Public Roundtables at the Open Meeting

Taking place after the IHDP Open Meeting 2009’s first day of parallel sessions, the round table “Addressing the Social Challenges of Global Change – the Role of Science in the 21st Century” provided a platform for participants and interested members of the public to exchange views on the role of science in effectively meeting the challenges laid out by the scientific agenda of the conference.

How can the human dimensions community respond effectively to the raising demand for its science? What are the most promising areas for cutting-edge social science contributions to understanding global change? How should we organise the human dimensions community to maximise progress in this effort? The Open Meeting was an apt occasion at which to discuss such pertinent questions in the form of a public debate. In a crowed plenary hall, this round table initiated a reflection on the current role of human dimensions research. James Painter of BBC World Service and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford, served as moderator for what turned out to be one of the best attended sessions of the conference. The panelists included Oran R. Young, University of California, Santa Barbara, and, IHDP Scientific Committee Chair; Katrina Brown, University of East-Anglia, UK; Carlo Jaeger, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany and IHDP Scientific Committee Member; Roger Kasperson, Research Professor, Clark University, USA; Nicole Dewandre, EU Commission, DG Research, Belgium; Xuemei Bai, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia; James L. Buizer, Arizona State University, USA; Gernot Klepper, Kiel Institute of World Economics, Germany, and IHDP, Scientific Committee Member.

Overall, the five public roundtables of the IHDP Open Meeting 2009, gathered a talented set of panelists to engage the general public about the most pressing social challenges of our day. In the roundtable “Catastrophe Sells” panellists discussed the difficulties of reporting environmental news, concluding that so long as the facts remain clear, fresh reporting, sound bytes, and a touch of catastrophe may be just what is needed to get the message across. In the roundtable on e-Health and Telemedicine panelists presented and discussed the role of these important new technologies. United Nations Ambassadors from Small Island States joined in a panel on adaptive capacities of small isand states against large-scale environmental change. The “Global Equity, Local Needs” roundtable covered the challenges and barriers related to equity on various levels.