The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), which is an ICSU-sponsored initiative, will come to a close at the end of this year after three decades of fostering international collaborative research and synthesis on global change.
The organisation’s legacy is embodied in its scientific publications; the workshops and conferences it organised; the close interaction it fostered with policy and assessment processes such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); and its innovative approaches to communication and outreach. It will leave behind a strong record in building networks as well as enhancing research capacity around the world. More information about IGBP’s scientific and institutional legacy is available in the final issue of its Global Change magazine.
The IGBP Secretariat, which has been housed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (RSAS) in Stockholm for almost three decades, will vacate its offices at the end of this year. The IGBP website will not be updated from the 27th of November. However, it will remain accessible until 2026. An electronic archive of important documents will be available with the International Council for Science (ICSU). A hard copy archive will be held at the Academy.
IGBP’s projects and networks will of course continue into the future. Many sub-communities have already transitioned to Future Earth, which marks a step change in the ways in which global-change research will be designed, produced and communicated.
IGBP is co-sponsoring almost 100 scientific sessions and organising several other activities as part of its Landmark Synthesis Event at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), 14-18 December 2015. This will provide an occasion to celebrate its scientific and institutional legacy and hand over the baton of global-change research to Future Earth. IGBP is sponsoring the attendance of several early-career scientists from the developing world. The various activities at AGU include: an early-career scientists’ workshop (11-12 December) jointly developed by IGBP and Future Earth; a celebration banquet (13 December); and a musical performance by the Bella Gaia group (17 December) jointly sponsored by IGBP, AGU and Future Earth.
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