ANNUAL REPORT - Australian Academy of Science

InterAcademy Council
Created in 2000, the InterAcademy Council (IAC) mobilises the best researchers across the globe to advise
international bodies such as the United Nations and the World Bank on the great global challenges of our time.
The IAC recently released the reports Women for Science and Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy
Future. Current important issues for the IAC are emerging infectious diseases and water supply and quality.
The governing board of the IAC comprises the Presidents of 15 academies of science and equivalent
organisations (including the Australian Academy of Science), representatives of the InterAcademy Panel on
International Issues (IAP), the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences,
and the InterAcademy Medical Panel of medical academies, plus the African Academy of Sciences and the
Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.
Professor Lambeck attended an IAC board meeting, held in Amsterdam on 23 and 24 March 2010, where
a request from the Secretary-General of the United Nations to undertake a review of the processes and
procedures of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was unanimously agreed to.
InterAcademy Panel on International Issues
The goal of the IAP, a global network of over 100 of the world’s science academies, is to help member academies
work together to advise citizens and public officials on the scientific aspects of critical global issues.
Networks and links created by the IAP allow academies to raise both their public profile among citizens and
their influence among policy makers. IAP organises international conferences, sponsors workshops and
serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences among academies. It helps science academies to
achieve greater public presence within their nation and region.
The IAP’s flagship program focuses on capacity building for younger and smaller science academies,
particularly those in developing countries. In addition, IAP supports projects that are coordinated by member
academies and regional networks. The projects include:
• digital knowledge and infrastructure;
• science education;
• water research and management; and
• biosecurity.
The Academy President, Professor Kurt Lambeck, attended the IAP executive committee meeting held in
Tokyo (hosted by the Science Council of Japan) on 15 and 16 September 2009, and in Amsterdam on 22 and
23 March 2010. He also participated in an IAP general assembly and conference held at the Royal Society of
London, from 13 to 15 January 2010, which the Chief Executive, Dr Sue Meek, also attended. The Academy was
re-elected to the IAP executive committee for a second term from 2010 to 2012 at the general assembly, and
Professor Mohammed Hassan, President of the African Academy of Sciences, was elected to replace outgoing
co-chair Professor Chen Zhu, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
The IAP released a communiqué following their conference Integrating Ecosystems Services into Biodiversity
Management which contained a series of recommendations for policy and decision makers, and for scientists
(http://royalsociety.org/communique-of-the-IAP-Biodiversity-Conference/)
The Academy Council has endorsed two statements by the IAP on tropical forests and climate change and on
ocean acidification, joining over 50 academies from around the world to express their concern over these issues.
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THE AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE