19-03-2003
	KNAW in favour of biogeology expertise centre
	The Netherlands is an international leader in the field of biogeology, but the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) believes that there is ample scope to boost its reputation even further. The KNAW makes its case in a foresight report published today entitled Tussen Aarde en Leven - strategische verkenning van de biogeologie in Nederland ["Between Heaven and Earth - a strategic foresight study of biogeology in the Netherlands"], stating that biologists and geologists need to make use of one another's knowledge and skills. The government, the KNAW, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the universities must also encourage research in fields in which the Netherlands has a solid reputation - for example biogeochemical cycles (in particular in wetlands and coastal areas) and the paleosciences (paleobiology, paleontology and paleobotany, for instance) - and see that research projects are mutually co-ordinated. The KNAW proposes creating a biogeology expertise centre - the Darwin Centre - that would act as a coordination point for top research projects. Researchers and policy-makers surveyed for the foresight report expressed enthusiasm for this idea, and the Centre is to go ahead shortly. The KNAW also recommends more interaction between biology and geology in university programmes. Geology programmes should include more courses on evolutionary biology and ecology, and the biology curriculum should devote more time to the System Earth. The Academy believes that Dutch biogeological research should concentrate on four themes: biogeochemical cycles and reconstruction of the paleoenvironment, and - where relevant to these two themes - evolution and functional biodiversity. Biogeological research explores the interface between biology and geology. Biogeology is a rapidly expanding discipline which views global, regional and local ecosystems within the context of a changing earth system. The range of different time and space scales studied by biogeologists means that they are excellently placed to further our understanding of global change. The foresight study was conducted by a committee chaired by Dr Bert van der Zwaan, professor of biogeology at the universities of Nijmegen and Utrecht. The report, Tussen Aarde en Leven - strategische verkenning van de biogeologie in Nederland, can be ordered from the KNAW free of charge (tel. +31 (0)20-5510780 or e-mail: edita@bureau.knaw.nl) or downloaded from the KNAW website (www.knaw.nl) as a PDF file (with summary in English).

	KNAW, Het Trippenhuis, Kloveniersburgwal 29, Amsterdam. P.O. Box 19121, 1000 GC Amsterdam. Afdeling Communicatie tel +31 (0)20-5510733, fax +31 (0)20-6204941. communicatie@bureau.knaw.nl