date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 16:34:06 -0400 from: aiacc subject: Update on AIACC Synthesis Activities to: bscholes@csir.co.za, hewitson@egs.uct.ac.za, hcenr@sudanmail.net, goutbi@yahoo.com, esiegfried@tellus.org, atgaye@ucad.sn, jadejuwo@oauife.edu.ng, desanker@virginia.edu, DUBEOP@mopipi.ub.bw, ogunlade@energetic.uct.ac.za, p_batima@yahoo.com, anond@start.or.th, jratna@itmin.com, rlasco@laguna.net, yongyuan.yin@sdri.ubc.ca, wfer@ariel.efis.ucr.ac.cr, barros@at.fcen.uba.ar, agimenez@inia.org.uy, cgay@servidor.unam.mx, conde@servidor.unam.mx, gunab@glaucus.fcien.edu.uy, rawlinsa@carec.paho.org, achen@uwimona.edu.jm, koshy_k@usp.ac.fj, abouhadid , adepetua@unijos.edu.ng, , , , ian.burton@ec.gc.ca, crrhcr@racsa.co.cr, tom.downing@sei.se, saleemul.huq@iied.org, fuj.jaeger@nextra.at, richard.klein@pik-potsdam.de, isabelle@enda.sn, harasawa@nies.go.jp, PARRYML@aol.com, anand@cc.iitb.ernet.in, bscholes@csir.co.za, Rwatson@worldbank.org, nobre@cptec.inpe.br, lal321@hotmail.com, lindam@atd.ucar.edu, Peter.Whetton@csiro.au, m.hulme@uea.ac.uk, ian.burton@ec.gc.ca, crrhcr@sol.racsa.co.cr, tom.downing@sei.se, Saleemul.Huq@iied.org, anand@cc.iitb.ernet.in, hewitson@egs.uct.ac.za, desanker@virginia.edu, Roger.Jones@csiro.au, marengo@cptec.inpe.br, xianfu@waikato.ac.nz, Ravi Sharma , Mohamed Hassan:;, Hassan Virji , Roland Fuchs , , , sberesford@agu.org To: AIACC Project PIs, Technical Committee, Mentors Sara and I want to update you on plans for synthesis of the AIACC project. We are preparing proposals to send to the Rockefeller Foundation to convene a series of 3 conferences at their Bellagio Conference Center. The 3 conferences are intended to assist with synthesis of the AIACC project. The proposed themes of the 3 conferences are: 1) Vulnerability to climate change in the developing world 2) Managing climatic risks (aka adaptation) 3) Food and water security in a changing climate The conferences would take place in 2005 -- after all or nearly all of the aiacc projects will have completed their investigations. Each conference would be organized around a set of questions related to the main theme. AIACC participants would be invited to submit abstracts of case study papers that address the questions, drawing upon their aiacc work. From the submitted abstracts, 16 would be selected to participate (space limitations at Bellagio prevent us from inviting papers from all 24 projects to each conference). Those selected would write and distribute drafts of their case study papers several weeks in advance of the conference and would be asked to review 3 of the papers written by other participants before the conference. The case study papers would be presented at the conference. But the main work of the conference would be for all participants to jointly co-author a synthesis paper. The synthesis paper is intended to draw upon the individual case studies to seek answers to the conference questions that are robust and can be generalized across many of the systems, livelihoods and regions that are the subject of your individual projects. There would also be time for participants to refine their own papers. We would publish the synthesis and case study papers of each conference in a book and submit the synthesis papers to peer review journals for publication. We might also distribute the synthesis papers to policy makers in various venues (UNFCCC/COP etc). Attached is a draft proposal for the first of the 3 conferences that Sara and I have prepared. We would be glad to receive any feedback on the proposal and ideas for the 2nd and 3rd conferences. We will be finalizing the proposal in the next couple weeks. Please also share any ideas that you have for other synthesis activities that you think AIACC should undertake. And if you have ideas of other venues where we might convene these conferences, please let us know. We selected Bellagio because they would cover lodging and meal costs during the conferences and offer the possibility of covering the transportation costs for developing country participants. Without this support it would be difficult for AIACC to convene the synthesis conferences. Kind regards, Neil Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\Bellagio_Proposal_AIA#9428C.doc"