End-of-Year Greetings from Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chair of the IPSI Steering Committee
It is a pleasure for me to send this brief message to you as we come to the end of the year.
The year 2012 has been a very special one in terms of activities for the organization. Within this year, we held two very successful global conferences, during which, among other things, new members were welcomed into the IPSI family. The Nairobi meeting in March informed members about the ongoing process of developing a strategy to support the increasing activities and membership of IPSI.
The most recent conference, strategically held in between two major UNCBD activities for the year, namely the 6th meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol and 11th Conference of Parties in Hyderabad, India, provided opportunities to increase the membership, adopt the strategy and also participate in a number of workshops to promote the concept of the Satoyama Initiative and its relevance for socio-ecological productive land and seascapes (SEPLS). It was possible to get the right expertise to give case study situations to also promote the IPSI expertise.
Additionally, IPSI, with tremendous support from UNU-IAS and IGES, participated in the ISAP 2012 meeting, which had the theme of “Steering towards a sustainable and resilient future: Beyond Rio+20”. This meeting brought together notable experts from the Asia-Pacific, who provided IPSI members a lot of insight into other global processes, which are all working towards ensuring a sustainable world. This meeting, and others which IPSI members had the privilege to attend, created good platforms for exchange of ideas.
As the year 2012 draws to a close, we all can look back at what we have been able to achieve, to spur us on to a new impetus with a renewed vigor for the ensuing year.
Please remember that the Steering Committee working in concert with the IPSI secretariat is available to ensure a continued growth of the partnership.
May I use this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year season.
IPSI Member Publishes New Book on “Resilience and the Cultural Landscape”
Dr. Tobias Plieninger, head of the Ecosystem Services Research Group at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, has co-edited a new volume on “Resilience and the Cultural Landscape”, which is now available from the Cambridge University Press.
The editors emphasize that by bringing together the two perspectives of ‘resilience’ and the ‘cultural landscape’, this book provides “new insights into the socio-ecological resilience of cultural landscapes by coming to terms with, and challenging, the concepts of ‘driving forces’, ‘thresholds’, ‘adaptive cycles’ and ‘adaptive management’.”
More information, including the Table of Contents and full list of contributing authors is available here along with ordering information for interested parties.
Policy Forum held on “Semi-Natural Pastures and Meadows” by German Association for Landcare (DVL)
One of the IPSI member organizations, the German Association for Landcare (DVL) co-organized a policy forum with the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism on 13 November in Brussels, Belgium.
Europe’s extensive, biodiversity-rich semi-natural grasslands were at the center of discussion, particularly in light of the upcoming new financial period of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Experts from across Europe delivered a series of presentations on various aspects of this issue, as the co-organizers advocated for a “well-designed political background for extensive pastures in the EU”.
The programme, background information, and presentation files from the policy forum are now available online for download.
Holiday Greetings from the IPSI Secretariat
Best wishes to the IPSI family! May you have a successful and prosperous year in 2013