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Nov 17, 2015
Reflections on a three-decade legacy
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) will come to a close at t...
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Nov 17, 2015
Use of and access to content on this website
Text and images produced by IGBP in house are free to use with appropriate credi...
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Nov 12, 2015
Bella Gaia performance and panel discussion to mark IGBP's closure
A musical performance by Bella Gaia will celebrate the achievements and legacy o...
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Towards Future Earth:
evolution or revolution?
During its three decades of existence, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Pro...
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A personal note on IGBP and the social sciences
Humans are an integral component of the Earth system as conceptualised by IGBP. João Morais recalls key milestones in IGBP’s engagement with the social sciences and offers some words of advice for Future Earth.
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IGBP and Earth observation:
a co-evolution
The iconic images of Earth beamed back by the earliest spacecraft helped to galvanise interest in our planet’s environment. The subsequent evolution and development of satellites for Earth observation has been intricately linked with that of IGBP and other global-change research programmes, write Jack Kaye and Cat Downy .
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Deltas at risk
Around 500 million people worldwide live on deltas, but many of the world's deltas are sinking due ...
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Climate change: the state of the science
A new data visualization released on the first day of the plenary negotiations at the UNFCCC’s clima...
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Climate Change:
the State of the Science
Videos now online from the Stockholm public forum to mark the launch of the IPCC's climate report, 2...
IGBP book series
The aim of the Series is to present major results of IGBP research - at both the project and programme-wide level - in a single series. The volumes emphasise the key findings of the programme and each is based on an integration of a large body of work carried out around the world nder the auspices of IGBP.
To order books at 10% discount, please send your order to christa.maurer@springer.com. Please note that the subject line should read:"IGBP series 10% discount".
Read more: Springer website
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April 11, 2011
Atmospheric Chemistry in a Changing World (2003)
IGBP book | This unique volume summarizes and integrates more than a decade of atmospheric chemistry research, carried out under the auspices of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). It is part of a series being written by each of the IGBP core projects. During the period under consideration, great progress has been made in the science, computing, modelling and observational techniques; methods have also improved. Suggestions for the highest priority research for the next decade are made. The volume was written by leaders in the field of atmospheric chemistry research, and includes important information regarding impacts on the environment reinforced by solid scientific results. -
April 11, 2010
Carbon and Nutrient Fluxes in Continental Margins (2010)
IGBP book | The book provides best estimates of carbon and nutrient fluxes in seven types of continental margins. In each type, these fluxes are reported in detail individually for 3-7 representative geographic regions, each of which is characterized by concise descriptions of the physical and biogeochemical settings. Drawn from the regional synthesis, a global synthesis is put together for carbon fluxes exchanged between continental margins as a whole and the atmosphere and between that and the open ocean. Global syntheses on sediments and nutrients discharged to the ocean from land are also provided in the book. To guide future research on continental margin biogeochemistry, the book also elaborates on a few critical themes that emerged in recent years. One of these is the human impact on the continental margin biogeochemistry, which accentuates the need to include human perturbation of the system in future research. Thus the book represents the state-of-the-art knowledge on the subject, which will be needed for all researchers on continental margin environmental issues. -
April 11, 2007
Terrestrial Ecosystems in a Changing World (2007)
IGBP book | Over 100 authors present 25 contributions on the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems. The book also explores new research developments on spatial thresholds and nonlinearities, the key role of urban development in global biogeochemical processes, and the integration of natural and social sciences to address complex problems of the human-environment system. -
April 11, 2006
Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (2006)
IGBP book | The book presents recent estimates of the rates in changes of major land classes such as forest, cropland and pasture. Among the causative mechanisms behind land change, synergetic factor combinations are found to be more common than single key factor explanations. Aggregated globally, multiple impacts of local land changes are shown to significantly affect central aspects of Earth System functioning. Innovative developments and applications in the fields of modeling and scenario construction are presented. Finally, conclusions are drawn about the most pressing implications for the design of appropriate intervention policies, and on new directions and frontiers of research. -
April 11, 2005
Coastal Fluxes in the Anthropocene (2005)
IGBP book | In global coastal zones, the major fabric of goods and services for human welfare as well as global changes are extraordinarily visible. They are shaped by natural Earth systems processes on a planetary scale, which are reflected in a continuously adapting coastal environment. Now, in the "Anthropocene", human society is a greater catalyst for change - impacting and modifying coastal processes. This book synthesizes knowledge on coastal and riverine material fluxes, biogeochemical processes and indications of change, and the human influence, before looking at future research and management needs. It is a milestone rather than a destination on the journey which continues under the new International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and the LOICZ II (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) Project. -
April 11, 2004
Vegetation, Water, Humans and the Climate (2004)
IGBP book | A state-of-the-art overview of the influence of terrestrial vegetation and soils within the Earth system. The text deals especially with interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere via the hydrological cycle and their interlinkage with anthropogenic activities. Measurements gathered in integrated field experiments in the Sahel, the Amazon, North America and South-east Asia confirm the importance of these interactions. Observations are complemented by modelling studies, including regional models that simulate flows and transport in river catchments, coupled land-cover and regional climate systems, and Earth-system and global circulation models. Water, nutrient and sediment fluxes in river basins are also discussed and are shown to be highly impacted and regulated by humans through land use, pollution and river engineering. Finally, the book discusses environmental vulnerability and methodologies for assessing the risks associated with regional and global climatic and environmental variability and change.The results reported in this book are based on the research work of many individual scientists and teams around the world associated with the objectives of the IGBP-BAHC and WCRP-GEWEX international research programmes. -
April 11, 2004
Global Change and the Earth System (2004)
IGBP book | NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD (13MB)The book synthesises research from IGBP's first phase; it's 336 pages capture the state of the planet and the pressure it is under. As IGBP embarks on synthesising its second phase, it is making this seminal book freely available. -
April 11, 2003
Challenges of a Changing Earth (2003)
IGBP book | This book presents a state-of-the-science overview of global change and its consequences for human societies. It highlights four areas of critical importance - food, water resources, air quality and the carbon cycle - from both science and policy perspectives, and points the way towards the new scientific approaches needed to study the Earth System in the future. The book also summarises recent advances in understanding in global change science: the climate system, global biogeochemistry, land-ocean interactions and changing land cover and the Earth System. -
April 11, 2003
Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future (2003)
IGBP book | This book provides a synthesis of the past decade of research into global changes that occurred in the earth system in the past. Focus is achieved by concentrating on those changes in the Earth's past environment that best inform our evaluation of current and future global changes and their consequences for human populations. The book stands as a ten-year milestone in the operation of PAGES. It seeks to provide a quantitative understanding of the Earth's environment in the geologically recent past and to define the envelope of natural environmental variability against which anthropogenic impacts on the Earth System may be assessed. -
April 11, 2003
Ocean Biogeochemistry (2003)
IGBP book | Oceans account for 50% of the anthropogenic CO2 released into the atmosphere. During the past 15 years an international programme, the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), has been studying the ocean carbon cycle to quantify and model the biological and physical processes whereby CO2 is pumped from the ocean's surface to the depths of the ocean, where it can remain for hundreds of years. This project is one of the largest multi-disciplinary studies of the oceans ever carried out and this book synthesises the results. It covers all aspects of the topic ranging from air-sea exchange with CO2, the role of physical mixing, the uptake of CO2 by marine algae, the fluxes of carbon and nitrogen through the marine food chain to the subsequent export of carbon to the depths of the ocean. Special emphasis is laid on predicting future climatic change. -
April 11, 2002
Global-Regional Linkages in the Earth System (2002)
IGBP book | This book synthesizes current knowledge of regional-global linkages in four regions to demonstrate that study of environmental change on a regional scale can enhance understanding of global-scale environmental changes. The atmospheric circulation over Southern Africa links regional nutrient and pollutant sources to distant sinks affecting both regional and global ecosystem functioning. Extended human modification of land cover in East Asia has altered the complex surface-atmosphere exchanges impacting the Asian monsoon system. Biogenic and anthropogenic emissions over South Asia are implicated in changes in global tropospheric ozone and oceanic biogeochemical balances. Economic globalisation has negatively impacted regional environments of Southeast Asia.
IGBP closed at the end of 2015. This website is no longer updated.
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Global Change Magazine No. 84
This final issue of the magazine takes stock of IGBP’s scientific and institutional accomplishments as well as its contributions to policy and capacity building. It features interviews of several past...
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Global Change Magazine No. 83
This issue features a special section on carbon. You can read about peak greenhouse-gas emissions in China, the mitigation of black carbon emissions and the effect of the 2010-2011 La Niña event on gl...
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