International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) is a collaborative international research initiative focused on understanding global environmental change through the lens of the interactions between Earth's solid components and living organisms. Established in 1987 by the International Council for Science, the IGBP addresses the complex challenges posed by global change by fostering cooperation among scientists across various disciplines and countries. With a central secretariat based in Stockholm, Sweden, it comprises members from 76 countries and has project offices in North America, Europe, and Australia.
The IGBP conducts extensive studies on the Earth’s systems, including the land, ocean, and atmosphere, and their interconnections. Key research projects investigate topics such as the impact of human activities on terrestrial ecosystems, marine biodiversity, atmospheric chemistry, and biogeochemical cycles. The program emphasizes the importance of integrated research approaches to effectively address climate change and environmental sustainability. IGBP also engages with other international science organizations and contributes to global assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), advocating for ethical stewardship of the Earth in response to human-induced environmental changes.
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
- DATE: Established 1987; Concluded 2015
Mission
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) was an international research program devoted to the study of global environmental change, with a focus on the interactions between the solid Earth and its living organisms. The IGBP’s purpose was to work toward improving the of Earth’s biosphere. A central secretariat, hosted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, coordinates IGBP’s scientific program. The organization had seventy-six member countries and international project offices in North America, Europe, and Australia.
The IGBP studied the interactions occurring among Earth’s natural biological, chemical, and physical processes and the effects human activities have on these processes. Sponsored by the International Council for Science, the IGBP collaborated with other programs to gain and disseminate knowledge regarding global environmental change and to make recommendations regarding how best to respond to it. The IGBP, which emphasized networking and integration, sought to enhance scientific understanding by encouraging scientists to transcend disciplinary, institutional, and political boundaries in their research.
The International Council for Science established the IGBP in 1987. The international scientific community had recognized that the research efforts of a single country, region, or scientific discipline would not yield sufficient understanding of global environmental change; there was a clear need for international collaborative research. Key findings from the IGBP’s initial studies (IGBP-I, 1990-1999) provided the foundations for a second phase of research (IGBP-II, 2004-2013). Phase II, like Phase I, concerned the Earth systems of land, ocean, and atmosphere and the interfaces among them.
Significance for Climate Change
As of early 2009, IGBP research comprised nine projects: four focused on the major Earth system components of land, ocean, and atmosphere; three on the interfaces between those components (land-ocean, land-atmosphere, and ocean-atmosphere); and two on system-wide integration (Earth system modeling and paleoenvironmental research). The Global Land Project (GLP), cosponsored by the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), looked at how humans transform terrestrial ecosystems and landscapes. The Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) project studied the effects of global change on the abundance, diversity, and productivity of marine populations. Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) studied how marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles reacted to global change over time periods ranging from years to decades.
Both marine projects were cosponsored by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). International Global A (IGAC), a project cosponsored by the Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (CACGP), focuses on the atmospheric chemistry issues facing society. The project seeks to gain an understanding of the role of atmospheric chemistry in the Earth system while determining how changing regional emissions and depositions, long-range transport, and chemical transformations affect air quality.
Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) studied the coastal zone—an interface where land, atmosphere, and ocean interact—as a key player in the functioning of the Earth system. The project is cosponsored by IHDP. The Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS) concerned the physical, chemical, and biological processes that transport and transform energy and matter at the land-atmosphere interface. These processes are tightly coupled and highly responsive to climate change. The Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) looked at how the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere affect and are affected by climate and environmental change. Cosponsors were CACGP, SCOR, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
System-wide integration projects included Analysis, Integration, and Modelling of the Earth System (AIMES) and Past Global Changes (PAGES). AIMES focuses on the use of models and observations in reaching a better and more quantitative understanding of the role human action plays in biogeochemical cycles. PAGES supported the study of the Earth’s past environment as a means for making sound predictions regarding the future.
In addition to its project cosponsors, IGBP collaborated with a number of other international science organizations. IGBP participated in global assessments such as the and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) and was part of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).
In July 2001, during the Global Change Open Science Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, IGBP joined IHDP, WCRP, and the international program DIVERSITAS (all ESSP members) to issue the Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change. The statement acknowledged the increasing effect of human activity on food, water, clean air, and the environment and likened some changes to great natural forces in terms of their extent and impact. Warning of the possibility of abrupt, irreversible, and inhospitable environmental changes in response to human actions, the declaration called for a new, multidisciplinary, multinational, and multicultural system of global environmental science to respond to the complex challenges of global change with good and ethical stewardship of the Earth. IGBP was one of the convening organizations of the Second Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World, held in Monaco in October 2008.
The IGBP concluded in 2015. The program was regarded as an important contributor to global climate change research during the early twenty-first century.
Bibliography
"CERES: IGBP Land Classification." NSF, 2024, climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/ceres-igbp-land-classification. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Kabat, Pavel, et al., eds. Vegetation, Water, Humans, and the Climate: A New Perspective on an Interactive System. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2004.
Steffen, Will, et al. Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2005.
Steffen, Will, et al., eds. Challenges of a Changing Earth. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2002.