The volume Middle East and North Africa: Climate, Culture and Conflicts focuses on the intricate interrelationships between nature, culture and society in this ecologically, historically and politically fragile region. As such, it debates ideas of eco-theology from Muslim and Jewish perspectives, followed by mythological interpretations and geo-archeological resp. historical analyses of the interrelationships and impacts of climate and other environmental factors on the development of ancient civilizations and cultures. The section "Present" addresses current conflict scenarios as a result of climate change, i.e. water scarcity, droughts, desertification and similar factors. The final section is concerned with potentials of international cooperation in pursuit of developing and ensuring sustainable energy resources and moves across different scales of environmental and religious education, from awareness raising to perspectives of best practice examples. Contributors are Katajun Amirpur, Helmut Bruckner, Eckart Ehlers, Max Engel, Kerstin Fritzsche, Ursula Kowanda-Yassin, Tobias von Lossow, Ephraim Meir, Rosel Pientka-Hinz, Matthias Schmidt, and Franz Trieb.

Earth System Science in the Anthropocene aims to provide an in-depth perspective and update on special topics in Global Environmental Change in relation to Human Security. It gives an overview on the new Joint Projects of the four International Global Change Programmmes and on research efforts in Germany. It is also an up-to-date report on emerging necessities in Global Environmental Change research as well as suggestions for its future development.

"Understanding the Earth System" aims to contribute to the timely discussion on Global Change of the Earth system. The discussion centers around the synthesis of procedures effecting both the natural and social sciences. The concept of Earth System Analysis, although controversially discussed, will be the focus of future scientific programs related to Global Change. The main problems are overpopulation, water shortages and climate change.

This volume includes revised versions of most of the presentations made at the International Conference "Understanding the Earth Sys tem: Compartments, Processes and Interactions" held on November 24-26, 1999 in Bonn. The Conference was organized by the German National Committee on Global Change Research as part of the Bonn Science Festival 1999-2000. The Bonn Science Festival (Wissen schaftsfestival Region Bonn) was organized and funded by sfg Strukturforderungsgesellschaft Bonn/Rhein-Siegl Ahrweiler mbH. The generous support for organizing the conference and printing this volume by sfg is gratefully acknowledged. Additional financial and organizational support for separate workshop sessions and publica tions have also been provided by the German Federal Ministry for Science and Research, BMBF and Germany's major research funding agency, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The editors wish to gratefully acknowledge the help, advice and especially patience of many individuals who have contributed to this volume. The contributions are intended to document the debate on crucial issues of the emerging concept of earth system science and to stimulate the necessary scientific discussion. While every effort has been made on the part of the editors to ensure consistency in termi nology, style and methods of quotation, the variety of contributors has inevitably resulted in certain discrepancies. E. EHLERS Bonn, February 2001 T. KRAFFT Contents Part I Panorama: The Earth System: Analysis from Science and the Humanities Chapter 1 Understanding the Earth System - From Global Change Research to Earth System Science . . . . . . . 3 E. EHLERS and T. KRAFFT Chapter 2 Earth System Analysis and Management. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 17 . . .

This work provides an in-depth perspective and update on special topics in Global Environmental Change in relation to Human Security. It offers an overview of new Joint Projects of the four International Global Change Programmmes and on research efforts in Germany. It is also an up-to-date report on emerging necessities in Global Environmental Change research, and a collection of suggestions for its future evolution.