forthcoming events

The special session of the IGU Commission on Environment Evolution will be focused on studies of the landscapes evolution and human activity in different geographical regions during the Pleistocene and the Holocene.
The principal lines of proposed study are: Landscape dynamics, Natural Processes and Human/environmental interaction.

The principal objectives of the session are:
• Landscape dynamics: To investigate the landscape dynamics during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene (the last 120 kyr). It will help us to assess the position of modern environments in the general evolutionary system more confidently.
• Natural Processes: to present the results of the experimental and theoretical studies in the key-regions. Selection of key regions in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres has to be based on the following requirements: availability of detailed paleontological information (pollen, macrofossil, diatoms, etc); geomorphological data, paleolimnic and paleohydrological materials, dendrochronological records, radiocarbon dates, stable isotope data and the evidence about beginning of human activities.
• Human/environment Interactions: human activity in late Pleistocene and Holocene become a more and more important factor in the environment evolution system. Both evidences of human impacts on climate change and influences of climate change on human subsistence could be obtained from archaeological sites. This knowledge will help us to assess the relationship between human and environment today.

A special attention will be paid to studies of human impacts on land surface – atmosphere interactions under modern environmental conditions and under different scenarios of projected future climate changes.