Please excuse cross-posting!

Dear colleagues,

We like to remind you of the call for papers, and we like to invite you to
our 2008 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental
Change/ International Conference of the Social-Ecological Research
Programme "Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change". The
deadline for abstract submission is coming closer, and we would be pleased
to receive your abstract or contribution.
______________________________________________________________________

Call for Papers
Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change
2008 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental
Change International Conference of the Social-Ecological Research
Programme Berlin, 22 - 23 February 2008
______________________________________________________________________

The Oldenburg Centre for Sustainability Economics and Management, CENTOS,
Oldenburg University, the Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie
Universität Berlin, and its partners are pleased to invite to its 2008
Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change/
International Conference of the Social-Ecological Research Programme to be
held in Berlin on 22 - 23 February 2008.

This conference will be the eighth event in the series of annual European
Conferences on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, begun
in Berlin in 2001. This year’s conference will address the theme
‘Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change’. It
will provide
opportunities to bring social-ecological research into international
debates and to discuss future perspectives of this field.

We apologise for cross-posting and kindly request to distribute this call
among your colleagues and networks.


Themes
The conference will bring together recent research and conceptual
developments from these scientific approaches to discuss current
challenges, research tasks, practical solutions and possible strategies
for long-term policies. In particular, we invite papers that deal with one
or more of the following issues:

•- Research: Which results from sustainability science,
social-ecological
research and post-normal science have spurred practical solutions and in
which ways? When and how can transdisciplinary research contribute to the
emergence of novel and innovative approaches towards sustainability? How
to design science-policy interfaces in order to generate knowledge that is
relevant for long-term problems?

•- Governance: What are the strengths and weaknesses of political
systems
in addressing long-term challenges? Do state actors, private businesses,
civil society organizations or other institutions vary in their capacity
to deal with long term problems? Are there examples of institutions –
possibly also beyond environmental policies, e.g. budget, security or
social policies – that successfully deal with long-term problems?
Which kinds of innovations are needed to effectively address long-term
social-ecological problems? What is the appropriate scale to deal with
such problems? How can governance mechanisms be improved to enable them to
deal with long-term problems?

•- Adaptation: How can social, political and economic systems adapt
to ongoing long-term ecological changes such as climate change or loss of
ecosystem services? Which adaptation strategies would be required? How can
flexibility and the ability to adapt to future challenges be preserved
even in long term investments and institutions?

•- Participation: How can different actors from the private sector
and civil society be effectively integrated in strategies to address
long-term social-ecological challenges? Which repercussions will broader
participation have for legitimacy, accountability, viability, fairness and
transparency of democratic long-term policies?

•- Teaching and knowledge systems for sustainability: As in previous
Berlin
Conferences, teaching and novel ways to design knowledge systems for
sustainability should be presented and discussed. This relates in
particular to the transformations of the science system towards
transdisciplinary and solution-oriented research.

We especially invite papers that focus on trandisciplinary
social-ecological research.


Abstract Submission
Proposals for papers or posters are to be sent by e-mail to
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The body of the e-mail (no attachments please) should contain
•- Title of the proposed paper
•- Abstract of less than 300 words (longer abstracts will be
rejected. No
graphs, references, tables etc. in the abstracts please), and
•- Complete address and professional affiliation of all (co)-author(s).

The deadline for proposals is 15 September 2007.


Financial Support
Through a grant by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research,
travel cost reimbursement of those conference participants coming from
non-OECD countries, of young researchers and colleagues from formerly
BMBF-funded social-ecological research projects will be possible on a
competitive basis.

The conference format will also involve representatives of the particular
actor groups such as businesses, civil society and NGOs, politics and the
natural and social sciences to integrate their particular expertise. A
mutual exchange between the different actor groups will be facilitated and
the practicability of problem-solving transdisciplinary work will be
discussed. We explicitly welcome papers that also integrate a gender
perspective on these subjects. The conference will be held in English. The
conference will run through two full days, with keynote addresses in
plenary and semi-plenary sessions, and presentations of research papers in
a series of six parallel panel sessions. All presentations will be
solicited through an international call for papers. All paper and poster
submissions will be reviewed by an international review panel before being
accepted.


Key Dates
Deadline for proposals and abstracts:	15 September 2007
Notification of acceptance:	        31 October 2007
Deadline for full papers 31 January:	31 January 2008

The conference has been endorsed by the International Human Dimensions
Programme on Global Environmental Change Programme (IHDP), by the Earth
System Governance Scientific Planning Committee and the German Association
for Ecological Economic Research (VÖW).

We look forward to welcoming you in February 2008 in Berlin!

Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner (Chair, 2008 Berlin Conference)
Dr. Klaus Jacob (Co-Chair, 2008 Berlin Conference)
Dr. Marlen Arnold (Conference Manager, 2008 Berlin Conference)
Eike Zaumseil (Conference Co-Manager)
Ruben Zondervan (Conference Co-Manager)


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Dr. Marlen Arnold

Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin in der Forschernachwuchsgruppe GELENA -
Gesellschaftliches Lernen und Nachhaltigkeit
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Lehrstuhl für Ökologische Ökonomie

Fakultät II, BWL
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
26111 Oldenburg

Tel.: 0163-8200733
Fax: 0441-798-4379
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