variety of presentations and posters (Pressures, Impact, Response) proofed that remote sensing can contribute to global change research in mountain regions at several levels: Supporting the analysis of the pressures on mountain systems, studying the impact of global change and contributing to the necessary response of such potential impacts in form vulnerability assessments (THAPA et al.) or monitoring and early warning systems. As fields of activities the following topics were discussed: Snow and ice. Monitoring snow cover with remote sensing is today not only a research topic but already an operational service at many scales supporting monitoring and early warning tasks. Time series for snow cover dates back until the 80's. However, the interpretation of these time series under the aspect of climate change faces challenges with regard to scaling (temporal, spatial) and the harmonisation of data from different sensors (WUNDERLE). Current developments are the data assimilation of optical and radar data (NAGLER et al.) and the link of remote sensing data with hydrological models (MONDINI et al.) which allows improving short term hydrological forecasts as well as long-term studies on the impact of snow-cover on hydrology and water availability. Land-use and land cover change. Even if land cover changes in the mountains are until now mainly driven by changes in socio-economical drivers (CAP, demography) they are regarded as one of most relevant changes in mountain systems. Land-use changes include intensification of use in the valley bottoms as well as extensification of high and remote areas. With remote sensing land-use changes can be traced back until the 50's (aerial photography). At the conference, examples of land-use change in the Alps (TAPPEINER et al.), in Norwegian mountain ranges (JOHANSEN & KARLSEN) and the Carpathians (KÜMMERLE et al.) demonstrated the relevance of the topic and the capabilities of remote sensing in this field. Furthermore remote sensing can provide specific parameters of land use important for ecological questions in the context of global change research (e.g. upper tree line, fragmentation of forest) (SCHARDT et al.) and provide land cover related parameters for monitoring and early warning systems (e.g. storm damage, forest fires, …). Natural hazards, in particular landslides, floods and storm damage are regarded as one of the most important adverse impacts of climate and weather extremes in mountain regions. Remote sensing can here contribute to early warning systems (SCHEIDGEN et al.), damage assessment and risk mapping (VAN WESTEN, ZISCHG et al.). New radar sensors with high resolution and higher repetition rate will further improve the potential of remote sensing in this field (STROZZI, PARIZZI). Extending information availability in time and space by:
Input parameters for regional climate modelling. For a proper initialisation and validation, regional climate models need a couple of input parameters for the recent climatological period (SEIBERT et al.). Remote sensing can provide, amongst others, information on:
The following future challenges and opportunities considering remote sensing particularly with regard to the link to global change research and monitoring were identified: * the need for a better linkage to the 'modelling community' and the required input data, * new and upcoming sensors (COSMO SkyMed, TerraSAR-X, ESA Sentinel) will widen the range of topics for that Earth observation is able to provide useful data, in particular radar sensors with higher spatial resolution and extended / new radiometric sensitivity (for example P-SAR). More in general for a number of sensors there will be an increase of the repetition rates (frequency of data provision covering the same area) (BATTAZZA, ARBESSER-RASTBURG). Independently from the link to climate change some key issues for a successful development of services based on remote sensing were underlined: * simple and standardised methods are required considering data integration, assimilation and the development of time series but also considering classification algorithms, * the user / client needs transparency about cost, * the access to Earth observation data needs to be eased (better organisation, ensured access etc.), * for operational services the continuation of sensors and their data flows need to be guaranteed. As an additional question the 'real life value' of the GMES Core services that is supposed to soon achieve operational status, may be debatable. As a consequence it may be asked who will finance through what mechanisms the required efforts in research for the improvement of remote sensing applications and services after the termination of GMES project funding by EC and ESA. As an overall result it can be said that yes, beyond the existing contribution of remote sensing to climate change research there is a great potential for further input particularly by bridging the gap between existing in-situ monitoring networks and model studies. Furthermore, remote sensing can support extending monitoring networks towards early warning systems e.g. for natural hazards. All presentations and the abstracts can be found on http://www.eurac.edu/Org/AlpineEnvironment/RemoteSensing/workshop0208.htm 4.3) ESSI Summit in Villa Celimontana, 13th-14th March 2008 Abstracts from the Final Report (Preamble, Common contributions, The emerging strategic environment) (the complete text con be seen in the HofG website, News 2008, April) Preamble The Earth & Space Science Informatics Summit, Rome, March 13th-14th, 2008 was held in response to concerns about the need to establish communication and cooperation among the many geoinformatics and space science informatics entities and initiatives that are growing up rapidly world-wide. Participants at the Summit represented the interests of more than 40 different bodies, agencies, initiatives, and programs (Appendix-C). This was an Electronic Geophysical Year activity organised by IUGG, IUGS (CGI and OneGeology), and the Earth and Space Science Informatics groups in AGU and EGU. The Summit was hosted by the International Geographical Union at the magnificent Villa Celimontana (Home of Geography) in the gardens adjacent to the Colosseum in the heart of Rome. Earth & Space Science informatics (geoinformatics in common parlance) is the fastest growing sector of AGU. There is a revival of schools of informatics; new and innovative funding programs are appearing; people are writing use-cases; standards are advancing and are being adopted; community vocabularies and conventions, and ontologies are spreading; working in informatics is gaining respect and becoming popular; and many agencies are responding. Data-based science requires processing power, storage, network bandwidth, and analysis tools; generally advances in FLOPS and storage have outpaced increases in bandwidth and access to analysis tools. Because the need to share data, information, and services is so ubiquitous in the sciences and elsewhere, we have an obligation to seek unified approaches to common issues in order to reduce replication of effort and a proliferation of different practices and standards.
Common contributions Groups represented at the Summit are willing to contribute the following to achieve cooperation. Community Get scientists involved at society level in regions Develop community of practice standards and implement them Service as section officers, convene sessions, engage peers, submit and review papers to help establish a peer community, Establish regional 'nodes' and advocacy (even programmes, funding) for Europe, Russia, China, Australia, Facilitate connection to the geological, geospatial, and other communities where collaboration is already established. Communication Engage with agencies and funding bodies to convene conference/ workshop sessions around their programs - to encourage PI participation and broad dissemination of project information and results. Advancing Informatics Provide links to X-informatics (e.g., Hydroinformatics) an to X-science Identification of common topics between AGU, EGU, and then use society meeting structures to hold joint activities. Experience Extensive networks in "ground-truth" geology (global geological survey) Lessons learned from OneGeology (global), European SDI, National Geological Surveys. Marketing/societal/real-politic viewpoints and advice from various communities of interest WDC expertise. Lessons learned through the ICSU review of WDCs. Contact with the WDC coalition. Sharing resources Technology and resources Geological Survey practical know how, OneGeology cookbooks for LEDCs
The majority of participants on a terrace of Villa Celimontana.
Next Steps and RecommendationsSitting in front-centre, Bill Robinson and Charles Barton Approaches to take 1. Keep it simple, network first, then proceed to more structure if warranted. Discover, Chart, Communicate, Coordinate, Contract, Collaborate, Converge, Consensus. 2. Take a two-prong approach - make contacts with people and work using existing/planned structures 3. Communication and coordinate up and down the hierarchy noted earlier in this report, e.g. society to union. Several gaps are present in this communication flow at the present time. In dealing with gaps, show leadership rather than attempt governance. Professional structure and coordination 4. Develop a professional structure for the international connectivity (coordination) that is mentioned by many programs now (e.g. IPY). In the U.S. CODMAC2 would fit well into such a framework as the U.S. voice/inspiration in international deliberations. 5. Explore if an international institute could be established to facilitate meetings, project teams, etc. We noted the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern as one example. Another is the Institute in Vienna, IIASA, ICTP, and GBIF, 6. Adopt the proposed ICSU/SCCID structure and recommendations. The common needs identified by the Summit align closely with the recommendations of SCID. 7. Establish a coherent lobby for improved data management in the geosciences. There is a clear role here for ICSU Unions, CODATA, FAGS, WDS. Start with the Unions, then spread out. 8. Encourage individual informatics communities to pay attention at the global level across organizations such as ICSU, WDC, and CODATA and find advocates such as: eGY, societies, and academy panels. 9. Bring in others: Unions (e.g. soil science); Cyberinformatics bodies (ACM, IEEE, Computer Society, GIS), mission agencies and commercial interests. 10. Establish informatics bodies/groups in the individual Unions. Examples are CGI in IUGS, and the Union Commission for Data & Information proposed within IUGG. 11. Explore the need for a distinct informatics society to facilitate and serve the emerging peer community - this would be comparable to entities such as ISO, W3, OGC. Such a society should not prevent or discontinue participation in the current science-discipline based forums. 12. Share data policy resources, DFID Technical and systems 13. Set guidelines for X-data models and X-markup languages; services, protocols, and interfaces; and models and simulations for forecasting. There is a role here for SIF, OGC, ICSU, WGISS, and others. Control to be decided via a Forum of authorities. 14. Encourage the relevant groups to press ahead with WDC certification. Design a scheme that can be expanded to cover any data centre. 15. Establish data citation procedures and conventions. Provide guidance to scientists on how to write a data-based paper, bearing in mind that reproducibility is a cornerstone of science. In data-based research the raw data and a complete history of processing steps is required. Many scientific papers contain an incomplete description of data processing methodology. 16. Make data self-identifying (ownership, lineage). Marketing 17. Continue to reach out into other projects, meetings, fields (unions, societies, mission agencies, commercial),and most of all - publish results, experiences and progress in widely accessible places 18. Identify key (large) projects for marketing. 19. Develop a standard structure for exposing geoprocessing services. 20. Identify the good ideas that are ready to be shared and bring them together (package them like eGY has done, or as in the INSPIRE synthesis work). Expose these things so they are easier to find. 21. Continue to press for open and timely access to data for scientific research. Status 22. Advance data/information and informatics as the 4th leg of society and science progress 23. Change the reward system for scientists so that fulfilling data responsibilities becomes a benefit to the scientist (e.g., for career advancement) rather than a hindrance. Change is needed to elevate informatics as a science/service and to motivate scientists to adopt more responsible data management practices. 24. Journal editors to require that data-based publications cite data sources and processing methodologies with detail matching some standard. 25. Increase the relative funding (%) for data and information management. It was noted that it will be hard to make this case since many assume that data management will be done, and that science activities often takes the share at the expense of data and information. Report editors: P.Fox, C.Barton, 27 Apr 2008 4.4 - Saudi Geogr. Soc., 14th Assembly, Al Ahsa Province, 10/12-3-1429 (18-20 Apr.08) "Environmental development in the governorate of Al-Ahsa: aspirations and hopes" 10-12/3/1429 (18-20 March 2008) In the Name of God the Merciful, praise Allah, Lord of the Worlds, prayer and peace be on the messengers and Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions. Under the auspices of His Highness Prince Badr bin Mohammed bin Galloway, governor of Al-Ahsa province, and the hosting of the Department of Geography, Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Islamic University of Imam Muhammad bin Saud, branch of Al-Ahsa, Saudi Geographic Society held a scientific symposium: "Environmental development in the governorate of Al-Ahsa: ambitions and hopes". Invitations have been sent by Saudi Geographic Society and the Faculty of Sharia and Islamic studies for Assembly members and those interested to attend the meeting. The participants enjoyed a good meeting with a number of SGS members and the Saudi universities and government institutions and private companies. The meeting was opened by the auspices of His Highness Prince Badr bin Mohammed bin Galloway, governor of Al-Ahsa province. The symposium included two sessions and two workshops and a scientific trip to Al-Ukair coast, Qarah mountain, Joatha mosque, Al- Arbaa' mountain. More than 300 geographers from all over Saudi Arabia attended the assembly. The following recommendations emerged from the meeting: First: The lifting of telegrams of thanks and gratitude: 1 - Participants in the meeting send their sincere thanks and gratitude to His Royal Highness the Prince of the eastern region and so recommend the lifting of a cable of thanks. 2 - Participants in the meeting send their sincere thanks and gratitude to His Highness governor of Al-Ahsa province for sponsoring the scientific meeting and so recommending the lifting of a cable of thanks. 3 - Participants make sincere thanks and appreciation to His Excellency director of the Islamic University of Imam Muhammad bin Saud for agreeing to the participation of the Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies in organizing the meeting, and recommends lifting a cable of thanks. 4 - Participants like to thank all companies and institutions that participated in the meeting, they support: Ahsa Intercontintal Hotel, Saudi Aramco, Al-Jabr Trading company, Al-Ahsa company for tourism and recreation, Al-Kifah Holding company, and Bashir Trading and Contracting Company. Second: The symposium concluded with the following recommendations: 1- need to support the tourism industry without damaging the environment (positive trend towards the environment). 2- attract tourism investment on local, national and international levels. 3- take advantage of the characteristics of natural, human and civilizational of the area (mountains, sand dunes, mosques) in the process of tourist attractions. 4 - There is a need to preserve farmland and prevent urban encroachment upon. 5 - maintain springs sites that became dry and develop tourist attraction to their sites. 6 - Pay quick attention to maintenance and protection of archaeological sites as a cultural duty and as factor for tourist attraction. Sites such as Joatha mosque, the ancient port in Ukair need more attention. 7 - Development of Academy sections on environment at the Islamic University of Imam Muhammad bin Saud, branch of Al-Ahsa. 8 - recommendation to the Saudi geographical Society and geography departments in Saudi Universities to hold more seminars, discussion groups devoted to complementarities rather than competitions between departments. It can be arranged to focus in each department on a certain direction in geography and non-repetition of the same trends in all or most departments of geography. 9 - The request from all geography departments to intensify the use of modern techniques in the teaching of geographical courses and in research. 10 - Giving more attention to narrow the gap between public education and university education, and urged Saudi Geographic Society to cooperate with the Ministry of Education to participate in geography curriculum development in public education. 11 - The need for openness of higher education in geography department on society in creating a real partnership and operational training and research with the public and private sectors to serve the community, and to urge the depth studies which illustrate the contribution of the public to support education, training and employment. 12 - setting up a central committee along with the local scientific committees to study the content of department's curriculum and the extent of their involvement in preparing students professionally and areas of urgent need of development. 13 - Start periodical review of the university geographical books in terms of quality and the availability and development through the promotion of faculty members for joint authoring, thus helping to increase cooperation and quality of books. 14 - encourage ministries and governmental and non-governmental departments on clearness in providing information and data for researchers on the number of graduates from the departments of geography and the number who have been recruited and who was not able to be absorbed in the labour market, which encourages the work of scientific studies that determine trends, be able to study the potential efficiency in geography departments, and development capacity quality of graduates. 4.4) AAG 104th Conference, Boston, 15-19 March 2008 An AAG Annual Conference is something unique, difficult to understand in other parts of the world: giving some numbers is necessary, to give but an idea, starting from the participants. A new record is set every year, and in 2008 it reached 7.500. The Congresses of the International Geographical Union remains far below this figure, and are held every four year, while the AAG Conference is a yearly initiative. A titanic organization effort is requested, and the AAG management meets all the requirements: what is more impressive, everything goes on smoothly. Some contributor doesn't show up, without informing in advance, but the Session's Chairs are warned to respect the time table. If some person of the public is interested in a paper scheduled in the program at 3.40 p.m., he must be sure that arriving at 3.39 he will listen what he want. So the person speaking at 3.20 was given some extra time, but the next communication was not allowed to start before 3.40. Sounds easy, but now we must inform that 72 meeting rooms were working simultaneously (too many for a single Convention Centre of Marriot Hotel in Copley Square, so 34 of them were booked in the very near Hotels Westlin and Sheraton). This for the space, while relative to time, the Sessions were starting at 7.00 a.m.. and the initiatives were going on for 12 hours, with only a brief lunch break (12-13 p.m.). Of course, after 7.00 there were special events or movies until 11 p.m. We like to remind but 2 of the main initiatives, starting with the plenary opening session, with a lecture given by Jeffrey Sachs, professor on the faculty at the School of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Earth Institute, both at Colombia University, introduced by Thomas Baerwald of the National Science Foundation and Doug Richardson, AAG Executive Director. Doug Richardson introduced also the Conversation with Noam Chomsky, worldwide known linguist, philosopher, political activist, author and Professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In both occasions all the seats of the Grand Ballroom of the Marriot were occupied, and so the floor, full of people sitting, so that the doors had to be closed.
5) Summary of forthcoming events There not much activity, but this is only apparent.In fact,
HOME OF GEOGRAPHY UPDATE Some days ago, on 13 April, in Villa Celimontana the 13th Meeting of the Home of Geography EC was held. The best way to inform the readers about the activity of the last period in the Home is to post here the key points of the Report presented by the Director. Meetings On 15th and 16th February 2008 the Home hosted a meeting of the HERODOT Network, lead by Karl Donert, with 12 geography teachers from different European countries. It has been a very fruitful occasion, and I have been invited in the next Herodot Meeting in September in Liverpool to study a common action, in order to apply for funding at European level. On 13th and 14th March 2008 the Home hosted a meeting of the Earth and Space Science Informatics Summit, in the frame of the International Geophysical Year + 50. The meeting had been organised by Peter Fox, Bill Peterson and by Charles Barton, who wanted to enjoy once again the hospitality of Villa Celimontana, having already been here in September 2005, for a Workshop of the several entities organizing the International Geophysical Year +50. Visitors to the HG A delegation of Slovenian Geographers, lead by Anton Gosar and Milan Bufon, visited the Home on 8th February 2008. It has been a short but fruitful workshop, leading to a common initiative (please, see below). Following with CCHD & MRP The Home, following what had been said in the Tokyo Meeting of the IGU EC (April 2007), tried to push forward the activity of the co-ordinators and responsible of the 2 Steering Committee of the last Vallega's projects. The MRP is producing many results, that will be exposed in Tunis in a dedicated session, as published in our website and newsletter. I want express my appreciation for the help received by Maria Paradiso (not only as organizer, but even proposing research fields) and the Commissions chaired by Aharon Kellerman and Annick Douguedroit. The Co-ordinator Ashour accepted my proposal to include Annick in the Steering Committee, and thanks to the economic help of Società Geografica Italiana, a Meeting will held Villa Celimontana on 13 May, to prepare the presentation of papers in the Tunis Congress. (During the Meeting, Aharon Kellerman will propose to adhere to a new developed project, an online portal dedicated to creating a joint environmental platform for Mediterranean communities, by the Leo Savir Foundation for a Mediterranean Vision 2020 and the Peres Center for Peace). In the CCHD the responsibility of the Project was taken by Benno Werlen, Chair of the Commission on Cultural Approach in Geography. The Home gave him support to update the rationale of the initiative, and stronger help was given by Anne Buttimer, Bruno Messerli and long discussions with many scholars. Werlen found some German funding and, once again thanks to the key contribution of the SGI, a Meeting will be held in Villa Celimontana with Derek Gregory, John Pickles, Karl Donert, Ola Soederstrom, Jacques Lévy, Vladimir Kolossov. Even this initiative will be present with a dedicated session in Tunis. Other Projects of the Home The Home is active in participating in new initiatives. One more promising project is taking shape, based on an initiative of Antoine Bailly, and this also is to be considered the prosecution of a Vallega's desire: the diffusion of Festivals of Geography, following the example of the FIG in Saint Dié. Bailly, guest in the Festa da Geografia in Mirandela (Portugal), July 2007, proposed to ask for European Intereg funds (minimum 3 countries), for a common initiative to be taken by FIG, Mirandela and Home of Geography. With the help of SGI, I got the co-operation of the Piacenza Municipality, where a Festival had already been organized since two years. Later I proposed to participate to the organizers of the Borders3 Summer School, taking place since some years in borders towns of Italy, Austria and Slovenia, and the project is now starting. After meeting in the Home with the Slovenian partners and a mail exchange with the others, I met with the Italian Director of the Borders3 School, Igor Jelen (University of Trieste), and all of us are invited in the next Festa da Geografia (Mirandela, 21-25 May). The FIG doesn't appear now as interested, but a Greek representative will also be present, to write the application for the European Intereg Fund. The Piacenza Festival di Geografia will take place in the first days of September, and the "mobile Festival" experiment will be held along the north-eastern Italian border with Austria and Slovenia in the last days of the same month. Financial Situation It has been said in the previous point that the Home is engaged in several projects and, together with different partners, is asking for funds. At the moment the IGU also has financial problems, and our survival is only due now to the help of the Società Geografica Italiana, no longer limited to in kind facilities, as the availability of meeting rooms and of the best geographical library of Europe, surely the most important of Italy. Home of Geography Publications Series: Sale. (A 10% discount will be applied when ordering 2 books, and 15% when ordering 3 books or more) To obtain copies of the following volumes, please contact Giuliano Bellezza at: g.bellezza@homeofgeography.org. Payment can be made by bank transfer or by credit card. Costs (incl postage and packing) are as follows: Vol I - Human Mobility in a Borderless World? (2002) Ed: A. Montanari, (OUT OF PRINT) Vol II - Food and Environment - Geographies of Taste (OUT OF PRINT) Vol III - Rights to the City (EU: € 18 / non-EU: € 24) Vol IV - The New Geography of Human Mobility - Inequality Trends (EU: € 20 / non-EU: € 26) Vol V - Migrations in Europe - The Four Last Decades (EU: € 13 / non-EU: € 19) Vol VI - Gendered Cities: Identities, Activities, Networks - A Life-course Approach (EU: € 20 / non-EU: € 26) Vol VII - Managing Water Resources in a Changing Physical and Social Environment (EU: € 18 / non-EU: € 24) Vol VIII - Migration in a new Europe: Peoples, Borders and Trajectories (2007) Eds: T. van Naerssen and M. van der Velde.(EU: € 18 / non-EU: € 24) Brief presentation of the available books: Vol II - Food and Environment - Geographies of Taste (2002) Ed: A. Montanari The second volume in the Home of Geography Publication Series refers to the relationships between food, culture and environment. During most of history, food and beverages have been representative of environments and agricultural and cooking techniques, but also, and increasingly so, of cultures. We all eat as we can, according to our means, but also in relation to our dreams and what food represents for us. This is why food changes in time, in relation to techniques and fashions, but also in space, at which point the geographer becomes very interested. Today appearances are pointing to the standardisation of food, as to many expressions of culture, but also, paradoxically, to the reinforcement of foods, beverages and recipes rooted in a particular place, a geographical space, a region. This is very representative of what happens in all domains of cultural geography. "Living in Diversity", the motto of the Seoul 2000 IGU Conference, is not only a wish, a program, but also a tangible reality implying difficulties and the real opportunities to exchange our experiences of life in all their depth and nobility. The stakes of the battle between global food and local food are economic, but also cultural. Vol III - Rights to the City (2005) Eds: D Wastl-Water, L. Staeheli & L. Dowler The third volume in the Home of Geography Publication Series includes the presentations held at the "Rights to the City" conference of the IGU Commissions on Geography and Public Policy and Political Geography, which was held in Rome, from 29th May - 1st June, 2002. The 30 contributions of scholars from multiple disciplines interested in questions of governance, justice and rights in urban areas around the world discuss the following proposition: contemporary changes in economies and governance are creating increased inequality leading to a retrenchment of rights. Social groups within cities differentially experience the effects of these changes. The volume tentatively offers the following themes as foci of discussion: Evaluation of urban social, economic and political trends; Evaluation of competing theories and conceptualisations of justice and rights; Changing governance structures; New political movements, sites, and agents; Differential access to spaces of the city; New scalar linkages that change the relationships between cities, states and the international scale. Vol IV - The New Geography of Human Mobility - Inequality Trends (2003) Eds: Y. Ishikawa & A. Montanari In post-industrial society, mobility in the working and leisure related activities tends to take on subtle differences as far as place of work, free time, recreation, training and continuing education are concerned. Human mobility is sensitive to change in the organisational plan and logistics of a model which is mainly concerned with demand. The concentration of mobility flows occurs as a result of the devolution of production centres and the consumption of these products is the determining component of mobility, whereas in the past traditional political-administrative boundary trends were the factors which determined mobility. Inequality in human mobility is considered from the point of view of the divide between developed and developing countries, the unskilled/skilled perspective, and the relationships between internal and international flows. The fourth volume in the Home of Geography Publication series assembles the research carried out by the IGU Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility during meetings organised in three locations that are particularly significant for human mobility: California, where the metaphor "melting pot" has been replaced by the term "cauldron"; South Africa, during an IGU Regional Conference, whose position enabled the participation of many geographers from developing countries; and Mongolia, where migratory flows have until today continued to modify the ethnic and cultural map of the region. Vol V - Migrations in Europe - The Four Last Decades (2004) Eds: C. Vandermotten, G. Van Hamme, P. Medina Lockhart & B. Wayens The fifth volume of the Home of Geography Publication Series summarises the results of a European research project, founded by the European Commission, on interregional migrations in Europe (MIRE). Starting from the Sixties, the study focuses on the changing causes and the new patterns of interregional migrations, paying special attention to the new waves of migrations and the new trends of the Nineties. The research crosses the geographical patterns with different logics of present-day mobility: ethnic and East European migration to the metropolitan areas, gentrification and migrations of executives, periurbanisation, rurbanisation, weak mobility of the early manufacturing areas, retirement migrations, etc. A specific chapter is devoted to the migratory balances in the Central-Eastern European countries. Vol VI - Gendered Cities: Identities, Activities, Networks - A Life-course Approach (2004) G. Cortesi, F. Cristaldi & J. Droogleever Fortuijn This volume assembles a selection of papers presented at a conference organised by the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography held in Rome at the end of May 2003. The gendered character of urban life and urban structures and the heterogeneous mix of people to be found in cities around the world have always fascinated feminist geographers. Today, the emphasis has shifted towards issues of identities, feelings and experiences. Women are now not primarily seen as "women", but rather as persons with multiple identities in terms of ethnicity, nationality, age, sexual orientation, and ability. The most important achievement of the seminar was the blurring of the boundaries between "first" and "third" world geography, between theory and empiricism, between identity and activity-focused research, and between quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The papers highlight the problems, inequalities and contradictions of women's life in cities. They also clarify at the same time the improvements in the living conditions of women in many cities in terms of visibility, identity, activity, safety and network formation. Cities are highly gendered, but their gendered nature does not always imply subordination, exclusion, deprivation and sadness. Feminist activism and feminist urban research have resulted in some improvements in urban structures, urban life and urban policy from a feminist perspective. Vol VII - Managing Water Resources in a Changing Physical and Social Environment (2007) Eds: P. J. Robinson, J. A. A. Jones & M-K. Woo The seventh volume of the Home of Geography Publication Series refers to water sustainability and water resource issues. Geographers are involved in all aspects of water sustainability and water resource issues, and in an immense variety of ways. The present volume provides only a sampling of the work of geographers and closely allied professionals, but is designed to indicate the range of research activities going on under the general heading of managing water resources in a changing physical and social environment. The geographical scope is wide, and the spatial scales range from individual lakes and reservoirs to whole nations. Topics run the gamut from the ethical underpinning of the work we do through explorations of the physical and chemical processes involved in water moving below, on, and above the surface of the earth, to studies of the roles of individuals and societies in using, mis-using or restoring that water. Approaches adopted range from qualitative discussions through standard statistical and mathematical analysis to complex process modelling. In short, it is a cross section of the kind of work geographers and environmental scientists do when involved with water. The IGU Commission on Water Sustainability is a prime forum for the development and interchange of ideas and information about water, water resources, water sustainability, and related issues. Over the years it has organized a variety of meetings in a diverse number of places, many with specific themes, and from them has come a variety of publications. This book continues that tradition, but in a very different context. Rather than highlight and treat in depth a single issue, this volume celebrates the vast range of activities undertaken by Commission members and associates in addressing the many issues involved in providing safe and sustainable water to societies around the world. Most papers are based on information which was first presented at one of the Commission meetings. Often the objective of the original presentation was to stimulate discussion and to develop strategies for dealing with particular issues. Here we present the results of some of these efforts. Vol VIII - Migrations in a New Europe: Peoples, Borders, Trajectories The enlargement process of the European Union has raised a considerable number of academic, political and public debates about a wide variety of related issues. Perhaps the most controversial debate in this respect concerns the issue of east-west migration after enlargement, equally feared and desired in and by the old EU 15 member states. In the majority of the old EU countries, the enlargement of May 2004 led to a diversity of adaptations and responses to the new situation, in particular temporary restrictions on labour migration from Central and East European countries. It was within this context that a workshop was organised in June 2004 which focused on east-west migration issues as part of the research programme 'Governance and Places' (GaP) of Radboud University Nijmegen. Among the participants who were quantitatively oriented, the focus was on 'positivist' forecasting and impact studies - estimating either flows of migration or their influence on labour markets and/or social welfare systems. Others, positioned within a more qualitative tradition, made use of 'social constructionist' approaches in order to scrutinise the de- and re-bordering of the European Union with regard to migration and mobility. In addition, the workshop highlighted from an academic perspective the problem of borders with respect to migration in the framework of an enlarged European Union. The success of the workshop provided the impetus to revise the core papers and publish them in a book. Four other contributions have been added to the collection of core papers from the aforementioned workshop, among others on Roma migration and sex trafficking. The first 'Global Migration in the Middle East and Eurasia: Security and Human Rights Challenges to Europe' (GLOMIG) workshop, held at the Radboud University in September 2006, provided further insights into migration and borders, leading to the elaboration of a geographical model of migration, borders and trajectories in the final chapter. Finally, the further expansion of the EU in January 2007 and restrictions imposed by EU countries on labour migration from Bulgaria and Romania added urgency to the publication of this book. To download the Newsletter # 12 in .doc format | or in .pdf format |
