The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) was a research programme that studied the human and societal aspects of the phenomenon of
global change.
IHDP aimed to frame, develop and integrate social science research on global change, and promote the application of its key findings. It strived to develop research approaches that put societies at the center of the debate, looking at then-current global environmental problems as social and societal challenges.
IHDP’s work brought together groups of multi-disciplinary and multi-national researchers to work on long-term collaborative science. Its former role within the scientific field provided leadership in the selection and development of themes for focused research and in stimulating scientific communities to coordinate their efforts on these themes within the framework of its projects.
IHDP research was conducted through ten projects. Its six core projects, focused on how humans affect and are affected by
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, with specific topics including
human security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenges the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the human rather ...
,
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
,
industrial transformation and
environmental governance
Environmental governance (EG) consist of a system of laws, norms, rules, policies and practices that dictate how the board members of an environment related regulatory body should manage and oversee the affairs of any environment related regu ...
as they relate to
global change. Two of its six core projects were also core projects of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and focused specifically on
coupled human-environment systems such as
land use
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long his ...
, and
coastal zones. It also had four joint projects on the Earth's
carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major componen ...
,
water systems,
human health and
food systems with the other three global change research programmes (ESSP).
History
IHDP was initiated as the Human Dimensions Programme (HDP) in 1990 by the
International Social Science Council (ISSC). It was established under its closing name ''International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change'' by ISSC and
International Council for Science
The International Council for Science (ICSU, after its former name, International Council of Scientific Unions) was an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the advancement of science. Its members ...
(ICSU) in 1996. In 2006, the
United Nations University
The (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare th ...
joined ISSC and ICSU as an institutional sponsor of IHDP. The organization closed its doors in July 2014.
Secretariat
The IHDP Secretariat was located at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
Campus in Bonn, Germany, and was hosted by the United Nations University.
Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP)
IHDP was a partner of the
Earth System Science Partnership The Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) was a partnership under the auspices of the International Council for Science (ICSU) for the integrated study of the Earth system, the ways that it is changing, and the implications for global and regional ...
along with the
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the
World Climate Research Programme
The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) is an international programme that helps to coordinate global climate research. The WCRP was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Int ...
, and
DIVERSITAS an international programme for biodiversity research.
Projects
* Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS)
*
Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Project (UGEC)
* Industrial Transformation (IHDP-IT)
* Integrated Risk Governance Project (IRG-P)
*
(ESG)
*
LOICZ, Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ)
*
Global Land Project (GLP)
*
Global Carbon Project
The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is an organisation that seeks to quantify global greenhouse gas emissions and their causes. Established in 2001, its projects include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (), methan ...
(GCP)
* Global Water Systems Projects (GWSP)
* Global Environmental Change and Human Health (GECHH)
* Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS)
References
{{Authority control
International climate change organizations
Organizations established in 1990
Organizations disestablished in 2014