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Introduction to IDGEC Science

The IDGEC Science Plan laid out three research foci and three analytic themes that constituted the core of the project's scientific agenda and that provided benchmarks against which the achievements of the project can be assessed:


Research Foci

IDGEC's three research foci were framed as follows:

· Focus 1: Causality - What roles do institutions play in causing and confronting global environmental changes?
· Focus 2: Performance - Why are some institutional responses to global environmental changes more successful than others?
· Focus 3: Design - What are the prospects for (re)designing institutions to confront global environmental change?

Analytic themes:

The analytic themes included:

· The problem of fit: Are prevailing institutional arrangements well matched to the properties of the biophysical systems to which they relate?
· The problem of interplay: Do distinct institutional arrangements interact with others either horizontally or vertically in ways that influence significantly the outcomes?
· The problem of scale: To what extent can findings about the roles institutions play be generalized across levels in spatial, temporal, and jurisdictional scales?

IDGEC Science Figures:

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Flagship activities:

IDGEC made use of a number of strategies to generate new knowledge regarding its research foci and analytic themes. Among the most successful of these was the use of flagship activities that were linked to theoretical concerns and provide empirical domains that are useful in analytic terms and helpful in bringing knowledge about institutions to bear on policy-relevant matters. They covered terrestrial, atmospheric, and marine systems, and included:

Terrestrial Systems - The Political Economy of Tropical and Boreal Forests (PEF)

Atmospheric Systems - Carbon Management Research Activity (CMRA)

Oceanic Systems - The Performance of Exclusive Economic Zones (PEEZ)