On October
11, 1996, the opening ceremony of the LUCC (Land Use/Cover Change) Project
Office, at the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya (ICC) in Barcelona,
was a great event for the global change science. It attracted more than
120 scientists from all over the world, and representatives from organisations
such as the European Commission (DG XII), the U.S. National Science Foundation,
the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment. Members of the
LUCC Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) and the Executive Directors of
the sponsoring programmes: Dr. C. Rapley (IGBP), Dr. A. Underdal (IHDP),
and the Chair of the International Social Science Council and founder of
IHDP, Dr. L. Ramallo, also attended this ceremony, which was chaired by
the Minister of Política Territorial i Obres Públiques Mr.
A. Mas, and the Minister of Environment of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Mr. P. Macias.
LUCC is a joint IGBP / IHDP interdisciplinary project which has
four general objectives:
- to obtain a better understanding of global land use and land cover
driving forces,
- to investigate and document temporal and geographical dynamics of land use and land cover,
- to define the links between sustainability and various land uses,
- to understand the inter-relationship between LUCC, biogeochemistry
and climate.
LUCC research is oriented according to three foci: (1) land use dynamics - analysis of comparative case studies, (2) land cover dynamics - empirical observation and diagnostic models, and (3) regional and global integrated models.
In his keynote address about "The Social Significance of the Land Use and Cover Change Systems: Pattern to Processes in Western Mediterranean", Dr. R. Folch underlined the interdisciplinary and socio-economic approach of LUCC. He gave numerous examples of the immediate utility of the LUCC study in territorial organisation, natural resources management and socio-economic policy. Both himself and Dr. S. Sanderson, from the LUCC SSC, emphasised the need to investigate the LUCC as a complex function of biogeochemical and socio-economic dynamics, and stressed the fact that Earth sciences will not be able to explain reality without integrating the human activities and behaviour as another component of the biosphere.
The opening of the LUCC Project Office unquestionably puts Catalunya ahead of the scientific research related to global change. It results from the importance of LUCC impacts at different space and time scales, and from its connecting role in the global change science. These opinions were highlighted in several presentations, which point out that LUCC will occupy a central position in the global change science during the next 10 years, since the global impact of LUCC is at this time scale at least as significant as those resulting from the climate change.
LUCC is expected to obtain a great echo in the Spanish society, resulting from the integration of topics of high priority for this country (e.g., water management and combat against desertification) in the Science Plan. Moreover, the LUCC Chairman, Dr. D. Skole, mentioned the interest of the LUCC SSC for an initiative dedicated to LUCC and other specific problems over the Mediterranean area. Dr. B. Turner concluded the event by asserting that the LUCC Programme has much to offer to the social sciences, and that its social and political impacts will be a challenge for the project.
The inauguration of the LUCC Office is the starting point of this international initiative. The location of the Office within the ICC guarantees technological and scientific feedbacks with the LUCC projects. The ICC has accumulated a large experience in the generation of land use and land cover maps (i.e. Mapes dels Usos del Sòl de Catalunya 1:250.000 for 1982, 1987 and 1992, CORINE Land Cover project of the European Community, etc.), and in the analysis of LUCC processes due to forest fires or affecting croplands.
The tasks of the office will be to stir into action the development of international research projects about the LUCC changing processes, to support them in terms of management, to circulate the information about the existing projects, and to bring current scientific activities closer to the society and its driving forces.
The LUCC International Project Office is composed of Xavier Baulies
(Executive Officer), Ignasi Augé (Information Officer), and Caroline
Nunes (Office Manager).
| Contact: LUCC-IPO, Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, Parc de Montjuïc s/n, 08038 Barcelona, Spain |
| E-mail: [email protected] - URL: http://www.icc.es/lucc |