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In the Phytobenthos cross-Geographical Intercalibration Group (GIG): 11 Member States (see Table 2.1) submitted their lake phytobenthos assessment methods; Intercalibration (IC) was carried out for three broad common types: high alkalinity (HA), moderate alkalinity (MA) and low alkalinity (LA) lakes; Intercalibration “Option 2” was used for HA and MA types - indirect comparison of assessment methods using a common metrics, while direct comparison was carried out for LA type where only 2 assessment systems were compared; The Trophic Index (Rott et al. 1999) was used as IC common metric, it was benchmark-standardized using “continuous enchmarking” approach; 8 countries participated in HA type intercalibration (HU and PL were excluded from calculation of harmonization ban, but included later), 8 countries participated in MA type intercalibration (FR, IT and DE excluded), 4 countries participated in LA type intercalibration (SE and FI excluded); The final results include harmonised EQRs of BE, DE, HU, IE, PL, SE, SI and UK phytobenthos methods for HA type; BE, FI, IE, SE, UK - for MA type, IE and UK – for LA type.

[Departement_IRSTEA]Eaux [TR1_IRSTEA]GEUSI; When hydrological models are used in support of water management decisions, stakeholders often contest these models because they perceive certain aspects to be inadequately addressed. A strongly contested model may be abandoned completely, even when stakeholders could potentially agree on the validity of part of the information it can produce. The development of a new model is costly, and the results may be contested again. We consider how existing hydrological models can be used in a policy process so as to benefit from both hydrological knowledge and the perspectives and local knowledge of stakeholders. We define a code of conduct as a set of “rules of the game” that we base on a case study of developing a water management plan for a Natura 2000 site in the Netherlands. We propose general rules for agenda management and information sharing, and more specific rules for model use and option development. These rules structure the interactions among actors, help them to explicitly acknowledge uncertainties, and prevent expertise from being neglected or overlooked. We designed the rules to favor openness, protection of core stakeholder values, the use of relevant substantive knowledge, and the momentum of the process. We expect that these rules, although developed on the basis of a water-management issue, can also be applied to support the use of existing computer models in other policy domains. As rules will shape actions only when they are constantly affirmed by actors, we expect that the rules will become less useful in an “unruly” social environment where stakeholders constantly challenge the proceedings.

This article describes the role of a digital library in a joint educational Master of Science (MSc.) programme involving organizations in Ghana and the Netherlands. A brief introduction of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is followed by an outline of the joint educational MSc. programme developed by these two institutions. The digital library support provided in this joint programme will be described, and observations resulting from experiences delivering the programme are summarized. The article also provides general comments on the importance of libraries in building digital partnerships between organizations in developed and less technologically advanced countries.

Contains fulltext : 77105.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Competing claims on natural resources become increasingly acute, with the poor being most vulnerable to adverse outcomes of such competition. A major challenge for science and policy is to progress from facilitating univocal use to guiding stakeholders in dealing with potentially conflicting uses of natural resources. The development of novel, more equitable, management options that reduce rural poverty is key to achieving sustainable use of natural resources and the resolution of conflicts over them. Here, we describe an interdisciplinary and interactive approach for: (i) the understanding of competing claims and stakeholder objectives; (ii) the identification of alternative resource use options, and (iii) the scientific support to negotiation processes between stakeholders. Central to the outlined approach is a shifted perspective on the role of scientific knowledge in society. Understanding scientific knowledge as entering societal arenas and as fundamentally negotiated, the role of the scientist becomes a more modest one, a contributor to ongoing negotiation processes among stakeholders. Scientists can, therefore, not merely describe and explain resource-use dynamics and competing claims, but in doing so, they should actively contribute to negotiation processes between stakeholders operating at different scales (local, national, regional, and global). Together with stakeholders, they explore alternatives that can contribute to more sustainable and equitable use of natural resources and, where possible, design new technical options and institutional arrangements. 18 p.

The Terrestrial Vegetation Model (TVM) of the Integrated Model to Assess the Greenhouse Effect ( image 2.0) determines potential land cover for natural ecosystems and potential productivity for agrosystems. A model analysis of this TVM using Monte Carlo simulations is described for the eighteen Costa Rican (0.5° × 0.5° latitude-longitude) image 2.0 grid cells. It is demonstrated that the TVM is not overly sensitive to climate input variability. Much observed output variability is related to model parameters. These model parameter related effects can strongly determine the intra/inter grid variability for Costa Rican potential yields. The model analysis indicates that more model refinement is required to make any effort to improve data quality effective. It is therefore proposed to remove as many model criteria as possible or to replace them by more gradual criteria based on crop ecophysiological characteristics. A first tentative comparison of maize, rice and pulses yield potentials and their distribution in Costa Rica during 1973 and 1984, suggests that the assumption that the two are related, as assumed in the Land Cover Model (LCM) in image 2.0, has some validity.