9530289 Nobre The Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (CPTEC) of the Instituto National de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) from Brazil proposes, jointly with the Instituto National de Pesquisas de Amazonia (INPA), the Universidade de S o Paulo, the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM), Lima, Peru, and the Universidad Mayor de San Andres (UMSA), La Paz, Bolivia, and with the collaboration of scientific institutions from the Amazon countries (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela), a coordinated participation of representatives of several research institutions, universities and hydro meteorological services in the First Implementation Meeting of the Large-Scale Biosphere- Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). LBA is a major international, multi-institutional, interdisciplinary biosphere-atmosphere experiment planned for 1997-2000 in Amazonia. Scientific Planning for LBA has reached a critical stage in which there is currently a clear need for scientific and research institutions of the Amazon countries to interact and propose research activities on the framework of LBA, as well as to develop a long term strategy to optimize research cooperation addressing the regional and global effects of large scale and land surface conversions. During the proposed meeting, the participants will review the Scientific Plan and work out many unresolved scientific, institutional and logistics aspects. The proposed workshop will enhance scientific collaboration among Amazonian research institutions and will create a framework for training, and will define the details of an IAI Phase II proposal. The overall objective of the Phase I activities is to produce a Phase II proposal which actually will address critical research aspects of the LBA Experiment itself. The experiment has the international support of the World Climate Research Program, the International Hydrology Programme of UNESCO, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), US agencies and th e European Union (EU). Phase II activities will result in an international regional cooperation between Amazon countries and with other countries in the Americas, which would be strengthened by the realization of Phase I (the proposed meeting). A comprehensive integrated Science Plan for LBA has been produced by a core group of scientists. It will be distributed by the end of October 1995. The final LBA Science Planning Meeting scheduled for February 1996 in Brasilia will provide a forum for critical appraisal, and revision of the LBA Science Plan. The proposed First Implementation Meeting of LBA will bring a greatly enhanced regional component to LBA. The Amazon countries are expected to provide facilities, scientific and technical personnel and students to participate in the research activities, along with the other research groups from North America and Europe. This meeting should result in a comprehensive, broadly supported LBA Implementation Plan with a strong regional component for the Science Plan for LBA. The LBA experiment directly addresses two of the IAI's scientific research themes: Tropical Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Cycles; and Ocean/Land/Atmosphere Interactions in the Inter-Tropical Americas. Due to the common scientific goal of the IAI and the LBA experiment, the IAI can facilitate the communications between scientists participating in LBA, and can play an active role during the LBA's implementation and execution phases. In addition, the development of the LBA proposal can serve as an important facilitator for the establishment of IAI research centers related to the IAI scientific research theme, Tropical Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Cycles. The LBA plan currently has many elements of an IAI Start-Up Grants Phase II proposal, and the Phase I workshop will enhance the scientific collaboration among Amazonian research institutions. The participating countries of Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela are Member States of the IAI, a U.S. initiative to stimulate cooperative research on global change issues among the scientific institutions of the Americas. In addition to these participating countries, the proposed workshop will include participants from the LBA Science Planning Committee and representatives of agencies and national and international programs such as NASA; NOAA, NSF, ESA, INPE, CNPq, IGAC, GCTE, and GEWEX (They will have funding from other sources to participate.). The U.S. National Science Foundation is the Government agency designated to carry out U.S. responsibilities within the IAI. ***
