Sustainable Earth Newsletter - October 2009
7 oktober 2009
'Sustainable Earth' is one of NWO's themes in research. Subjects are human behaviour, use of natural resources and ecology, all for a sustainable planet Earth. This newsletter focuses on research and activities by NWO and occasionally also includes articles by other partners.
In the Spotlight
"Knowledge is only power if it's shared" - Rien Herber. |
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The life of earth scientist Prof. drs. Rien Herber has been in a state of flux lately. After thirty years of prospecting (for oil and gas extraction) with Shell and NAM, on 1 July he became the chair of the Sustainable Earth Research Theme steering committee, taking over from Professor Dr. Gerbrand Komen. Since 1 August he has also been Professor of Geo Energy at the University of Groningen. He was already a member of the governing group of ALW and chair of the Board of the Sea and Coastal Research Programme, which is a part of the Sustainable Earth Research Theme. "But I'll soon be handing over the last office, as obviously I can't report to myself!," he told us during a discussion over multi-discliplinarity, knowledge transfer and the dialogue between researchers and stakeholders. Read more |
Subsidy News
ZKO call: 'Changing Issues of Sustainability'
Within the National Programme for Sea and Coastal Research (ZKO) there is currently a call open for policy-directed research in the field of 'Changing carrying capacity in the Dutch coastal waters' (Delta and Wadden Sea). The closing date for applications is 3 November 2009. |
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Within the CoCoon knowledge and research programme, research into conflict and cooperation over natural resources is central. Within this framework, researchers are called to submit their research proposals, working together with NGOs and other relevant parties. This can be done until the end of 3 November 2009. Read more |
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Until 20 May, researchers were able to submit pre-proposals for the Energy Transitions project. The NWO received 23 pre-proposals in total, of which 12 will now be developed. The Energy Transitions programme has been developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and SenterNovem. It was established to organise multidisciplinary research into the transition to a sustainable energy supply in the Netherlands. The programme is mainly intended for gamma research, but cooperation with beta disciplines will be encouraged. Read more |
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Next year, the second round of the Joint Scientific Thematic Research Programme (JSTP) shall focus on the theme biomass. Moreover, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) shall expand their partnerships with China. Read more |
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The 'Towards Biosolar Cells' research programme has been allocated a budget of 25 million euros from the FES, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality announced this summer. The NWO is taking part in the programme, both financially and in an administrative capacity, within the framework of the Energy research theme. Its specific goal is the development of background knowledge about sun cells, based on the primary steps of photosynthesis. It is planned that this knowledge will ultimately contribute to the utilisation of sustainable energy. |
Publications
Experiment NL 2, science in the NetherlandsThe fourth NWO general-interest book, Experiment NL 2, describes the most remarkable, brilliant and intriguing research projects of the past year, including projects from the Sustainable Earth theme. Written in accessible language, the book will be available from 1 October. |  |
Geo.briefA great deal of the scientific knowledge about Sustainable Earth derives from the earth sciences. The Geo.brief is an important publication in the Dutch earth sciences. The KNGMG (Royal Geological and Mining Society of the Netherlands), together with the NWO, publishes this journal eight times a year. Article subjects include minerals and climate research. The most recent issue covered the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Slochteren gas field, and the International Year of the Planet Earth, among other topics. You can find more information on the Geo.brief at http://web.mac.com/kngmg/Service/Downloads.html |
Research results
Climate models don't tell the full storyClimate models that predict heavy rainfall don't give the whole picture, according to the results of a study by NWO scientist Martin Ziegler. He examined climate changes that have taken place over the past 800,000 years, and discovered that the melting icebergs in the North Atlantic and changes in the El Niņo Southern Oscillation have a great influence on the intensity of monsoon rains. He received his doctorate from Utrecht University on 2 October. Read more |
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Environmental promises are usually kept!Those who publically promise to be more environmentally friendly mostly keep the promise. This also goes for nature conservation in agriculture, according to research by Anne Marike Lokshorst. Farmers that commit themselves to nature-friendly methods do actually begin to take practical steps towards caring for the environment- especially when this is not financed by the government. Lokhorst obtained her doctorate on 17 September 2009 at Leiden University. For further information please contact Anne Marike Lokhorst, email: a.lokhorst@scp.nl |
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It's been a long time since international environment and biodiversity policy was simply a government problem. Countless other organisations and their mutual strategic alliances play a significant role. Without them, there would be no sustainable seafood in the supermarket and no FSC-certified wood at the hardware store. However, Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers (Utrecht University) discovered that only a small number of these 'partnerships' made a substantial contribution to biodiversity. For further information please contact Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers, email: ingridvisseren@upcmail.nl |
 Picture taken by Nicky Lyon |
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Climate warming speeds up the CO2 emissions of sub-arctic peat A 1°C temperature increase over the coming decades could lead to a worldwide increase in CO2 emissions from the northern peat bogs. This could negate a considerable amount of the EU's emission reduction goals of the Kyoto protocol. This was the result of an investigation of the system ecologist Ellen Dorrepaal and her colleagues, conducted in a peat bog in Lapland. The results appeared in Nature this summer. |
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News updates
Researchers and policy-makers must work towards 'strategic friendship' |
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When it comes to their own research, researchers should take equal responsibility for communication with policy-makers from the outset, and keep the contact informal, brief and interactive, 'upstream engagement communication'. That is the core message from TUD student Marjoleine Georgette van der Meij. She completed her communication science internship within the NWO's Sea and Coastal Research (ZKO) programme. Read more |
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Last summer the fifth People & the Sea conference took place, this time at the Waalse Church in Amsterdam. The opening ceremony was led by Ton Dietz, professor in Amsterdam and Utrecht and the chair of the programme commission of NWO-VAM (Vulnerability, Adaptation and Mitigation, the gamma programme for climate). He shared his impressions with us. "Foreign experts agree that we're good at preventing disasters, but in doing so we've created a false sense of security. What do we do when things really go wrong?" Read more |
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Agenda
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With the support of the Ministries of Economic Affairs, of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, and of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, SenterNovem is organising the first European conference on energy efficiency and behaviour. The conference will be held in Maastricht. The focus is on obtaining insight into the decision-making behaviour of individuals regarding their contribution to limiting CO2 emissions. For more information see http://www.conference-energy-behaviour.nl |
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An expanded calendar of activities is available on the Climate Portal website at www.klimaatportaal.nl (in Dutch) |
Colophon
The Sustainable Earth Newsletter is issued by NWO. It informs readers on activities, research and other topics in the field of the NWO-theme Sustainable Earth. The content of this newsletter is coming from NWO-programs. Interviews and editing by Ymkje de Boer MSc, in cooperation with all involved NWO-employees, nieuwsbriefda@nwo.nl.
