Pre

Announcement
Open Science Meeting 2011
28-29 November in Jakarta, Indonesia

Rise to the Water Challenge

The Joint Working Committee for Scientific Cooperation between Indonesia and
The Netherlands (JWC) is a strategic discussion forum. It serves to coordinate
bilateral Science and Technology (S&T) cooperation between Indonesia and the
Netherlands. The JWC may advise the governments of both countries as well as
society at large, on matters related to S&T cooperation. In fulfilling these tasks
the JWC’s primary objective is to further develop and strengthen S&T cooperation
between Indonesia and the Netherlands in terms of human and organisational
capacity.

Within this framework the JWC organises in November 2011 the sixth Indonesian-
Netherlands Open Science Meeting:

Rise to the Water Challenge

Water, biomass (food and energy), nutrients and space are among the most
important resources for life and closely regulated by water systems and water
circulation. All living organisms depend on these resources and the form and
amount in which they are available, used and reused determine to an important
extent the functioning of the world’s ecosystems. These resources are vital for
the survival of humans, and little (economic) development can take place without
adequate supplies. However, in many places water systems and water
circulation are seriously disturbed, upsetting the provision of important
ecosystem functions and services with uncertain outcomes for human societies
and economic development.

Examples of human activities and large scale resource use affecting water
systems and the dependent ecosystem functions and services are e.g. the
continuous burning of large amounts of fossil fuels, massive clearing and burning
of (tropical rain) forests, large scale wetland conversions and land reclamation,
fresh water and fertilizer use in commercial agriculture and industrial and
domestic fresh water consumption. These practices may alter important natural
(re-)circulation mechanisms leading to uneven and unpredictable resource
distribution and availability.

As water systems are functional geographical areas that integrate a variety of

environmental processes and human impacts on natural resources, changes in
these systems are considered as the most important factors determining the
availability of natural resources, functions and services. This may pose
formidable sustainability challenges with respect to (national) security and
stability, human health and hygiene, socioeconomic development, food security,
sustainable livelihoods and social stability.

Integrated and interdisciplinary assessments are needed to understand the

interdependence of natural resources and the components making up water
systems for viable long-term resource management. This Open Science Meeting
aims to bring together an international scientific forum presenting comparative
cases and practices from Indonesia, Southeast Asia and India, relating changes in
water systems to the following issues:

1) Biomass and Ecosystems (functions, services, food, energy, nutrients,

biodiversity)

2) Public health (Hygiene, the fight against infectious and vector transmitted
diseases, and access to clean drinkwater and sanitation)

3) Water and socioeconomic development (Increasing welfare, wellbeing and

security vs. uncertainty, risks and negative trade-offs, and human-
environment relations, spiritual economy and changing lifestyles).

The first day of the Open Science Meeting ‘Exploring water system change:
driver of resource availability, ecosystem functions and society’ will start
with a plenary session framing quantitative and qualitative aspects of water
systems in ecosystems and human society, followed by three cross-disciplinary
parallel in- depth thematic sessions. The first day will be concluded with a
plenary panel discussion. During the day there will be opportunities for OSM-
participants to present (laptop) poster.

On the second day the scientific forum will concentrate on ‘Kalimantan Tides:
Balancing conservation and exploitation ’. Kalimantan is host to some of
the richest and most diverse ecoystems on this planet and is facing large-scale
economic and ecological changes. This may lead to competing demands on the
remaining natural resources and increasing pressure on the local ecosystems. By
departing from changing water systems, Kalimantan provides a ‘revelatory case’
in which the central themes of biomass, public health and socioeconomic
development and their relations with water can be studied from various
disciplinary perspectives. This Open Science Meeting is also an attempt to
further strengthen the collaboration between scientists and Indonesian policy
makers and NGOs to stimulate the exchange of information and identify the
central issues that urgently need further investigation in Kalimantan.

On days 3 – 5 Indonesian universities will host different master classes on water

system related concerns in Health and Medical Sciences, Forestry and
Agriculture, Wetlands, and Sustainable Livelihoods and Resource Use.

ORGANISATION
The Open Science Meeting will be organised by the Royal Netherlands Academy
of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) and the
Radboud University Nijmegen (Centre for Pacific and Asian Studies, CPAS),
together with the Ministry of Research and Technology of Republic of Indonesia
(RISTEK), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and
Indonesian universities and research institutes.

LINKS TO OTHER INITIATIVES

The OSM will be organized on November 28-29 in Jakarta, just after the
International World Delta Summit that is held in the Jakarta Convention Center
from 21-26 November. This provides researchers from the Dutch East Kalimantan
programme (delta research project) with the opportunity to combine the OSM
with the Delta Summit.