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Royal Society International Research Programmes The Royal Society funds a number of international research programmes focussing on environmental issues:
The Shoals of Capricorn Programme is a major marine science research, training and education programme run by the Royal Geographical Society (with IGBG) in association with the Royal Society. Launched in the Seychelles in October 1998 and Mauritius and Rodrigues in February 1999, Shoals aims to develop the knowledge and skills for marine resource management and conservation. Shoals will raise awareness of marine environmental issues in the western Indian Ocean region and globally. Integrated research, training and education initiatives will include local Government personnel, Non-Governmental Organisations, schools and communities in the region. This includes close collaboration in the development of the Mauritian Institute of Oceanography and a marine resource and training centre in Seychelles. These centres will act as focal points for international institutional links for future research in the region and the development of a chain of regional small-island based ocean observatories that will extend from the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn, creating a comprehensive network of ocean research platforms. The Southeast Asian Rainforest Research Programme (SEARR) aims to look into how events such as logging, drought, fire and rainstorms affect the ecological systems of primary and selectively logged rainforests. It also aims to tap new findings to develop improved methodologies for enhancing the recovery, ecological and forestry value, and long-term sustainability of forests. The SEARR programme, which began in 1985, started out as a long-term and multidisciplinary study into the restoration of tropical forests to show how harvested forests now greatly exceed the primary forest production reserve. The general aim was to provide a sound scientific background as a basis for the restoration of logged over forests. The programme also concentrated on understanding the functioning of forest ecosystems and looked into regeneration patterns within logged forests. The scientists explored a wide variety of topics ranging from geology, pedology (soil structure, soil hydraulics), basic plant community ecology (plant collection, vegetation zonation, phenology) hydrological research (comparison of primary and logged over forest, water quality, sediment studies), micrometeorology, dynamics of vegetation growth and physiology (regeneration in forest gaps, root dynamics) and investigations of individual species or groups. The Royal Society funds exchange visits and research coordination during the second phase of the research programme at Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal, which is found in Siberia, is the world’s oldest lake (over 20 million years) and holds 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996 because of the extraordinary diversity of its flora and fauna, which include 1500 endemic species. Since 1989, the Royal Society has been working with the Russian Academy of Sciences Siberian Division to co-ordinate research on Lake Baikal. In 1991, an international agreement called the Baikal International Centre for Ecological Research (BICER) was formed by organisations from six countries (Russia, Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, USA, UK) with the Royal Society as the UK founding member. The support of BICER by its founding members has been crucial to scientists in Russia, and has allowed Lake Baikal research to expand. This is a notable achievement, especially given the problems facing Russian science within its current economic climate. Supporting BICER has also been important in co-ordinating research on the Lake among the member countries and fostering co-operation amongst Russian and international groups.
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