The Global Change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START), together with the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and African partner organizations (primarily the Pan-Africa regional Committee for START (PACOM), will support research projects on critical issues of global environmental change aimed at fostering regional collaboration in these developing regions, building regional capacity for research and strengthening the international effort on global change research consistent with the mission and strategy of the US Climate Change Science Plan.
A special focus will be development of collaborative research networks of scientists through regional competitive sub-awards. Most such networks will include scientists from at least three countries in the region and scientists from other interested countries (e.g., the U.S. and Japan and other developed countries) will also participate. It is expected that about twenty regional activities will be supported involving approximately 120-150 researchers and a large number of graduate students from twenty-thirty countries in Asia and Africa.
The proposed activities will emphasize themes that reflect not only global change research needs but also the ability of such research to contribute to sustainable development. These themes will also reflect START's linkages to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). These research themes are expected to be: 1) Regional climate variability and change, including its impacts and adaptation strategies; 2) Changes in composition of the atmosphere and its effects; 3) Land use/cover change and its impacts; including biophysical and biogeochemical consequences, 4) Global change impacts on terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity; 5) Global change impacts on coastal zones, inland waters and oceans; and 6) Cross-cutting themes, e.g., integrated regional assessments of global change and the relation of global change to food systems, water resources, the carbon cycle and human health.
It is expected that these efforts will: (1) make a direct contribution to global change science and change detection; (2) enhance understanding of regional impacts and consequences of global change; (3) improve ability to use such information for planning and decision-making in developing countries; (4) assist to develop a critical mass of more effective indigenous researchers in developing Asian and African regions. A secondary yet important outcome will be development and enhancement of global change courses in Asian and African university curricula.
