The First Decade of Initiatives for Research on the Human Dimensions of Global (Environmental) Change (1986–1995)

Abstract

By the end of the 1980s, very different meanings of ‘global change’ existed, promoted by different constituencies in the social and natural sciences (Price 1989). One could be described as anthropocentric, emphasizing the interactions between people and their institutions, primarily at scales extending to decades. This chapter presents and discusses the emergence of initiatives for research on the human dimensions of global change until the 1996 launch of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). In 1987, the International Social Science Council (ISSC) joined with IFIAS and UNU to develop a Human Response to Global Change Programme. In 1990, ISSC launched the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme (HDP), based on the “Framework for Research on HDGEC” (Jacobson/Price 1990), identifying seven broad areas in which research should be done. The first half of the 1990s were also characterized by the emergence and development of various national and regional (e.g., European) initiatives for research on HDGEC. In the subsequent two decades, as described elsewhere in this book, substantial advances have been made; many of them emerged from the initiatives described in this chapter.