PAGES Focus 4: Past Human-Climate-Ecosystem Interactions (PHAROS) Workshop

Focus 4 (PHAROS) was formally adopted at the PAGES Scientific Steering Committee meeting in Atherton, Australia, August 2007. Its principal objective is to bring together existing and new research communities to examine how climate, natural ecosystems and human activity have interacted through time, both regionally and globally, and how these interactions help address key questions about future global environmental change. The aims of this workshop were twofold: (1) To finalize the PHAROS Science and Implementation Plan and produce a work plan for the next five years, and (2) To coordinate the production of synthesis papers on the integration and upscaling of paleodata for key ecological processes (land cover, soil and sediment, and water), and for IPCC projected “Climate Change Hotspots”. The intention was also to produce a position paper reviewing paleoperspectives on global environmental change that highlights the role of paleodata in Earth System science, current levels and coverage of reconstructed data, and future challenges for developing new methods and improving geographical representation. 35 scientists from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, representing the Focus 4 Working Groups of HITE, LUCIFS, and LIMPACS, and the PAGES International Project Office, met at the Royal Society to discuss how Focus 4 should progress. Following opening plenary talks from John Dearing, Marie-Jo Gaillard, Thomas Hoffmann, Peter Gell and Rick Battarbee, the meeting was structured around break-out sessions. The first session addressed the following questions as the basis for the position paper: • How can your scientific community best interact with or make a contribution to the research communities concerned with contemporary Earth System science? • What are the key questions that the paleoscience community should pursue in future?