News Updates
March 2012 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: Predicting the environmental consequences of land-use change more accurately - Nanoscatterers render silicon solar cells black - Change in interaction between stakeholders must accelerate energy transition - Exotic plants do not necessarily become invasive - AMOLF and ECN enter partnership agreement.
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March 2012 Change in interaction between stakeholders must accelerate energy transition
In October 2011, The Councils for the Environment and Infrastructure published a report entitled ‘Remmen Los’ (Brakes off). Read more
March 2012 Predicting the environmental consequences of land-use change
More than 75 % of the Earth’s surface (that not covered by ice) is influenced by man. This can have major effects on the local environment. Read more
December 2011 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: New research in Biodiversity Works programme - KNAW reviews the facts and uncertainties in the climate debate - 'Iron vacuuming' checks algal growth in oceans - Flooded plants hold their breath - Ministry of Education, Culture and Science invests 2.5m in Arctic research.
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October 2011 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. his edition includes: Researchers keen to overcome barriers in energy transition - Pre-announcement: call for Urbanising Deltas of the World - Subsidies for knowledge utilisation - NWO researchers give policy advice to Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. Read newsletter in HTML format
June 2011 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: NWO FOM Institute AMOLF contributes to sustainability - Four new funding rounds for Connecting Sustainable Cities - Methane emissions from permafrost thaw lakes lower than previously estimated - Agriculture Beyond Food - threats and opportunities. Read newsletter in HTML format
March 2011 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: Knowledge utilisation increasingly important - Small coffee farmer does not benefit from Western initiatives for fair trade - Connecting Sustainable Cities bridges gaps between science and society - Research into the effects of underwater noise on animals in the North Sea. Read newsletter in HTML format
December 2010 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: Sustainable Earth continues with three new themes - New Smart Energy Systems research projects announced - River fish need floods - Sustainable Earth knowledge catalogue provides wealth of information. Read the newsletter in HTML format
October 2010 Launch of the Sustainable Earth Newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: Chinese–Dutch cooperation programme going well - Three new policy-oriented sea and coastal research projects - Development costs of sustainable energy identified - Trees provide cooling during heat waves. Read the newsletter in HTML format
June 2010 Launch of the Sustainable Earth newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: Cross-border work on alternative use of agricultural crops - Four energy transition research projects to begin - The NWO receives 6 million euro from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for research into the South Pole area - Environmental organisations give impetus to socially responsible business practices. Read the newsletter in HTML format.
October 2009 Launch of the Sustainable Earth newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: The climate research community expands - Subsidy call for CoCoon: Conflict and Natural Resources - Environmental promises are usually kept! - Ingenieursland The Netherlands, for all its engineering expertise, can still learn from other delta areas. Read the newsletter in HTML format.
July 2009 Launch of the Sustainable Earth newsletter
The Sustainable Earth newsletter is directed at all who are involved in programmes in the Sustainable Earth field. This edition includes: "Knowledge is only power if it's shared" - Rien Herber - CoCooN, a new research programme on Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Developing Countries – one year of Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad – Spinoza Prize awarded to Marten Scheffer, Professor of Climate at Wageningen University. Download the newsletter in HTML format (Dutch only).
June 2009 Under the sponsorship of the National Partnership for Sustainable Earth Research and in conjunction with the national ‘Knowledge for Research’ programme, a new call for submissions has been opened in the Sustainable Earth theme. €1.5 million will be available for research in this area. Researchers from Dutch universities, NWO and KNAW institutes are eligible to apply. The call focuses on three subjects: Multidisciplinary Integration in Models, Managing Uncertainty and Governance. The closing date for applications is 21 August 2009 at 11:59pm. For more information, see the NWO Subsidy Guide.
8 June 2009 Information meeting CoCooN
On June 8, a meeting will be held in the Netherlands to inform researchers, NGO's and interested others about the research programme CoCooN Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Developing Countries. The meeting will offer detailed information on the aims of the research programme, as well as on the matchmakings workshops in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Read more
May 2009 Pre-announcement: upcoming CoCooN matchmaking workshops
The Directorate-General of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) will organise matchmaking workshops in the Netherlands, Africa, Asia and South America during the 2009 summer period. The first meeting will be held in The Hague on Monday 8 June, 2009. Read more
April 2009 On 20 April 2009 the brochure ‘The State of the Climate’ was distributed. The Platform Communication on Climate Change (PCCC), which represents the NWO alongside the most important climate research institutions in the Netherlands, updates this brochure every year. Read more (Dutch only)
March 2009 The National Partnership for Sustainable Earth (NPDA) has launched its new website, www.npda.nl. The NPDA was founded in May 2008, with the aim of coordinating structural integration of all Sustainable Earth research activities in the Netherlands.
March 2009 During a recent visit to China, the NWO and KNAW reached an agreement with their Chinese partner organisations regarding the choice of topic for the new Joint Scientific Thematic Research Programme (JSTP). Integrated water management in relation to climate change and sea level rise was chosen as the theme of the first round. Read more
February 2009 Sustainable energy solutions are becoming a part of everyday life thanks to carefully chosen government policy, characterised by innovation and consistency. Science has provided much assistance for this in the past few years, in the form of interdisciplinary knowledge and methods. So says Diederik van der Hoeven in his book Nieuw Licht ('New Light'). The book outlines the contribution made by various projects from the NWO/SenterNovem Energy Research Stimulus Programme towards finding a solution to the energy problem. Nieuw Licht is essential reading for all energy research professionals. It can be requested (free of charge) on the NWO website (in Dutch only).
December 2008 In the December issue of the NWO science magazine Hypothese, there is an article about the Sustainable Earth theme entitled ‘Desertification ... or nothing wrong?’ Read the article (in Dutch)
November 2008 A new programme is beginning within the Sustainable Earth theme: Feedbacks in the Climate System. €2.5 million has been allocated for the first call; in 2010 there may be a second call, when the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) becomes involved in the programme. Successful applications in this new programme will cover three subjects: The knowledge gaps identified by the IPCC, the regionalising of scenarios, and the integration of biochemistry and landcover in models, and will not overlap with the ‘Knowledge for Climate’ programme.
September 2008 The Vulnerability, Adaptation and Mitigation research programme is holding its first congress on 19 November 2008, with the title ‘Are we prepared for extreme weather events?’ Researchers will present five essays on the possible consequences of abrupt climate change. The film 'Waterproof’ will also make its premiere at the congress. The congress takes place at the same time as the Energy Delta Convention 2008. Read more
Augustus 2008 Agriculture beyond Food. Pre-announcement Call for proposals
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) are about to jointly set up an Agriculture beyond Food research programme focused on Indonesia. The initial budget is 2.5 Million Euro for five years. This programme is one of the activities within the framework of the NWO theme Sustainable Earth and the SPIN-programme of the KNAW. Read more
July 2008 The VROM and NWO agree to the Sustainable Earth research programme
On 10 July, Minister Cramer of the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and NWO chair Peter Nijkamp signed the 'Policy-relevant Sustainable Earth scientific research programme’ agreement. With this agreement, they hope to further cooperation between ministries and knowledge institutions with regard to the research being performed on the human effects on climate, the environment and ecosystems.
July 2008 Report on the 2008 IPCC Workshops
On 21 and 22 May, the IPCC workshops took place at the offices of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM). On 21 May the findings of the IPCC WG-III (Mitigation) were discussed. On the following day attention was given to WG-II (Consequences, adaptability and vulnerability).Lees verder
June 2008 Guest column by Gerbrand Komen
Our knowledge of climate change is limited. I ask that we neither ignore nor magnify these uncertainties, but let them inform our decision-making and let them give us direction for new scientific research.
May 2008 On 22 May, Minister Cramer of the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) signed the National Partnership for Sustainable Earth Research (NPDA), in the presence of NWO Director-General Cees de Visser. The NPDA is a joint initiative of the NWO Division for Social Sciences (MaGW) and NWO Earth and Life Sciences (ALW). It aims to connect the many different groups that are engaged in research on the effects that humans have on climate, the environment and ecosystems, allowing them to coordinate their work. The NPDA will play an important role in fleshing out the NWO's Sustainable Earth research theme.
February 2008 At the meeting organised by the NWO last December, there was much support for the idea of a partnership that would promote national cooperation in the research field. The NWO is currently developing an agreement between the ministries that are involved in the area of Dutch ‘sustainability policy’. The agreement will underline the planned role of the NWO in this field of research. The agreement will also elaborate on how to strengthen the relationship between this research partnership and policy stakeholders. The proposals for the agreement and the partnership will be developed further this month.
As a follow-up to the ‘Noon to Noon’ meeting of prominent scientists last December, a small gathering will be organised this month for the policy-makers in the government departments concerned. This will be done together with the Advisory Council for Research on Spatial Planning, Nature and the Environment (RMNO). The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the coordination and monitoring of the knowledge requirements and research programmes.
January 2008 The call for the first Sustainable Earth theme research programme has opened. The ‘Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad’ programme looks at the internal and external accessibility of the Randstad region. This includes the transport hubs and cities, with access for people, goods and information. Researchers, working together in inter-university research groups, are invited to sketch out their visions of the accessibility problems and possible solutions for these around 2040. For more information, see the programme website.
On 30 October a workshop was held for scientists and stakeholders of the Conflict and Natural Resources programme. This programme has many overlaps with the Sustainable Earth theme and the NWO Conflict theme. The results of the workshop will be developed into a programme description by an outside writer. This writer will be assisted by a group of scientists and policy makers who will give ongoing feedback. The aim is to be able to begin this programme in the second half of 2008. The programme has its own web page.
December 2007 On 17 and 18 December the NWO organised a meeting for 15 prominent representatives from the scientific arena. The meeting established the following points:
- There is a great deal of support for the NWO’s Sustainable Earth research programme from the scientific field. It complements other programmes, for example ‘Knowledge for Climate' and Energy, extremely well.
- Of all current Dutch climate and sustainable environment research programmes, it was the best-known amongst the meeting's participants.
- Research topics were identified that were ripe for further development within the theme.
- There is a great desire for the establishment of an umbrella organisation that would be responsible for the coordination of Sustainable Earth research.
The full report will be available shortly. The new Sustainable Earth brochure was launched in December.
November 2007 In September 2007, Professor G.J. Komen, Ph.D was appointed administrative head of the Sustainable Earth research theme. Until 2006, Gerbrand Komen was the head of climate research and seismology at the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in De Bilt. He was also previously a professor at the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research at Utrecht University.
September 2007 The NWO and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BuZa) have each introduced a new multi-year strategy for knowledge and research. One of the subjects of BuZa's strategy has strong overlaps with the 'natural resources and conflict' topic that is named in the NWO Conflict and Safety and Sustainable Earth themes. Together with the Netherlands Directorate-General of Development Cooperation (DGIS), the NWO organised a private gathering to take stock of the possibilities for a shared knowledge and research programme. This took place on 3 October 2007.
25 april 2007 : The ongoing NWI/SenterNovem Stimulus Programme for Energy Research organised a small conference on 25 April. Two subjects were central: A short look back at the usefulness of the knowledge that has been developed so far in the program, and the future of interdisciplinary energy research. Click here for a detailed report.
19 april 2007 On 19 April, the NWO, together with the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and the Advisory Council for Research on Spatial Planning, Nature and the Environment (RMNO), organised a discussion on the subject of Dutch climate research. Is climate research actually so organised that we can expect that we will be able to adequately anticipate social problems with the knowledge that we develop from this research? Are there really no knowledge gaps now? Or are there perhaps too many overlaps?
For a summary of the meeting please (Dutch only) click here.
For an extensive report (Dutch only) click here.