- Dynamic ecological models.
Activities focus on indicators of genuine health, economics and
dynamics of complex systems, non-market interactions and informal
institutions.
- Indicators of Sustainable
Development. Activities focus on the development of a theory
for indicators of sustainable development for complex dynamic systems.
- Integrated assessment models
(IAMs). Activities focus on the integration between global climate
models, regional models of climate impacts and economic models to
assess the economic consequences of climate impacts in a coherent
framework.
The expertise and the complementarities characterising
the partners involved in the Programme constitute the premises for
a successful research and training programme. In fact, a close co-operation
among the institutions involved in the Programme appear to be crucial
to face the present research challenges. The ultimate scientific approach
to the study of environmental issues is an interdisciplinary or "integrated"
one. This not only because it can be interesting and challenging to
add a socio-economic dimension to a geo-physic investigation, but
most importantly, because socio-economic systems exert fundamental
feed-backs on environmental and climatic variables neglecting which
will lead inevitably to weak or unrealistic conclusions. This said,
it seems natural to exploit the different and complementary skills
of ICTP on "hard" natural sciences, and in particular of
itsWeather
and Climate Research Group, and of FEEM and The Beijer
Institute on socio-economic ones, in particular considering the long
tradition of these institutions to work in a multidisciplinary environment.In
the first "Integrated Assessment" studies, the integration
of the environmental and socio-economic modules remained necessarily
"simple" both because of the initial difficulty to melting
the diverse disciplines and because of the still not enough developed
computational capacity of informatic systems and software. Lately
these shortcomings have been largely reduced and the latest trend
is to build fully-integrated environmental socio-economic models in
which both the environmental and the economic parts reach the highest
possible level of complexity and refinement. This on the one hand,
will allow the treatment of different physical phenomena, from global
climatic circulation to water management in a comprehensive framework
allowing important advances in the present scientific knowledge. On
the other hand, this will create the amplest potential for the diffusion
of the accomplished results. In fact, as per ICTP, FEEM and The Beijer
Institute engage successfully in research and training activities,
seminars and conferences, and publications aimed both at the general
public and the scientific community.
The future
of the EEE Programme: the International Centre for EEE
The EEE Programme was envisaged as a three-year Programme.
If it proves to be successful, in terms of scientific accomplishments
and financial sustainability, it may be desirable to establish in
Trieste a permanent International
Centre for Ecological and Environmental Economics, whose final
objective will be to enable researchers from the developing countries
to join the international academic network in the field of ecological
and environmental economics.
The interest from the international community in the area of ecological
and environmental economics together with sustainable development
is considerably recent, and rises from the perception of the severity
of the environmental disruption which man, whilst performing his daily
activities, is causing to the living planet. The problem of diminishing
resources has been long neglected by many countries; the attention
has been focused on until now, in most cases, the aspects tied to
individual and Industry attainments, in connection with progressive
affluence and adequate stock returns in invested capital. A long term
objective to create productive economies and concentrated economies
has not only neglected unreasonable quantification but also the simple
emphasis of the social costs of this behaviour.
Achieving sustainable development represents a decisive challenge
in the future for mankind. The creators behind the Ecological and
Environmental Economics Programme are aware of the fact that this
challenge can be overcome only if they take into consideration two
key elements: the necessity to deal with the sustainable development
themes through a multidisciplinary or integrated approach and the
necessity to involve developing countries in this battle. In fact
these countries must encounter difficult political choices, in which
opposing factors come into play e.g. geophysical factors, social economic
factors in connection with the environment, the conservation of the
traditional cultural factors, the reduction of the economic disparity
and development. A scientific analysis, to be completed by experts
in various fields with origins from various cultural backgrounds and
economies, is therefore necessary before the decision process takes
place. This would create a capital of human need and international
collaboration which together would complement the acquiring of new
necessary technology for economic development. It is not feasible
to manage the global environment without this various expertise and
an international agreement, which also requires the consensual use
of a common language.
A multidisciplinary approach and the international cooperation, with
a particular focus on developing countries, are the essential preconditions
to win the battle that will lead to a sustainable development. Given
these premises, the establishment of the International Centre for
Ecological and Environmental Economics within the Trieste
System seems to be the most favoured alternative.
If established, the new permanent International Centre on EEE would
offer the researchers from the South the possibility to feel less
separated from the kind collegial contact, encouragement and help
that make academic life creative in the North.
The International Centre of Ecological and Environmental Economics
would proposed to the scientific community as the reference point
for the creation of the instruments required to deal with, using competence
and expertise, the challenges brought about by sustainable development.
The human capital represented from the scientific training and the
continual updating of the significant resources, which the International
Centre for Ecological and Environmental Economics would aim to provide
to the developing countries, would initiate the beginnings of a virtuous
circle of good government and economic development.
In this context, ICTP appears as a crucial partner of the EEE Programme
not only for its scientific skills, but also for the unique experience
that it has been accumulating while at the same time counting with
the collaboration of an impressive number of dedicated scientists
in the Third World. For this reason, the three-year period in which
the EEE Programme will be hosted and carried out with the support
of the ICTP can be considered as an "incubation" period.
ICTP will transmit its scientific skills, networking experience, and
knowledge about the Third World researchers characteristics and needs
to a Programme that, if will prove to be successful and financial
sustainable, will give origin to a permanent International Centre
on EEE independent from ICTP.
