SEDAC News

Webinar Features New Superfund Mapping Service

Tue, 08 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

The new online mapping service, the National Priority List (NPL) Superfund Footprint Mapper, was featured as part of a Webinar sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Partnerships for Public Environmental Health (PEPH) on May 7. Participants numbered 158 attendees, more than 30 from federal agencies. Senior research associate Meredith Golden showcased the Mapper with assistance from geographic information specialist Tricia Chai-Onn, who also helped develop the service. Golden highlighted data from several projects of the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center operated by CIESIN. These include the U.S. Census Grids and the Global Poverty Mapping Project. The NPL Superfund Footprint Mapper can display population and environmental characteristics for areas surrounding more than 1700 NPL Superfund sites. An archived recording of the Webinar will be available soon on the SRP Web site.

Columbia University Superfund Research Program Web site

Paris Workshop Looks at Emerging Climate and Security Issues

Mon, 07 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Deputy director Marc Levy participated in a workshop, “Climate and Security: Evidence, Emerging Risks and a New Agenda,” held May 3–4 in Paris. The workshop was sponsored by Institut du Développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), Sciences Po, University of Exeter, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. For the segment focused on research, which took place on May 3, Levy gave a presentation on a panel entitled, “Peace-building and Mitigation & Adaptation Projects.” The following day he participated in a panel that synthesized recent research results for policy makers.

Agenda: "Climate and Security..."

Integrating Earth Observing Systems the Focus of Geneva Meetings

Sat, 05 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

More than 100 experts on Earth observations gathered in Geneva April 30–May 4 to coordinate plans for integrating remote sensing and other environmental and socioeconomic data under the auspices of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). CIESIN director Robert Chen participated in the GEO Work Plan Symposium 2012, reporting on the efforts of the GEO Data Sharing Working Group to reduce the legal and institutional barriers to sharing data across the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) being developed by GEO member countries and other participating organizations. Chen is one of the co-chairs of the Working Group, representing the International Council for Science, and serves as task coordinator for the GEO work plan task on data sharing. CIESIN geographic information specialist Sneha Rao subsequently participated in the kickoff meeting for the fifth phase of the GEO Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP-5), held May 3-4. She presented CIESIN’s planned contributions to the pilot, emphasizing ways to integrate data on population, land use, hazards, and sustainability with Earth observations to support GEO's priority societal benefit areas such as disaster management, agriculture, and climate adaptation.

GEO-5 Outcomes Discussed in Preparation for Rio+20 Talks

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

CIESIN deputy director Marc Levy participated in a meeting April 27 to summarize the results of the United Nations Environment Programme Fifth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), at United Nations headquarters. The meeting was convened by the Permanent Missions of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States to the UN, and UNEP. The meeting focused on the successes and failures of the world’s implementation of internationally agreed environmental goals. Other speakers included John Matuszak, U.S. Department of State; Jorge Laguna-Celis, Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN; Daniel Ziegerer, Swiss Federal Office for the Environment; and Jose Almonte, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic. Levy’s comments emphasized the poor track record in meeting international environmental goals, and he made a case for international action focused more heavily on drivers of environmental change and oriented more toward transforming large-scale systems. Levy is a coordinating lead author, along with CIESIN post-doctoral scholar Alexandra Morel, of a GEO-5 chapter on drivers of environmental change.

GEO-5 Summary Meeting

Superfund Conference Explores Possible Collaborations

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

CIESIN senior research associate Meredith Golden participated in a conference sponsored by the Northeast Superfund Research Program, “Complex Mixtures and Exposures: Analyzing, Modeling, and Predicting Fate and Effects at Multiple Levels of Environmental and Biological Systems,” held April 23–24 at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. More than 50 toxicologists, ecotoxicologists, epidemiologists, molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, engineers, and research translation experts convened to examine the challenges to understanding and predicting the environmental, biological, and mechanistic aspects of complex mixtures and complex exposures. As rapporteur for the research translation perspective, Golden, who is co-PI of the Research Translation Core for the Columbia University Superfund Research Program, emphasized the need for scientists to identify key audiences and to engage in productive dialogue in order to foster innovative science and research collaborations to improve public health at Superfund sites.

Disaster Resilience Dialogue Contributes to Rio+20 Summit

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

The inclusion of disaster risk reduction as one of the seven critical issues in the 2012 Rio+20 Summit presents a timely opportunity for consideration of political and financial action within the context of sustainable development. A meeting April 11, “From Sendai to Rio: Cultivating a Disaster-Resilient Society for Sustainable Development,” convened a wide range of local and international government officials and experts to discuss building climate and disaster resilience in coastal cities, and to share their expertise in influencing the public and policy understanding on sustainable development, especially in the urban context. Held at Columbia University's Low Library in Manhattan, the meeting was organized by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, and the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), in collaboration with The Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), and the Center on Japanese Economy and Business.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, gave opening remarks, along with Jun Yamazaki, ambassador, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, and Margareta Wahlstrom, special representative of the secretary-general for Disaster Risk Reduction. Cynthia Rosenzweig, head of Climate Impacts Group, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), served as moderator. Key discussion points included exploring lessons learned from recent disasters; discussing the benefits of fortifying cities against disaster; and recommending issues for future research and applications. The results of the dialogue will be made available to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development-Rio+20 and to the member cities of UNISDR's "Making Cities Resilient" campaign.

Solutions to Sustainability Risks Discussed at U.K. Planet Under Pressure Conference

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:00:00 GMT

A major gathering of the global sustainability science and policy communities took place in London March 26–29. The conference, “Planet Under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions,” was organized in response to the need for new solutions to achieve sustainable economic and environmental development for all. Nearly 3,000 people, representing science, policy, development, investment, industry, technology, the media, and other sectors, attended the meeting, along with several thousand more online participants. CIESIN director Robert Chen gave a presentation on integrating data from multiple scientific disciplines in a session, “Data Challenges for Global Sustainability,” that was co-chaired by former CIESIN director Roberta Balstad. Senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin presented on urban heat island effects at a panel on urbanization and on best practices for resettlement in anticipation of future climate change impacts at a panel on climate change and migration. He also presented a poster on data integration for global change research. The conference was sponsored by the global environmental research programmes of the International Council for Science (ICSU), with the aim to provide scientific inputs and recommendations to the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio (Rio +20). A new integrated research initiative, “Future Earth” was also launched at the conference.

Planet Under Pressure

Geospatial Data Resources the Focus of State Department Talk, Reston Workshop

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:00:00 GMT

On March 26, the associate director of CIESIN’s Geospatial Applications Division, Mark Becker, gave a presentation on CIESIN’s data products and research capabilities to a group consisting of approximately 25 representatives from the State Department, the USGS, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and other government agencies. The presentation, which took place at the U.S. State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., involved an overview of some ongoing projects including planned updates now underway for the launch of the fourth version of the Gridded Population of the World data product, an updated subnational Infant Mortality Rate grid, and CIESIN’s role in the Earth Institute’s Haiti Regeneration Initiative. The following days, March 27 and 28, Becker participated in the first World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group Meeting. The Working Group is designed to build voluntary partnerships around human geography data and mapping focused on the general principle of making appropriate information available to promote human security. Becker presented information on the goals, objectives, and current status of the African Soils Information Service (AfSIS) project, a collaboration between the Earth Institute and African scientists and institutions, to develop detailed digital maps of soils in 42 sub-Saharan African countries of in support of sustainable agriculture. CIESIN is helping to build information systems for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating the data to a wide range of end users.

Digital Preservation and Open Source Software: Issues Discussed at Austin OGC Meeting

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:00:00 GMT

At the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee (TC) Meeting in Austin, Texas, March 19–22, CIESIN associate director of information technology, Sri Vinay, presented "Assessing Open Source Software Implementation Options from a Digital Preservation Perspective," authored with CIESIN senior digital archivist Robert Downs. Vinay also attended meetings related to the National Science Foundation (NSF) EarthCube initiative, including an exploratory meeting on governance issues.

Visiting Scientist Begins Year of Research on Global Roads Data

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Taro Ubukawa, chief of the Environmental Geoinformation Section, Environmental Geography Division, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, MLIT, has begun a one-year appointment at CIESIN as a visiting scientist. Ubukawa, who has worked extensively with the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping, will be conducting research in coordination with the CODATA Global Roads Data Development Task Group (gROADS), an international team of experts that aims to improve data on intercity road networks. He also plans to address global data needs related to coastlines and infrastructure. Ubukawa holds an M.S. in metamorphic petrology and a B.S. in science, from Kyoto University.