General Assembly 2009:  Minutes

The 2009 General Assembly took place on July 2, 2009, from 11:00 to 16:00 at TU Munich, Arcisstr. 21, seminar room of the Institute on Computational Menchanics.

 Participants: J. Bugl, G. Grau, M. Von Hauff, U. Potzel, O. Renn, M. Steger, M. Wichern, J. Wilderer, P. Wilderer

 Excused: T. Ecimovic, M. Grambow, H. Huber, B. Helmreich, F. Unger

 Topic 1         Formalities

Prof. Wilderer (chairman) welcomed the participants, and expressed his gratitute for spending time and money to come to Munich and participate in the meeting.

He noticed that all members of the Institute (Verein) were timely invited, and a proposal for the agenda was presented.

The agenda got approved by acclamation. Because Dr. von Hauff and Dr. Renn announced that they have to leave it was decided to discuss the items 5 and 6 first. In the following, however, the main discussion points and the resolutions made are reported in the original sequence of items.

Topic 2         Report of the Board

Prof. Wilderer und Prof. Bugl referred to the annual reports which have been published year by year in our web-page.

In general it can be stated that the Institute functioned according to the statutes even though initiatives given, and action taken by the members were rather low in extent. The chairpersons understand that limitation of the time budget makes it difficult for the members to take over any additional tasks. To better demonstrate the added value achieved while contributing to the aims and goals of the Institute stimulation offers are to be provided by the Board.

Topic 3         Report of the financial auditors

The accounting documents were inspected by Dr. Potzel and Dr. Helmreich. Dr. Potzel spoke about the budgetary control procedure. No irregularities were detected. Compliance with the rules of good accounting can be attested.

 Mrs. Wilderer, treasurer of the Institute, gave some background information about the accounting and the financial situation of the Institute. She spoke about incomes and outcomes during the past four years. The financial situation of the Institute is reasonably solid thanks to donations made by Prof. Wilderer, and thanks to the Institute of Advanced Study of the TU Munich which covered over most of the costs of the last year´s major event, the workshop of Earth System Engineering. To be able to finance workshops and refection group meetings, and to cover travel costs of members to participate in such event it is necessary to obtain financial contributions from the outside world. Members are asked to assist in making contacts with potential sponsors .

Topic 4         Elections

Prof. Wilderer and Prof. Bugl were unanimously reelected as chairpersons.

Mrs. Wilderer was unanimously reelected as treasurer.

It was decided to elect the auditors prior to the next General assembly, when auditing needs to be performed.

The members of the Advisory Council (Dr. Grambow, Dr. Huber and Dr. Johnston) were unanimously reelected.

Topic 5         Collaboration with the International Expert Group on the Preservation of the Earth System (IESP)

Background: Past year, the Institute in cooperation with the Institute of Advanced Study of TU Munich, the Club of Rome and the European Water Partnership organized a workshop on “Earth System Engineering – The Art of Dealing Wisely with the Planet Earth”. In this context, the term “Earth System” encompasses not only the physical dimension but includes the biotic and particularly the human dimension. Thus, “Earth System Engineering” is defined as deliberate and planned intervention into the Earth System with the intention to satisfy needs and desires of the human community.

By the end of the workshop the participants decided to continue further reflections. The “International Expert Group on the Preservation of the Earth System” (IESP) was founded as an informal organizational body. In the following, efforts have been made to raise money to financially support reflection group meetings at various places in the world. In this context it became obvious that IESP needs the status of a legal organization to be able to get funding by organizations such as UNESCO and Allianz Insurance. A quick investigation revealed that establishment of IESP as a legal entity is a time and expensive exercise. To make things easy, the idea came up to treat IESP as a section of our Institute which already has the status of a legal entity.

Resolution: After intensive discussion about pros and cons of this proposal it was decided to authorize the Board to work out an agreement with the Steering Committee of IESP which satisfies the needs of IESP within the constitutional framework of the Institute.

Update: In the meantime such an agreement has been settled. The respective document is added to these Minutes as an Appendix. In short, IESP shall be treated as an independent section, and the members of IESP are considered members of the Institute.

Topic 6         Future activities

6.1     Theme issue of the journal “Sustainability Science”

Prof. Wilderer in his role as member of the Editorial Board of the Journal Sustainability Science (Springer Publisher, Editorial Office located at the UN University in Tokyo) was asked to consider designing a theme issue on a topic of broad interest. The proposal to produce an issue on “Earth System Engineering” was well received, but Prof. Wilderer was told that the issue could be published no earlier than 2012.

To get earlier publication of papers concerning Earth System Engineering it was agreed to submit papers presented at the upcoming AAAS Annual Meeting in San Diego to “Sustainable Science”. The session at AAAS deals with “The Human Dimension of Geo-Engineering”, and is organized by Prof. Wilderer. Papers of Prof. Dewilde, Prof. Renn, Prof. Weiler, Prof. Wilderer, Prof. Allenby and Prof. Sarewitz have been approved.

Nevertheless, efforts should be made to design a theme issue of “Sustainability Science” out of the Institute.

6.2     Reflection group meetings concerning “Sustainable Earth-System-Engineering”

 Organization of reflection group meetings on the various aspects of “Sustainable Earth System Engineering” will be the obligation of the IESP section. Topics currently in discussion include

-   Self-regulatory capacity of the Earth System under the influence of
    economic and societal factors.

-   Mechanisms regulating properties and function of the Earth System.

-   Potentials and limits of the adaptive capacity of economic and societal systems under the  
    influence of global warming, climate change, population growth, urbanization, educational
    status of people, cultural heritage etc.

-   Risk management in context with technical interventions into the Earth System

Topic 7         Next meeting

 The next meeting shall be organized in conjunction with a IESP workshop, presumably in 2012.

Topic 6         Any other issues

 No other issues were brought forward.

 July 24, 2009

 

Peter Wilderer and Josef Bugl