NWO Theme Sustainable Earth
Sustainable Earth Newsletter - June 2010
'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.
Research programme in the spotlight
Cross-border work on alternative use of agricultural crops |
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How do you turn plants into 'factories' for high-quality products that don't compete with food production? This is a scientific challenge in itself. But now put that challenge in Indonesia, and think of the socio-economic, administrative and legal problems you will encounter. Then solve them, together with an international research team. That's the situation facing the three groups that have received funding for their research proposals for the Agriculture Beyond Food programme from the NWO and KNAW. Coordinater Huub Löffler (WUR) explains.
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Subsidy News
Open call: 'Towards BioSolar Cells'
The 'Towards BioSolar Cells' research programme aims to develop background knowledge for solar cells based on the primary steps of photosynthesis. It is a part of the FES programme 'Towards BioSolar Cells', in which the NWO is taking part. The programme will begin with an open call for applications, which will be organised by FOM. The deadline for submissions is 3 July 2010 at 12 noon. There is a maximum of 1.25 million euro available per submission. For more information please contact the FOM programme co-ordinator Dr Mark de Graef at mark.de.graef@fom.nl, phone (030) 600 12 73, or on www.fom.nl. |
Four energy transition research projects to begin |
| Electric-powered vehicles, a cross-border offshore electricity grid, the power factor and overcoming inertia in transitions are the subjects that will stand central to the Energy Transitions programme in the coming years. Energy Transitions will be developed in co-operation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Agentschap NL, and will be directed at multidisciplinary research into the transition to a sustainable energy supply in the Netherlands. Following the first round of pre-registration, which delivered 23 ideas, 12 research proposals were developed in detail. In April, four of these received funding. The teams are now working on their research. Read more |
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Five ZKO projects receive extra sailing days
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| The goal of the subsidy round of the Sea and Coastal Research programme was to provide extra sailing days for ongoing research projects that were running short. NIOZ made 70 sailing days available for this subsidy round. In total, nine proposals were submitted. These were chosen by the assessment committee on the basis of scientific quality, the urgency of need for the extra sailing days, and the added value that would be provided by the extra sailing days. NIOZ subsequently decided on five projects to award the extra sailing days. In addition, the ALW administration has made 95,000 euro available for the sailing days-related costs. Read more |
New programme: 'Planetary Borders Fresh Water Cycle' |
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A call will open shortly for the 'Planetary Borders Fresh Water Cycle' programme. Within the framework of this call, proposals will be asked to give special attention to the research project's contribution to determining the worldwide borders of fresh water use. There is a maximum of one million euros available. For more information, see http://www.nwo.nl/subsidiewijzer and http://www.nwo.nl/alw
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1.5 million euro for climate change and Sustainable Earth research
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| The NWO and the Knowledge for Climate research programme have together approved the sum of 1.5 million euro for research into climate change adaptation and into the relationship between land use and climate change. Ten postdoc students will be able to work on this. The research will make interconnections between three spearheads of the Sustainable Earth theme: modelling, uncertainty and administrative aspects. |
The NWO receives 6 million euro from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for research into the South Pole area.
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| The outgoing state secretary Van Bijsterveld has allocated 6 million euro for scientific research in Antarctica over the coming years, she has announced to the NWO. This financing will allow the NWO to set up and equip mobile laboratories at the South Pole, where Dutch scientists will be able to do research into the carbon cycle and climate change. |
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Publications
The Innovation Engine, speeding up trail-blazing innovations
By Marko Hekkert and Marjan Ossebaard |
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Why is it so difficult to make energy management sustainable? And are there possibilities for making it faster and easier for trail-blazing innovations to take off? This book, which brings together years of scientific research in a readable format, gives answers to both of these questions. It explains and clarifies, but also gives practical information to those who, for example, would like to give the energy transition a boost. The book closes with practical recommendations for businesses and authorities, based on the analytic work done by Professor Marko Hekkert and his team over the past few years. A great deal of this work has been carried out within the NWO/SenterNovem Energy Research Stimulus Programme. Read more
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Organic materials: From fossil to biomass
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| The Foundation for Bio-Sciences and Society has brought out a report on organic raw materials. The Organic Raw Materials Report describes the possibilities and techniques of obtaining biomass and putting it into usable and commercially suitable organic raw materials. The report also gives attention to the impediments to a similar green economy. Sustainable large-scale production of biomass and bio fuels demands good preconditions, so that the situation of people in poor countries and the environment don't become worse, but instead improve. The report is available at http://www.biomaatschappij.nl. |  |
 | Two years of 'Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad'
In the publication, 'Two Years of Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad,' (2009 Annual Report) you can read more about the activities of the programme in 2009 and the three programmes that were added during the second round. You can order or download the annual report on the programme website: http://www.nwo.nl/dbr. |
Research results
Methods for gradually checking the effectiveness of new environmental policy
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When introducing and using policy for the benefit of the environment, the extent to which the new instrument will interfere with others that already exist is often insufficiently ascertained. Doctoral student Vlasis Oikonomou has partly developed and used a series of methods in order to see how various policy goals benefit from the application of new policy methods. He has done this by combining the effect of these new policy methods with other methods, paying particular attention to so-called 'White Certificates', a policy method in which the task of achieving an energy-saving objective is assigned to a specific market player, for example an energy provider.
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NWO researcher creates revolutionary chemical compound
Future soft drink bottles and fleece blankets will be environmentally friendly. NWO researcher Frank Koopman has created an organically-based compound that can replace one of the most important materials used in plastic products. The American Department of Energy gave the new material a place in the worldwide top twelve of most promising organic materials for the chemical industry. Koopman received his doctorate on 12 May at TU Delft. |
Temperature variations in the North Atlantic and the atmosphere were not always synchronised |
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The great currents in the North Atlantic Ocean play an important role in the development of the climate, due to the fact that in the Pole area cold salt water flows from the sea's surface to its depths. Delays in the forming of this so-called North Atlantic Deep Water lead to the cooling of the climate in north-western Europe. During specific periods in the last ice age, an enormous number of icebergs broke away from the continental ice caps and consequently melted as they drifted along with the current. This made the sea surface colder but also less salty, which meant that the water sank to the ocean floor far less quickly. The doctoral research carried out at NIOZ by Lukas Jonkers shows that directly under this fresh, cold 'cover' on the ocean, the water temperature rose much earlier. The melting of the icebergs caused the temperature of the sea surface and the atmosphere to rise all at once, at an unprecedented rate. Lukas Jonkers defended his thesis on 12 May at the VU University Amsterdam. |
Deep-sea microbial activity is chiefly connected to macroscopic particles |
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The deep sea is chiefly known as a place that is home to some spectacularly odd-looking creatures. Besides these extraordinary organisms, there are also countless types of micro-organisms, which ultimately represent far more biomass than the larger creatures. Researchers at the Old Dominion University in Virginia (USA), the NIOZ and the University of Vienna discovered a significant correlation between the concentrations of relatively large particles (visible with a video camera) and the oxygen absorption in the deep sea, between 2km below sea level and the sea bed. This occurred during a journey with the NIOZ research ship 'Pelagia' in the tropical zone of the North Atlantic Ocean. These 'active floating particles' have, until now, escaped the attention of oceanographers, because they are rarely captured in sediment traps – probably because they don't sink. The results have been published in the prestigious scientific journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA)' (PNAS). |  |
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Who is responsible for oil spills in the sea?
The tragic oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has put the oil and gas industry firmly on the map again. Who is responsible for pollution at sea? The owner of a ship or an oil rig? The country whose territorial waters are polluted? NWO PhD-researcher Judith van Leeuwen received her doctorate on 7 May at Wageningen University and surprisingly concluded that the oil industry is generally very active in protecting the sea. |
Environmental organisations give impetus to socially responsible business practices
Pressure on the business world from environmental organisations has given a boost to socially responsible business practices, according to NWO researcher Mariëtte van Huijstee. Businesses have an eye on potential criticism from environmental organisations. Van Huijstee received her doctorate on Friday 16 April at Utrecht University. Read more
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Consultants both strengthen and hinder democratic planning
For various reasons, governments bring in external advisors to assist in spatial planning processes. These consultants appear to be able to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of these processes as well as to limit them. Governments would do well to involve both external consultants and their own public servants in planning processes, so that both are able to make good contributions according to their strengths. This was the result of research carried out by Jantine Grijzen, who received her doctorate on Friday 26 March at the University of Amsterdam. |
Climate change influences underground ecosystems
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| Changes above ground, such as higher concentrations of carbon dioxide and higher temperatures, have serious consequences for the 'contact zone' between plant roots and the soil. This was the result of the recently completed NWO research programme entitled 'Biodiversity in relation to global change' (BIGC). The United Nations International Year of Biodiversity should therefore also give attention to underground ecosystems. The NWO will begin a new research programme this year, dealing with biodiversity and ecology. Read more |
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News in brief
Energy research surprisingly highly valued |
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"More for your money!" That's how Jan Paul van Soest, a sustainability advisor, sums up how he sees the outcome of the NWO/SenterNovem Energy Research Stimulus Programme (1999-2009). The programme saw beta and gamma researchers working together to deliver contributions to making energy management more sustainable. Research was carried out into wind energy, energy from biomass, sun energy and CO2 storage, among other topics. The phenomenon of 'transition' was also studied. Read more
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Sustainable Earth knowledge catalogue launched
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The Sustainable Earth knowledge catalogue recently became available. It contains information on both ongoing and recently-completed NWO-financed research. The NWO Sustainable Earth theme includes, among other topics, research into energy, raw materials and climate change. It concerns research in both beta and gamma sciences, and also includes multidisciplinary projects. All of the research projects have in common the fact that they are concerned with knowledge for sustainability. The Sustainable Earth knowledge catalogue is intended for all professionals (researchers, policy-makers, scientific journalists and others) who would like more insight into NWO research on the theme of sustainability. The knowledge catalogue currently contains just a segment of NWO-financed research. It will be further expanded in the coming months. Go to www.nwo.nl/da (in Dutch) and click on 'Kenniscatalogus' in the menu on the right. Direct link: http://www.nwo.nl/kenniscatalogusDA. |
Interaction between knowledge and policy surrounding sustainability is developing well |
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Policy and social and behavioural science research can work well together when working towards improving our living environment. Basic, policy-relevant research can produce useful knowledge, and sometimes even practical approaches to problems. Researchers and policy-makers can work together successfully to solve social problems – as long as they understand each other well and their roles are clearly defined. It's important that they don't step on each other's toes. These and other issues were discussed during the 'Better Living Environment? Better research <-> Better policy' conference, which was very capably conducted by Pieter Hooimeijer. The conference took place at the conclusion of two NGO programmes: GaMON (Gamma research into nature and the environment) and VAM (the Vulnerability, Adaptation, Mitigation climate programme). As well as the presentation of the VAM film 'Waterproof', there was also a booklet made available in which sixteen researchers and three policy-makers reflect on the knowledge that has been gathered so far.
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Appy Sluijs wins NWO-Vening Meinesz prize
Dr. Appy Sluijs has been awarded the NWO-Vening Meinesz prize. The NWO gives this prize to the most promising earth scientist to have recently received his or her Ph.D. Climate researcher Sluijs received the 10,000 euro prize at the tenth Netherlands Earth Science Congress, held in Veldhoven on 23 April. |  |
Agenda
28 June – 2 July 2010
Fourth World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists
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The congress will be held in Montreal, Canada.
http://www.wcere2010.org
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22 – 25 August 2010
Eleventh Biennial Conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics
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The theme is 'Advancing Sustainability in a Time of Crisis'. The conference will take place in Oldenburg and Bremen, Germany.
http://www.isee2010.org
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27 and 28 September 2010
Twelfth BIOECON congress
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The title of this congress is ‘From the Wealth of Nations to the Wealth of Nature: Rethinking Economic Growth’. The central theme is identifying the most effective and efficient instruments for preserving biodiversity. Location: Venice.
http://www.bioecon.ucl.ac.uk
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29 September – 1 October 2010
International conference: 'Deltas in Times of Climate Change'
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The conference will be held in Rotterdam, and will be organised within the framework of the 'Climate for Space' and 'Knowledge for Climate' research programmes. One of the themes is 'Governance and economics of climate adaptation'. More information:
http://www.climatedeltaconference.org
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12 October
NWO Talent Day
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You’re a Ph.D. or postdoc student and have been bitten by the science bug. But you still have your doubts ... What will be your next step once your current project is completed? Will you be able to receive a subsidy, and how will you do it? What are your chances overseas? Does networking feel artificial or awkward? How do you complete your project properly? And once that’s done, how do you publish the results? Location: The Vechthuis, Utrecht.
http://www.nwo.nl/talentendag
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25 – 29 October 2010
Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation
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The fourteenth conference of the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) and the sixth conference of Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) will be held together in Delft.
http://www.erscp-emsu2010.org
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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 based on NWO programmes. Interviews and editing by Ymkje de Boer MSc, in cooperation with all relevant NWO employees, nieuwsbriefda@nwo.nl.
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