Global Soil Change [antikvár]

FOREWORD The International Institute for Applied Systems, is a non-governnoital, interdisciplinary research organization founded in 1972. Among its most relevant objectives are "the initiation and support of individual and collaborative research on problems associated with environmental change, and thereby to assist scientific cdmmunities throughout the world in tackling such problems". One means to this goal is by direct support of ICSU's International Geosphere-Biosphere Prograime, DNEP's International Panel on Climate Change, and similar organizations. IIASA's sixteen national member organizations, located in eastern and western Europe, Asia and North America, are scientific and professional bodies, rather than political ones. The Institute is particularly suitable for bringing together the appropriate personnel to solve scientific research problems involving east und west. It does so through the formation of programs of study, presently aimed at enhancing methods of mathematical analysis /System Decision Support Program/ and at studying change in global population /Population Program/, technology /Technology, Economy and Society Program/, and environment /Environment Program/. The present environmental change activities at HASA are centred on the Environment Program. The program includes a group of 25 research seholars working on three designated projeets. The projects concentrate on management of large international rives /International Water Pesources Project/, modelling of European acid rain distributions /Transboundary Air Pollution Project /, and ecologically sustainable development of the biosphere /Biosphere Dynamics Project/. It is notable that each of the projects vvere developed independently of the other, but that each of these projects is aimed directly or indirectly at development and use of mathematical models of environmental phencmena. The models are designed spécifically to be interrogated in order to reveal the options available to political decisionmakers on specific environmental issues. Thus, the main goals of each project alsó are derived directly from specific issues of interest, rather than from e.g. a fundamental curiosity of how the environment functions. Global change issues which define both the nature of the Biosphere Project modelling aims, have a number of soil modelling requirements. Both spatial and temporal scales of the soils information are needed. The present report gives somé of the concepts underlying such soils information. ¦ A. M? SOLOMON Biosphere Dynamics Project, IIASA, Vienna'