SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment)
R.E. Munn
SCOPE was established by ICSU in 1969 in response to environmental issues emerging at that time, recognising the interdisciplinary nature of many of the research questions being posed.
The mandate of SCOPE is to assemble and assess the information available on man-made environmental changes and the effects of these changes on society; to assess and evaluate the methodologies of measurement of environmental parameters; to provide an intelligence service on current research; and to establish itself as a corpus of informed advice for the benefit of research centres and of organisations and agencies operationally engaged in studies of the environment.
Some of SCOPE's syntheses are published as monographs by John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Chichester, England (more than 50 titles have appeared so far) but many others are in the form of special reports, survey papers in the scientific literature, and/or semi-popular paperbacks.
In the last 4 years, the following have been published:
(1) In the SCOPE John Wiley Series:
- SCOPE 42 (1991): Biogeochemistry of Major World Rivers
- SCOPE 43 (1991): Stable Isotopes: Natural and Anthropogenic Sulphur in the Environment
- SCOPE 44 (1990): Introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms into the Environment
- SCOPE 45 (1991): Ecosystem Experiments
- SCOPE 46 (1991): Methods for Assessing Exposure of Human and Non-Human Biota
- SCOPE 47 (l991): Long-Term Ecological Research. An International Perspective
- SCOPE 48 (l992): Sulphur Cycling on the Continents: Wetlands, Terrestrial Ecosystems
and Associated Water Bodies
- SCOPE 49 (l992): Methods to Assess Adverse Effects of Pesticides on Non-Target Organisms
- SCOPE 50 (1993): Radioecology after Chernobyl
- SCOPE 51 (1993): Biogeochemistry of Small Catchments: A Tool for Environmental Research.
- SCOPE 52 (1994): Methods to Assess DNA Damage and Repair: Interspecies Comparisons
- SCOPE 53 (1995, in press). Phosphorus in the Global Environment
- SCOPE 54 (1995, in press): Ecosystem Functioning of Biodiversity
(2) Examples of other publications:
- Greenhouse Earth (l992): a semipopular paperback
- Effects of Increased Ultraviolet Radiation on Biological Systems (1992)
- Effects of Increased Ultraviolet Radiation on Global Ecosystems (1993)
- Inventoring and Monitoring Biodiversity (1992)
- Monsoon Biogeochemistry (1993)
- An Assessment of the Toxicity and Hazards of Pollutants in China (1994)
SCOPE has offices in the ICSU building in Paris, with a full-time Executive Director, Ms. Veronique Plocq-Fichelet.
A General Assembly is held every 3 to 4 years (Seville, Spain, Jan 1992; Tokyo, June 1995) when a new Executive Committee is elected, and the work program for the following three years is debated and approved.
The current President is Professor John Stewart of Canada, and the Editor-in-Chief, who comes from IUGG/IAMAS, is Dr. R.E. Munn, also from Canada.
SCOPE receives financial support for its operating budget from its National Committees, ICSU, UNESCO, the French government and Exxon.
In 1995, SCOPE is expected to receive financial support for its scientific projects from UNEP, EC, NATO, several governments (France, the USA, Spain, Mexico and Belgium) and various private sources (the Mellon Foundation, EPRI, the Wallenberg Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust).
Over the last four years, the work program has been carried out through working groups seeking to synthesise knowledge and identify knowledge gaps in the following fields:
Sustainability of the biosphere; Biogeochemical cycling of sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorus; Ecotoxicology; Effects of global change on coniferous forests and grasslands; Ecosystem functioning and biodiversity; Radiation from nuclear test explosions; Particle fluxes in the world oceans; Ecological economics; Indicators of sustainable development; Ecological engineering; UV-B effects on biological systems; Mercury cycling; and Sustainable Land Management.
Further information can be obtained by writing or faxing to SCOPE, 51 boulevard de Montmorency, 75016 Paris, France, FAX 33-1/42 88 14 66, Tel. 33-1/45 25 04 98.
