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Members of the Jordanian battalion of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) rescue children after a hurricane destroyed their orphanage. September 7, 2008, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. UN Photo/Marco Dormino. www.un.org/av/photo/

A one-day conference, “Identifying Lessons for Natural Resources Management in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding,” was hosted at Columbia University April 25 by CIESIN, Advanced Consortium for Conflict, Cooperation and Complexity (AC4) and the Earth Institute, in partnership with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). More than 130 participants explored lessons in strengthening post-conflict peacebuilding through the lens of natural resource management. Many were authors of case studies in a seven-volume book series launched the same week and featured prominently during the conference. Panel discussions and breakout sessions reflected on lessons emerging from from the cases and implications for practice and scholarship.

A two-day workshop followed the event, focusing on strategies to develop educational and training tools utilizing the new case studies and other relevant material. Among the innovative teaching methods and products highlighted was the Ground|Work simulation tool, wherein students devise a strategy for managing environment and resource challenges in the context of a fictional post-conflict country. The online teaching tool, developed by School of International Affairs adjunct professor and CIESIN deputy director Marc Levy and program manager Alex Fischer in partnership with The Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), is currently used in Levy’s course on environment, conflict, and resolution strategies.

For more information about the conference and the book series, please go to www.environmentalpeacebuilding.com.

Mark Becker, associate director of the Geospatial Applications Division at CIESIN, and Robert Downs, CIESIN senior digital archivist, participated in the Global Geospatial Conference 2012, held in Quebec City, Canada, May 14–17. The theme of the conference was “Spatially Enabling Government, Industry, and Citizens,” and included the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) 13 World Conference, the GEOmatics for Informed DEcisions (GEOIDE) Scientific Conference, and the Canadian Geomatics Conference 2012. On Wednesday, May 16, Becker presented ,“SEDAC Collaboration with Land Atmospheric Near Real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE),” which was authored with geographic information specialist Sneha Rao. Becker also acted as the moderator for the session, “Spatially Enabling Industry II.” That same day, Downs presented a paper authored with Robert Chen, director of CIESIN, titled, “Towards Sustainable Stewardship of Digital Collections of Scientific Data.” Becker is serving a three-year term on the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association Board.

The new online mapping service, the National Priority List (NPL) Superfund Footprint Mapper, was featured as part of a Webinar sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Partnerships for Public Environmental Health (PEPH) on May 7. Participants numbered 158 attendees, more than 30 from federal agencies. Senior research associate Meredith Golden showcased the Mapper with assistance from geographic information specialist Tricia Chai-Onn, who also helped develop the service. Golden highlighted data from several projects of the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center operated by CIESIN. These include the U.S. Census Grids and the Global Poverty Mapping Project. The NPL Superfund Footprint Mapper can display population and environmental characteristics for areas surrounding more than 1700 NPL Superfund sites. An archived recording of the Webinar will be available soon on the SRP Web site.

Deputy director Marc Levy participated in a workshop, “Climate and Security: Evidence, Emerging Risks and a New Agenda,” held May 3–4 in Paris. The workshop was sponsored by Institut du Développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), Sciences Po, University of Exeter, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. For the segment focused on research, which took place on May 3, Levy gave a presentation on a panel entitled, “Peace-building and Mitigation & Adaptation Projects.” The following day he participated in a panel that synthesized recent research results for policy makers.

More than 100 experts on Earth observations gathered in Geneva April 30–May 4 to coordinate plans for integrating remote sensing and other environmental and socioeconomic data under the auspices of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). CIESIN director Robert Chen participated in the GEO Work Plan Symposium 2012, reporting on the efforts of the GEO Data Sharing Working Group to reduce the legal and institutional barriers to sharing data across the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) being developed by GEO member countries and other participating organizations. Chen is one of the co-chairs of the Working Group, representing the International Council for Science, and serves as task coordinator for the GEO work plan task on data sharing. CIESIN geographic information specialist Sneha Rao subsequently participated in the kickoff meeting for the fifth phase of the GEO Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP-5), held May 3-4. She presented CIESIN’s planned contributions to the pilot, emphasizing ways to integrate data on population, land use, hazards, and sustainability with Earth observations to support GEO's priority societal benefit areas such as disaster management, agriculture, and climate adaptation.

CIESIN deputy director Marc Levy participated in a meeting April 27 to summarize the results of the United Nations Environment Programme Fifth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), at United Nations headquarters. The meeting was convened by the Permanent Missions of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States to the UN, and UNEP. The meeting focused on the successes and failures of the world’s implementation of internationally agreed environmental goals. Other speakers included John Matuszak, U.S. Department of State; Jorge Laguna-Celis, Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN; Daniel Ziegerer, Swiss Federal Office for the Environment; and Jose Almonte, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic. Levy’s comments emphasized the poor track record in meeting international environmental goals, and he made a case for international action focused more heavily on drivers of environmental change and oriented more toward transforming large-scale systems. Levy is a coordinating lead author, along with CIESIN post-doctoral scholar Alexandra Morel, of a GEO-5 chapter on drivers of environmental change.

CIESIN senior research associate Meredith Golden participated in a conference sponsored by the Northeast Superfund Research Program, “Complex Mixtures and Exposures: Analyzing, Modeling, and Predicting Fate and Effects at Multiple Levels of Environmental and Biological Systems,” held April 23–24 at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. More than 50 toxicologists, ecotoxicologists, epidemiologists, molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, engineers, and research translation experts convened to examine the challenges to understanding and predicting the environmental, biological, and mechanistic aspects of complex mixtures and complex exposures. As rapporteur for the research translation perspective, Golden, who is co-PI of the Research Translation Core for the Columbia University Superfund Research Program, emphasized the need for scientists to identify key audiences and to engage in productive dialogue in order to foster innovative science and research collaborations to improve public health at Superfund sites.

The inclusion of disaster risk reduction as one of the seven critical issues in the 2012 Rio+20 Summit presents a timely opportunity for consideration of political and financial action within the context of sustainable development. A meeting April 11, “From Sendai to Rio: Cultivating a Disaster-Resilient Society for Sustainable Development,” convened a wide range of local and international government officials and experts to discuss building climate and disaster resilience in coastal cities, and to share their expertise in influencing the public and policy understanding on sustainable development, especially in the urban context. Held at Columbia University's Low Library in Manhattan, the meeting was organized by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, and the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), in collaboration with The Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), and the Center on Japanese Economy and Business.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, gave opening remarks, along with Jun Yamazaki, ambassador, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, and Margareta Wahlstrom, special representative of the secretary-general for Disaster Risk Reduction. Cynthia Rosenzweig, head of Climate Impacts Group, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), served as moderator. Key discussion points included exploring lessons learned from recent disasters; discussing the benefits of fortifying cities against disaster; and recommending issues for future research and applications. The results of the dialogue will be made available to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development-Rio+20 and to the member cities of UNISDR's "Making Cities Resilient" campaign.

A major gathering of the global sustainability science and policy communities took place in London March 26–29. The conference, “Planet Under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions,” was organized in response to the need for new solutions to achieve sustainable economic and environmental development for all. Nearly 3,000 people, representing science, policy, development, investment, industry, technology, the media, and other sectors, attended the meeting, along with several thousand more online participants. CIESIN director Robert Chen gave a presentation on integrating data from multiple scientific disciplines in a session, “Data Challenges for Global Sustainability,” that was co-chaired by former CIESIN director Roberta Balstad. Senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin presented on urban heat island effects at a panel on urbanization and on best practices for resettlement in anticipation of future climate change impacts at a panel on climate change and migration. He also presented a poster on data integration for global change research. The conference was sponsored by the global environmental research programmes of the International Council for Science (ICSU), with the aim to provide scientific inputs and recommendations to the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio (Rio +20). A new integrated research initiative, “Future Earth” was also launched at the conference.

On March 26, the associate director of CIESIN’s Geospatial Applications Division, Mark Becker, gave a presentation on CIESIN’s data products and research capabilities to a group consisting of approximately 25 representatives from the State Department, the USGS, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and other government agencies. The presentation, which took place at the U.S. State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., involved an overview of some ongoing projects including planned updates now underway for the launch of the fourth version of the Gridded Population of the World data product, an updated subnational Infant Mortality Rate grid, and CIESIN’s role in the Earth Institute’s Haiti Regeneration Initiative. The following days, March 27 and 28, Becker participated in the first World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group Meeting. The Working Group is designed to build voluntary partnerships around human geography data and mapping focused on the general principle of making appropriate information available to promote human security. Becker presented information on the goals, objectives, and current status of the African Soils Information Service (AfSIS) project, a collaboration between the Earth Institute and African scientists and institutions, to develop detailed digital maps of soils in 42 sub-Saharan African countries of in support of sustainable agriculture. CIESIN is helping to build information systems for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating the data to a wide range of end users.

At the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee (TC) Meeting in Austin, Texas, March 19–22, CIESIN associate director of information technology, Sri Vinay, presented "Assessing Open Source Software Implementation Options from a Digital Preservation Perspective," authored with CIESIN senior digital archivist Robert Downs. Vinay also attended meetings related to the National Science Foundation (NSF) EarthCube initiative, including an exploratory meeting on governance issues.

Taro Ubukawa, chief of the Environmental Geoinformation Section, Environmental Geography Division, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, MLIT, has begun a one-year appointment at CIESIN as a visiting scientist. Ubukawa, who has worked extensively with the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping, will be conducting research in coordination with the CODATA Global Roads Data Development Task Group (gROADS), an international team of experts that aims to improve data on intercity road networks. He also plans to address global data needs related to coastlines and infrastructure. Ubukawa holds an M.S. in metamorphic petrology and a B.S. in science, from Kyoto University.

Spatial data are critical to the assessment of vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation (VIA) to climate change, yet serious gaps exist in the availability and quality of relevant spatial data for all regions of the world, including specific issues such as lack of consistent time series and scale and format incompatibilities. To address these gaps and identify high priority data weaknesses, a workshop is being organized that will bring together major stakeholders and identify partnerships. Planned for June 1 in conjunction with the May 29-31 Adaptation Futures Conference sponsored by the University of Arizona and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Tucson, Arizona, the workshop will focus on vulnerable groups, urban area and critical infrastructure maps, sectoral data, hazards, and adaptive capacity/resilience. Climate model data availability and formats and best practices for using climate data will also be discussed. The invitation-only workshop is being sponsored by the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) operated by CIESIN, the Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA), and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). For further information, please contact SEDAC deputy manager Alex de Sherbinin at adesherbinin@ciesin.columbia.edu or by phone at +1-845-365-8936.

Staff at the CIESIN-Earth Institute exhibit booth of the 2012 Association of American Geographers explain research activities and programs to conference attendees. Pictured left to right: Allison Ladue, assistant director, Columbia University's Master of Science in Sustainability Management, and Allison Lacko, research staff assistant, CIESIN.

The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) had a strong presence at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, which drew more than 8,500 participants to New York City February 24–28. CIESIN co-sponsored two booths, one staffed in collaboration with the Earth Institute, and the other showcasing CIESIN’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) together with the Land Processes Data Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), two of NASA’s Earth science data centers. On February 26, senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin was chair and organizer of a panel session, Geospatial and Statistical Data from International Institutions, which included presentations by several different United Nations and World Bank representatives with whom CIESIN collaborates. Senior staff associate Sandra Baptista also organized a session, Frontiers in Spatial Demography and Population Geography, held on February 28 and chaired by Michael Goodchild of the University of California at Santa Barbara. CIESIN staff members participated in several panel and paper sessions: geographic information specialist Malanding Jaiteh was a panelist for Science in Support of Sustainable Development and Human Rights in East Africa, chaired by State Department geographer Lee Schwartz; associate director Mark Becker was a panelist in two sessions, Geospatial Technologies for International Development and Internships and Work-Based Learning as Career Preparation; Earth Institute Fellow Alexandra Morel presented an interactive short paper, “Spatial Analysis of Socio-Economic and Natural Hazard Vulnerability for Haiti, Using GIS and Remote Sensing,” co-authored with senior staff associate Liana Razafindrazay; geographic information specialist Sneha Rao presented the paper, “Exploring Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in Classrooms Using CHANGE Viewer,” co-authored with senior systems analyst programmer James Carcone, Mark Becker, and Cayuga Community College colleague Amy Work; Alex de Sherbinin presented a paper, “Estimating Global Net Migration by Ecosystem and By Decade: 1970-2010,” co-authored with deputy director Marc Levy, associate research scientist Susana Adamo, geographic information specialist Kytt MacManus, senior research associate Valentina Mara, and Liana Razafindrazay; and he also presented the paper “Environmental Indicators: An Application of Satellite Data Products to Support High Level Decisions for National and International Environmental Protection” co-authored with Marc Levy and Battelle Memorial Institute colleagues Erica Zell and Stephanie Weber. CIESIN welcomed AAG participants at a reception held February 27 and hosted twelve AAG participants on a field trip to the Lamont campus on February 28. CIESIN director Robert Chen’s role as one of three co-chairs of the Local Arrangements Committee was recognized at the AAG opening session on February 24.

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO), a voluntary partnership of governments and international organizations launched in 2005, has established a new Data Sharing Working Group to continue efforts to implement the Data Sharing Principles for the Global Earth Obwserving System of Systems (GEOSS). The Working Group carries on the efforts of the previous Data Sharing Task Force, which completed its work at the GEO-VIII Plenary in Beijing in November 2011. CIESIN director Robert Chen is collaborating with Paul Uhlir of the U.S. National Research Council to serve as one of the co-chairs of the new Working Group, representing the International Council for Science (ICSU). Other co-chairs include the U.S. and the European Commission, and members include representatives of more than 20 GEO members and participating organizations. GEOSS aims to interconnect both space- and ground-based observation and data systems from around the world to form a seamless system in support of societal applications, decision making, and scientific research.

Participants at the upcoming 2012 Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting are welcome to visit the CIESIN exhibit booths from Saturday through Monday in Rhinelander Gallery, second floor of the Hilton (#1207, the NASA Earth Science booth, and #1110, the Earth Institute/CIESIN, Columbia University booth), and to join CIESIN at a reception at Rosie O’Grady’s (800 Seventh Ave) the evening of Monday, February 27, from 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. A field trip to the Lamont campus of Columbia University is planned for Tuesday, February 28, 1–6 p.m., with a walking tour of the research facilities, presentations by CIESIN and Lamont staff, and an informal reception (advance registration required; space is limited).

CIESIN has organized two AAG sessions:

• Sunday, February 26, 2:40 p.m.–4:20 p.m. (session 3517), Murray Hill Suite A, Hilton Hotel, second floor, Geospatial and Statistical Data from International Institutions (organized and chaired by Alex de Sherbinin).

• Tuesday, February 28, Feb 28, 8 a.m.–9:40 a.m. (session 5156), Central Park East, Sheraton Hotel, second floor, Frontiers in Spatial Demography and Population Geography (organized by Sandra Baptista).

Also of interest are panel discussions and papers presented by CIESIN staff:

• Saturday, February 25
  4:40 p.m.–6:20 p.m. (panel session 2605), concourse E, Hilton Hotel, concourse level, Science in Support of Sustainable Development and Human Rights in East Africa (Malanding Jaiteh, panelist).

• Sunday, February 26
  8 a.m.–9:40 a.m. (interactive short paper session 3123), Sutton Parlor Center, Hilton Hotel, second floor, Highlights in Spatial Analysis and Modelling. “Spatial Analysis of Socio-Economic and Natural Hazard Vulnerability for Haiti, using GIS and Remote Sensing,” presented by Alexandra Morel, co-authored with Liana Razafindrazay).
  
  10:00-11:40 a.m. (paper session 3251), Sheraton Hotel, lower level, conference room 1, Climate and Climate Change Literacy. “Exploring Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in Classrooms Using CHANGE Viewer.” Presented by Sneha Rao and co-authored by CIESIN colleagues James Carcone, Mark Becker, and IAGT/Cayuga Community College colleague Amy Work.
  
  2:40 p.m.–4:20 p.m. (3516), Morgan Suite, Hilton NY, second floor, Geospatial Technologies for International Development (Mark Becker, panelist).

• Monday, February 27
  10:00 a.m.–11:40 a.m. (4215), Madison Suite, Hilton NY, second floor, Internships and Work-Based Learning as Career Preparation (Mark Becker, panelist).

• Tuesday, February 28
  10 a.m.–11:40 a.m. (paper session 5252), Conference Room J, Sheraton Hotel, lower level, Data and Methods in Population Geography. Alex de Sherbinin is chair and presenter of “Estimating Global Net Migration by Ecosystem and By Decade: 1970-2010,” co-authored with CIESIN colleagues Marc Levy, Susana Adamo, Kytt MacManus, Valentina Mara, and Liana Razafindrazay.
  
  2:00 p.m.–3:40 p.m. (paper session 5476), Madison Suite 6, Sheraton Hotel, Fifth Floor, Geographical Applications of Remote Sensing (III). “Environmental Indicators: An Application of Satellite Data Products to Support High Level Decisions for National and International Environmental Protection,” presented by Alex de Sherbinin, co-authored with Marc Levy and Battelle Memorial Institute colleagues Erica Zell and Stephanie Weber,
  
  In addition, Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs will be giving a plenary presentation (4333) on Monday, February 27, from 11:50 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in the Trianon Ballroom, Hilton NY, third floor.

Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in Menlo Park, California, was the venue for an international meeting held February 6–8 and organized by the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) secretariat to address the data and information needs of the scientific community involved in assessing the implications of climate change for society. TGICA was established by the IPCC to coordinate data management efforts across IPCC working groups and between IPCC assessments, including oversight of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (DDC). CIESIN director Robert Chen and senior staff associate Xiaoshi Xing represented the socioeconomic portion of the DDC, which is hosted by the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) operated by CIESIN. Chen presented a new DDC data and information access policy, which was approved by the TGICA. Xing contributed to discussions about improvements to a new information resource on the development of new scenarios of future socioeconomic and environmental development, which he helped to implement. Chen continues to serve as an ex officio member of the TGICA, which is now co-chaired by Timothy Carter from Finland and Bruce Hewitson from South Africa.

The newly released report, Climate Change Impacts and Responses: Societal Indicators for the National Climate Assessment, presents the background materials and outcomes of a workshop held April 28-29, 2011 in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the workshop convened more than 50 experts from the social and natural sciences to consider the development of policy-relevant indicators of climate impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. It was one of three workshops on indicator needs and approaches organized to provide inputs to the National Climate Assessment (NCA), which is preparing a report to be released in 2013. CIESIN director Robert Chen served as co-chair of the workshop steering committee and synthesis team and co-authored the workshop summary (Part 1) and a white paper on the development of societal indicators for the NCA (Part 2). CIESIN senior staff associate Sandra Baptista was also a member of the workshop steering committee and synthesis team and prepared a societal indicators bibliography, inventory summaries, and an inventory table (Parts 3, 4 and 5 of the report). Chen is now one of the co-chairs of the NCA Indicators Working Group together with Anthony Janetos of Battelle/University of Maryland and Deke Arndt of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.

The Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI) of the U.S. National Research Council held its sixth meeting in Washington, D.C., January 31–February 1 under the leadership of two new co-chairs, Prof. Francine Berman of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Clifford Lynch of the Coalition for Networked Information. One major focus of the meeting was the role of BRDI in relationship to international scientific data efforts led by the International Council for Science (ICSU), and in particular the ICSU Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) and the ICSU World Data System (WDS). CIESIN director Robert Chen, in his capacity as CODATA secretary general and ex officio member of BRDI, reported on current CODATA activities and initiatives, including plans for the 23rd CODATA international conference in Taipei in October 2012. He also helped to lead a discussion on potential cooperation between CODATA and the WDS on topics such as data policy, stewardship, citation, and access. Former CIESIN director Roberta Balstad was one of the outgoing BRDI members, having served as BRDI's vice chair and as the former chair of the U.S. National Committee for CODATA.

Two new staff appointments have been made recently in CIESIN's Science Applications Division. Sylwia Trzaska, a climate scientist specializing in climate variability and change in Africa and other developing regions, has joined CIESIN as an associate research scientist, effective January 16. She is helping to lead a project on African and Latin American resilience to climate change with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Since 2002, Trzaska has worked with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO). Her areas of research include sea surface variability in the Tropical Atlantic; interannual variability of climate and its sub-seasonal features and their predictability in West Africa; and variability of the dry season in West Africa and its relationship to meningococcal meningitis epidemics, with a special focus on the role of mineral dust. Trzaska holds a Ph.D in climatology from the University of Burgundy, Dijon, France.

Kimberly Peng, a former Earth Institute intern at CIESIN, has been appointed senior research staff assistant. Peng is working on the Haiti Regeneration Initiative (HRI), assisting with the data collection and analysis for the household surveys currently being conducted in the Côte Sud Initiative (CSI) region. In addition, she is supporting the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) by maintaining content for the AfSIS Web site. Peng has a B.A. in economics from the University of Maryland and an M.A. from the Earth Institute’s Program in Climate and Society.