Program on Climate Change - INCT CLIMA

Abstract

This proposal aims to implant and develop of a wide reaching interdisciplinary research network on climate change on the basis of cooperation between 76 research groups from all of the regions of Brazil as well as 16 foreign research groups from Argentina, Chile, USA, Europe, Japan and India, Involving in total over 400 researchers, students and technicians and constituting at the nexus of the largest environmental research networks ever developed in Brazil. Mirroring itself on the structure of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Program is organized along three main scientific axes (scientific base of global climate change impacts-adaptation-vulnerability and mitigation) and also contains technology innovation efforts in the area of climate system modeling, geosensors and natural disaster prevention systems. The objectives of the Climate Change program are: 1) to detect environmental changes in Brazil and South America, especially climate changes and to identify the causes of observed changes (global warming, changes in land-use, urbanization, etc.); 2) develop models of Global Climate System models as well as global and regional environmental change scenarios, especially high spatial resolution scenarios of climate change and land-use for the 21st Century; 3) significantly enhance understanding of the impacts of climate change and identify the main vulnerabilities in Brazil in the following sectors and systems: ecosystems and biodiversity, agriculture, water resources, human health, cities, coastal zones, renewable energy and economy; 4) develop studies and technologies related to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, and, 5) provide high-quality scientific information to assist public policy In the areas of adaptation and mitigation. This scientific theme is organized in 26 research sub-projects. This Program is tightly Iinked to at least two other research networks in the area of climate change. Firstly, it is directly associated with the Brazilian Climate Change Network (Rede CLIMA), of the MCT, and its structure will cover all of the scientific and technical aspects of interest to that Network. In addition, the Program will provide articulation, integration and scientific cohesiveness to Rede CLIMA and, conversely, the Network existent financial mechanisms will provide supplementary financing for the successful implementation of this Program. The Program will also be associated with various state-Ievel research programs focused on climate change, in particular FAPESP Global Climate Change Research Program. The Brazilian Institute of Space Research (INPE)in its capacity as headquarter of the Program already houses the Executive Secretariats of those two other programs and the physical, computational, administrative and management resources already committed by INPE will be shared by the Program, including access to the new supercomputer INPE¬MCT-FAPESP beginning in 2009. The Climate Change program will promote the formation of dozens of master’s and doctoral students along its thematic lines over the 5 year period. It is expected that the generation of new knowledge and human capacity will allow the strengthening of Brazil role in the definition of the environmental agenda in global arenas. Moreover, the generation of ever higher-quality information, such that the social and economical development agendas of the country can be carried out in ways that also are environmentally sustainable. As for the important issue of public policy, the Program, in partnership with Rede CLIMA and with state-level and national climate research programs, intends to serve as the research and development pillar of the National Climate Plan. In summary, the development of the proposed scientific agenda will provide optimal conditions for the development of scientific excellence In Brazil in various areas related to global climate change, Including the implication of climate change for sustainable development, and vice versa. This is especially important considering that the economy of developing nations is strongly dependent on renewable natural resources, as also in the marked case of Brazil. Plans to turn the country in to an environmental power or into a developed tropical country, need to consider environmental impacts and Iimitations. The proposed Program will rapidly create the conditions for a surge in new knowledge and the growth and maturation of the scientific community working on the various dimensions of global climate change. (AU)