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Major scientific conference begins in Paris

This year's largest scientific conference taking place ahead of COP21 opens today in Paris. The conference, which is organized under the umbrella of Future Earth, ICSU and UNESCO and major French research institutes, with support from the French Government, will address key issues on related to climate change in the broader context of global change. 

The programme has been organized with a number of different sessions and side events to encourage broad participation across disciplines and themes. 

Day 1 will focus on the State of the Knowledge on Climate Change, with many sessions featuring members of the Scientific Steering Committees from the projects transitioning into Future Earth.  Some highlights are here: 

14.30 – 16.00 Session L1.2 – Climate Change and Land Systems: Impacts and Feedbacks (UNESCO Fontenoy 1)
Wolfgang Cramer, co-Chair, Scientific Steering Committee, ecoSERVICES will give a paper on Global impacts of climate change on terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem service supply

14:30 – 16:00 Session L1.3 – Climate Change and Ocean Systems: Impacts and Feedbacks (UNESCO Fontenoy 2), chaired by Jean-Pierre Gattuso, former Scientific Steering Committee member, IMBER, who will also give a paper titled Climate Change and Ocean Systems: Introduction and Background.

16.30 – 18.00 Session 1103 – Climate variability and external forcings of the Common Era with special focus on the role of volcanic eruptions (UNESCO Bonvin 13), coordinated by Lucien Von Gunten, Science Officer, PAGES – Past Global Changes

17:20 Session 1106 – SOLAS, a decade of international research at the air-sea interface: main accomplishments and future goals, Cecile Guieu, SOLAS Scientific Steering Committee will give a paper.

Day 2 will focus on 'landscapes of our common future'.

09:00 – 11:00 Plenary Session 2: Karen O’Brien (Future Earth Science Committee) and Nebojsa Nakicenovic (Co-Chair, Global Carbon Project) will give keynote addresses. Paul Leadley (Chair, bioDISCOVERY), Corinne Le Quéré (Future Earth Science Committee) and Johan Rockström (co-Chair, Future Earth Transition Team) will also take part in the discussion. 

11.30 – 13.00 L2.3 – Climatic Variability and the Social and Human Dimensions of Vulnerability is chaired by Carolina Vera and co-convened by Cheikh Mbow (Future Earth Science Committee).

14:30 – 16:00 Quality and availability of data for global sustainability
Mario Hernandez (Future Earth Engagement Committee) will give a paper on Future Earth data and information needs. 

14:30 – 16:00 Landscape level adaptation and mitigation: integrating science, policy and practice 
Members of the ecoSERVICES and bioDISCOVERY communities will participate.

14:30 – 16:00 Building Resilience to Climate and Weather Extremes: Sustainable Solutions Grounded in Socio- Cultural Context 
Georgina Mace, formerly chair of DIVERSITAS Scientific Committee, will give a paper. 

15:00 – 16:30 The World in 2050 – What does it look like and how do we get there? 
Jeff Sachs (Director, SDSN), Johan Rockström and Nebojsa Nakicenovic will give papers. 

15:00 – 16:30 Ecological feedbacks to climate change
Sandra Lavorel,  Member of the ecoSERVICES Scientific Steering Committee will give a paper. 

15:00 – 16:30 – Representation of technological dynamics and societal transformation 
Philippe Cias, Project Leader, Global Carbon Atlas, will give a paper. 

16:30 – 18:00 Observing the changing ocean climate
Martin Visbeck, Chair, Future Earth German National Committee will give a paper. 

16:30 – 18:00 Climate-ready adaptation for conservation and ecosystem services
Members of the ecoSERVICES and bioDISCOVERY communities will participate. 

16:30 – 18:00 Land-based mitigation: agriculture, forests, bioenergy 
will include a paper entitled Land-based mitigation: a social-ecological positive feedback loop? Some insights from the Global Land Project

16:30 – 18:00 Climate Smart Agriculture: Propaganda or Paradigm Shift? 
Members of the CCAFS community will take part. 

17:30 – 19:00 Global emissions and their implications for climate targets 
Members of the Global Carbon Project community will participate. 

17:30 – 19:00 Ocean Change: Understanding and projecting the impacts of warming and acidification on natural and human systems 
Members of the SOLAS-IMBER Ocean Acidification Working Group will participate. 

17:30 – 19:00 Climate change and freshwater – 2: Shaping the Future 
Frans Berkhout, formerly interim Director of Future Earth, will give a paper. 

17:30 – 19:00 Health and climate change : the need for a diversity of approaches
Members of the ecoHEALTH community will give a paper. 

17:30 – 19:00 Reinforcing Resilience
Members of the CCAFS community will participate. 

Day 3 will focus on 'responding to climate challenges'

11:30 – 13:00 L3.3 – Managing Transitions in Cities 
Convened by Xuemei Bai, Future Earth Science Committee, who will give a paper.

14:30 – 16:00 3320 – Food Systems and Food Security: Health and Environment
Convened by John Ingram (Future Earth in the UK).

14:30 – 16:00 3338- European Collaborative Research and Innovation for Climate Action
With the participation of Kurt Vandenberghe (European Commission) and Patrick Monfray (ANR – Agence Nationale de la Recherche), the co-Chairs of the Belmont Forum, part of Future Earth’s Governing Council. 

15:00 – 16:30 2224 – Agrarian and pastoral societies: adaptive strategies and innovations
Dennis Ojima (Future Earth US hub) will participate.

15:00 – 16:30 3324 – Paradigms for Building Resilience from Cross-scale Integrated Risk Governance Perspectives 
Convened by Qian Ye, Integrated Risk Governance Project.

16:30 – 18:00 4415 (b) -Transformative solutions for urban sustainability governance: Multi-level government and cross-sectoral collaboration for efficient climate action 
Thomas Elmqvist, Future Earth Secretariat Implementation Team will give a paper.

The theme of Day 4 is 'Collective Action and Transformative Solutions'

Catch up with the Future Earth community in the following sessions:

09:00 – 11:00 Plenary session 4: Collective Action and Transformative Solutions
Youba Sokona, Future Earth Science Committee member, will deliver a keynote address. 

14:00 – 15:30 4401 – Sustainable development goals and the new climate regime : synergies for change ? 
Norichika Kanie, Future Earth Secretariat Implementation Team, will deliver a paper entitled Governance through Goals: Options and Opportunities for the SDGs.

14:00 – 15:30 4417 – Transforming Society and Science for Sustainability – Addressing Challenges in Transdisciplinary Research 
Heide Hackmann, Executive Director of the International Council for Science (ICSU), part of Future Earth's Governing Council, will deliver a keynote address. Research from the Transformations to Sustainability programme will be presented. 

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Keep an eye on this page for more highlights from following days of the conference. The full programme is available online here.