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- AVEC -
International Summer School
- on Vulnerable
Ecosystems
- Programme of the
European Commission, N°
EVK2-2001-00074
- Potsdam Institute
for Climate Impact Research
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- du dimanche 14 au
samedi 27 septembre
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- The AVEC International Summer School is the
central part of the Concerted Action AVEC, which is funded by
the European Commission and led by the Potsdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research in Germany. AVEC stands for "Integrated
Assessment of Vulnerable Ecosystems under Global Change". The
main goal of AVEC is to foster a growing European network of
research on the issue of "vulnerability of human society to
changing ecosystem services". It specifically aims at
connecting European research projects on the integrated
assessment of environmental change by creating opportunities
for intensive contact and the exchange of ideas. The
international summer school in Peyresq represents a major
milestone for this task.
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- Ecosystem services are the conditions and
processes through which ecosystems, and the organisms that make
them up, sustain and enrich human life. Changes in climate,
biology, nitrogen deposition and land use are affecting
European ecosystems and all services they provide. The
vulnerability of society to changes in these services can now
be assessed through modern scientific techniques. Vulnerability
is the degree to which an economic sector is sensitive to
global (environmental) change driven supply of ecosystem
services and the degree to which that sector is unable to cope
with the change. The AVEC summer school will present the state
of the art of such vulnerability assessments.
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- The AVEC summer school is open to young
graduate and post-graduate scientists from the EU or associated
countries, as well as to a small number of participants from
developing countries, in environmental sciences and related
disciplines. Most students are currently involved in global
change studies or vulnerability assessment projects.
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- The set-up of the summer school has an
interactive structure that includes daily teamwork of the
participants, exchange with scientists and experts as well as
excursions, all aiming at lively discussions between lecturers,
participants and so called "stakeholders". Stakeholders are
people and/or institutions who have an interest in information
on ecosystem services and their vulnerability to global change.
Tutorials will be given on establishing a dialogue with the
stakeholders, ecosystem modelling and the dissemination of the
results.
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- After a day of introduction, the principles
of a stakeholder dialogue process will be presented. This is
followed by lectures on obtaining data, data management and
scenarios on climate as well on land use. The ecological
modelling of the ecosystems services will be represented by
covering mountain ecosystems, biodiversity issues, water
related disaster management, agricultural yield modelling as
well as the sequestration of carbon in ecosystems. Based upon
the lectures the vulnerability assessment will be approached by
defining adaptive capacity and the integration of natural and
social science indicators. This will lead to maps of
vulnerability that represent a result of all previous steps.
The participants will get a general conspectus of the
scientific approach of vulnerability assessment. Selected
keynote lectures and the outcome of the participants'
contributions will be published.
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- The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact
Research (PIK) is a scientific institute located in Potsdam,
Germany. PIK was founded in 1992 and is a member of the German
scientific federation Leipnitz Gemeinschaft. Wolfgang Cramer is
the head of the "global change and natural systems department"
at PIK and the project leader of AVEC. More information can be
found at: http://www.pik-potsdam.de/avec
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- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact
Research
- P.O. Box 60 12 03
- D-14412 Potsdam, Germany
- Tel: +49-331-288-2692
- Fax: +49-331-288-2640
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- Wolfgang CRAMER : project
leader
- wolfgang.cramer@pik-potsdam.de
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- Uta FRITSCH : scientific
co-ordinator
- uta.fritsch@pik-potsdam.de
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