Call for papers:

“DARK NATURE”: RAPID NATURAL CHANGE AND HUMAN 
RESPONSES
Final Meeting, September 6 - 10, 2005, Villa Olmo, Como, Italy

http://scienze-como.uninsubria.it/ambientale/sitodn/index.html 

The Como 2005 Congress represents the concluding event of the 
ICSU-funded Project “Dark Nature - Rapid Natural Change and 
Human Responses”, awarded to a consortium of organizations 
headed by IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences 
through its Geoindicator Initiative), and including IGU, IUGG, 
INQUA, IGBP (web page: http://www.mun.ca/canqua/ICSU-DN/)

VENUE
The meeting will take place at Villa Olmo, a beatiful historic palace 
built in the neoclassic style by Marquis Innocenzo Odescalchi in 
(1782 – 1797), and located directly on the shores of Lake Como.

IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION
Funds to subsidize younger researchers will be available. 
Applications, including abstracts, must be received by June 30, 
2005. Funds will be allocated and applicants notified by July 15, 
2005; please visit the meeting webpage for details.
Deadline for abstract submission: July 15, 2005. Early registration 
fees (Congress and Field Trip): July15, 2005. Deadline for hotel 
reservations is July 15, 2005; after this date hotel reservation cannot 
be guarantee.
For downloading the first circular, and update information on the 
scientific program, abstracts submission, registration and hotel 
accommodations please check the Meeting Web Page at 
http://scienze-como.uninsubria.it/ambientale/sitodn/index.html

RATIONALE
Natural catastophic events, as tragically evidenced by the Sumatra 
earthquakes of December 2004 and March 2005, can destabilize 
the social and economic status, not only of the people directly hit by 
the events, but, due to the present globalized scenario, of the whole 
world. 
Events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, 
which are not caused by human activities, are usually 
underestimated by politicians and local administrators all over the 
world, as testified by the consequences of the above mentioned 
catastrophes (in terms of damages to properties and loss of life) in 
areas where no actions had been taken to reduce the vulnerability 
of the populations at serious risk.
In order to attain an adequate degree of sustainability, society needs 
to make a major effort aimed at the prediction, prevention and 
mitigation of the effects of natural catastrophic events, especially 
those capable of causing profound social, economic and even 
cultural transformations.
By investigating the effects that rapid natural changes have had on 
societies and civilisations that preceded us, we might be able to 
contribute to a new perspective, based on a more careful 
recognition of the role played by nature in bringing rapid and radical 
changes to the Earth’s surface.
The key issues of the Dark Nature project are:
- the need to clearly separate natural causes of environmental 
catastrophes, from man-induced ones;
- the elaboration of a new meaning/model of sustainability, that 
takes into account the influence of sudden natural changes on 
society; 
- the need to integrate the implications of such changes into the 
general strategy of sustainable development, both at the global and 
at the local level.
Papers dealing with all these issues are welcome.

THE COMO MEETING
The meeting will be multdisciplinary. Many participants will be from 
the earth and other natural sciences, but they will find themselves in 
dialogue with social scientists, scholars from the humanities, end-
users, and experts from the media. 
The main topics which will be presented and discussed at the Como 
2005 event, are grouped in 2 categories, 1) global perspective and 
2) Italy-focused case studies.
1) Specific room will be devoted to the discussion of the lessons 
learned during the other meetings of the DN Project in Mauritania 
(January 2004), Mozambique (November 2004), Iran (May 2005), 
Argentina (March 2005), and Canada (June 2005). The key issues 
include:
- the refinement of the record of rapid environmental changes 
affecting physical environments and ecosystems during the last 
11,500 years (the Holocene);
- the meaning of sustainability in areas subject to rapid natural 
changes;
- natural hazards and the media;
- relationships between rapid geological change and the socio- 
economical setting of the affected areas.
2) Italian case studies will include:
- the new data collected during recent studies of the great lacustrine 
basins of Lombardy (Lario and Sebino);
- the prevention and mitigation of seismic and volcanic risk in Italy;
-the archaeological evidence for human responses to natural events 
in Northern Italy.
A special session will be dedicated to the environmental effects of 
earthquakes and new approaches to their assessment, including the 
new macroseismic intensity scale based on coseismic ground 
effects (INQUA Scale Project). 
A one-day field trip in the Lake Como area will take place at the end 
of the Congress. 
The Second Circular will be distributed in late June, with full 
information on the scientific program and schedules.

Looking forward to meeting you in Como.

Alessandro Michetti

-------------------------
Alessandro Maria Michetti
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Ambientali
Università dell'Insubria
Via Valleggio, 11, 22100, Como, Italia
direct calls: +039 031 326215
fax: +039 031 326230
http://scienze-como.uninsubria.it/ambientale/pagine/docenti.html