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Association Affairs
Announcements
A. 7th International Conference on Environmental Future: Humans and Island Environments
The Foundation for Environmental Conservation (FEC) will hold the 7th International Conference on Environmental Future (7ICEF) in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, in 2018 (provisionally 16 – 20 April 2018). The meeting, titled “Humans and Island Environments,” will be co-organized and sponsored by the East-West Center and University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The goal is to bring together islanders, researchers, managers, and NGOs from a broad array of disciplines to discuss and understand the role of islands in conservation and human-environment interactions. PSA Past-President Nancy Lewis and PSA Executive Secretary Burke Burnett are collaborating with the organizers of the 7ICEF meeting.
The overarching questions for the conference are as follows: How have islands aided our understanding of human-environment interactions? What are the latest directions in island biological and cultural conservation? Where should island conservation efforts be focused? And what lessons do islands have for conservation efforts in other parts of the world?
The 7ICEF meeting will consist of a series of focused topics with a panel and discussion. The topics are as follows:
1. What is the importance of islands to environmental conservation?
2. How have humans changed island ecosystems through history?
3. What are the future challenges for island ecology and evolution?
4. How can island conservation contribute to human well-being?
5. How are islands dealing with the challenge of balancing development with sustainability?
6. How can we incorporate the value of island environments into conservation?
7. How can indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) be used to improve island environmental futures?
8. How can we build island communities that are resilient to the impacts of climate change and environmental hazards? [End Page 167]
9. What role can the humanities play in island conservation?
10. How does environmental governance on islands currently operate and what forms of governance produce the best outcomes?
11. How can we improve conservation through integrated marine and terrestrial management?
12. What is the current state of knowledge of island extinctions and how can this be used to set baselines for restoration?
13. How well are island conservation issues addressed in international conventions and agreements?
14. What have we learned about invasive species and what are the best strategies for dealing with them in the future?
15. What is the role of environmental education in islands?
16. Climate change and island migration
17. Human health and environmental conservation
18. Sovereignty and conservation
Each topic will also be the focus of an article to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Environmental Conservation.
B. ICSU-ISSC Merger
The International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) have agreed to pursue a merger between the two organizations. The agreement to pursue the merger was made by an overwhelming vote at their joint meeting in Oslo in October 2016. The decision to approve/ratify the merger will be made in a vote of both organizations’ members at their upcoming meeting in Taipei in October 2017.
In Oslo, two working groups were formed for the merger process: a Transition Task Force and a Strategy Working Group. The Transition Task Force is tasked with developing new statutes and rules of procedure for the merged organization, and the Strategy Working Group is preparing a high-level strategy for a new, merged organization. ICSU and the ISSC have a long history of successful collaboration dating back many years, and particularly in more recent mutual endeavors such as Future Earth.
The two organizations have now begun the process of developing a joint vision and structure for a new, merged council that can consolidate the strengths of both ISSC and ICSU while blazing a new trail for international science in the twenty-first century.
PSA is a Scientific Associate member of ICSU (although voting privileges are for national members and scientific unions only). This merger will have very important ramifications for how science is structured and pursued, and both PSA President Yonglong Lu and PSA Executive Secretary Burke Burnett plan to attend to better understand how the new organization will function, and how to position PSA to both support them and facilitate the pursuit of multi-disciplinary science in the Asia-Pacific region.
C. Call for Hosts for 2020 Congress
The Council of the Pacific Science Association (PSA) invites expressions of interest (EOI) from organizations interested in hosting the 24th Pacific Science Congress (PSC-24).
Previous Pacific Science Congresses (PSCs) have been held in major cities around the Pacific Rim and in Hawai‘i, Australia, and New Zealand, and have typically attracted about 1,500 participants. The host organization will be asked to designate a Conference Chair and a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) that will work closely with PSA’s Committee on Scientific [End Page 168] Affairs in planning a PSC or PSIC. A Technical Program Committee, composed of LOC members and individuals appointed by the PSA Council, will be responsible for planning the PSC/PSIC agenda, selecting keynote speakers, and reviewing submitted abstracts for presentation. The LOC will be responsible for:
• Providing a meeting venue that will be of interest to scientists;
• Managing the conference arrangements or hiring a conference management company;
• Obtaining partial funding of the conference from cosponsors to keep Congress registration fees in an acceptable range, typically US$400 for PSA members, US$500 for nonmembers, and US$200 for students.
Institutions in PSA member countries are invited to express their interest in hosting PSC-24 by contacting Burke Burnett, PSA Executive Secretary (burnett@pacificscience.org). Please include the name and contact information for the proposed Conference Chair. Expressions of interest are requested by 30 January 2018.
Full applications to host PSC-24 and PSIC-13 should be prepared according to the following Guidelines and should be submitted to Burke Burnett by 15 March 2018. These applications will be reviewed and approved by the PSA Council. [End Page 169]
Prepared by Burke Burnett, PSA Executive Secretary
[End Page 170]
PSA Executive Board
president Dr. Yonglong Lu Co-Director, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China-Beijing yllu@rcees.ac.cn
vice-president Dr. Sang-Dai Park Professor Emeritus School of Biological Sciences Seoul National University Seoul, Korea sdpark@snu.ac.kr
secretary-general Dr. Kevin Johnson Research Professor Department of Geology & Geophysics School of Ocean & Earth Sciences & Technology University of Hawai‘i Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA kjohnso2@hawaii.edu
treasurer Dr. Makoto Tsuchiya Professor Emeritus University of the Ryukyus Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan tsuchiya@sci.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
past-president Dr. Nancy Davis Lewis Director, Research Program East-West Center Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA lewisn@eastwestcenter.org
ordinary members Dr. Eric Clua Professor of Marine Biology École Pratique des Hautes Études Paris, France
Shu-Min Huang Academician & Research Fellow Academia Sinica Taipei, China-Taipei
Dr. Isao Nakajima Professor and Vice Rapporteur of Telemedicine & eHealth Tokai University School of Medicine Kanagawa, Japan js2hb@ets8.jp
Academician Valentin Sergienko Chairman, Russian Academy of Sciences–Far Eastern Branch Vladivostok, Russia sergienko@hq.febras.ru
secretariat Burke Burnett Pacific Science Association Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA burnett@pacificscience.org
Pacific Science Association Membership Information
The Pacific Science Association is a regional, nongovernmental scientific organization founded in 1920. PSA’s objectives are to advance science and technology in the Pacific region by increasing interdisciplinary collaboration; to build capacity in science and technology; to encourage science for public policy and the common good; and to promote the “science of the Pacific” and Pacific Island involvement in regional and international scientific activities.
Through Congress and Inter-Congress meetings and ongoing scientific Working Groups, PSA provides an interdisciplinary platform for scientists to discuss and review common concerns and priorities in the region. PSA activities link scientists from developed countries with those from developing countries, including the archipelagic and more remote states of the Pacific. PSA facilitates research initiatives on critical emerging issues for the region, such as biodiversity, climate change, infectious diseases, and the social implications of globalization, in which science can provide crucial information in a way that is required by both society and policymakers to make sound and informed decisions. PSA is a Scientific Associate of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
National members of the Association are Adhering Organizations (e.g., the national academy of science or a like body) from a country or defined geographic area within or bordering the Pacific Ocean, or with scientific interests in the region. Individual memberships to PSA are conferred automatically via subscription to Pacific Science.
The Pacific Science Association is governed by the Pacific Science Council, which meets every two years and elects the PSA Executive Board. The Executive Board is the implementing body of PSA and meets annually to set policy and oversees the general activities of the PSA. The PSA Secretariat is responsible for running the day-to-day affairs of the Association and is based at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
The PSA Secretariat is located at:
Pacific Science Association
1525 Bernice Street
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96817, USA
Tel: (1) 808-848-4124
Fax: (1) 808-847-8252
E-mail: info@pacificscience.org
Website: http://www.pacificscience.org [End Page 171]
