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THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE YEAR (ISY) AND
THE INTERNATIONAL GEOSPHERE-BIOSPHERE PROGRAM (IGBP)
DR. THOMAS F. MALONE

  The message I am privileged to bring to you today is that we stand on the threshold of a renaissance in the sciences concerned with Planet Earth, including the fauna, flora and the humans who call it their home. A conceptual framework is emerging in which it is recognized that the terrestrial environment and the diverse forms of life inhabiting it constitute an integrated system of interacting parts. No single part — oceans, atmosphere, or biota — can be understood in isolation with sufficient depth to anticipate its changes. Nor can any geographic segment be analyzed satisfactorily as a sequestered entity. A deeper understanding of the structure and metabolism of the total Earth system is within reach.

  This renaissance has its origins — in no small part — in the powerful observational capability provided by space science and technology. Its fulfillment is conditioned — in large measure — on the initiative, imagination, and active involvement of the international community of space agencies. This involvement is more than merely supplying the promising new technology of "remote sensing". It will require intensive participation in the birth of a sweeping new science, one that promises to illuminate over the next few decades the intimate interaction of the geosphere and biosphere and the role of human activity in inducing global change. It is especially appropriate and timely that ISY address the role of space science in deepening our understanding of Planet Earth. You are acting with verve and imagination in raising public consciousness concerning the role of science and space in societal affairs. IGBP and ISY uniquely complement each other. IGBP is concerned with science, society and space. It will reach a critical stage in 1992, coinciding with a peak in your efforts. IGBP needs ISY. ISY needs IGBP.

  As you consider the set of issues before your working groups, do so with the conviction that this exciting adventure of the human mind and spirit is an integral part of the destiny of space science and technology. We in the Earth sciences look forward to a true partnership of effort with the space sciences. Your contribution to the human habitability and sustainable development of Planet Earth is vital. Your role in Mission to Planet Earth will constitute a splendid record of accomplishment that will provide popular support for your exploration of the solar system and the universe beyond.

The roots of IGBP go back to the writing earlier in this century of the Soviet geochemist, Academician Vernadsky, who recognized the inextricable link between life and its surrounding energetic and material structure through photosynthesis, transpiration and nutrition. The philosophical basis for the IGBP was set forth with admirable clarity by Dr. Herbert Friedman in 1983 in these words:

  The real connections that link the geosphere and  biosphere to each other are subtle, complex, and often synergistic; their study transcends the bounds of specialized,scientific disciplines and the scope of limited, national scientific endeavors. For these reasons progress in fundamental areas of ocean-atmosphere interactions, biogeochemical cycles, and solar-terrestrial relationships has come far more slowly than in specialized fields, in spite of the obvious practical importance of such studies. If, however, we could launch a cooperative interdisciplinary program in the earth sciences, on an international scale, we might hope to take a major step toward revealing the physical, chemical, and biological workings of the Sun-Earth system and the mysteries of the origins and survival of life in the biosphere. The concept of an International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP)… calls for this sort of bold, 'holistic' venture in organized research — the study of whole systems of interdisciplinary science in an effort to understand global change in the terrestrial environment and its living systems.

He went on to say:

...the power of new technologies for remote sensing of atmospheric, geological, biological, and oceanographic conditions promises to revolutionize our grasp of global conditions and our understanding of global change.

  The deep involvement of the space science community in this revolution is captured by the masterly report of NASA's Earth Systems Sciences Committee.  Sixteen years ago, in prophetic words, Dr. James Fletcher, (then, as now, Administrator of NASA) in an address to the 13th Meeting of the Panel on Science and Technology of the Committee on Science and Astronautics in the U.S. House of Representatives remarked:

Now, I have lumped together disciplines which are apparently separate - oceanography, hydrology, meteorology, agriculture, forestry, cartography, geodesy, and environmental quality.  This is deliberate. In fact, I foresee a time when these individual disciplines will be regarded as what they really are - parts of a whole new structure of knowledge, understanding, and action.

That time has now arrived, Dr. Fletcher!

  Preliminary meetings around the world in 1984 culminated in a symposium on global change in September, in Ottawa, Canada, sponsored by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). The recognition evolving from that meeting that "a deepened understanding of anthropogenically induced global change is becoming an impera-



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