Pier Vellinga

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nationality = Dutch
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occupation = Climate change expert
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Prof.Dr.Ir. Pier Vellinga (April 17, 1950) is one of the Netherlands leading experts on climate change

Position in 2007

Velllinga is the chairman of the Climate changes Spatial Planning research program. This program supports the Dutch government and companies with operational knowledge required for investment decisions related to climate change, climate variability and spatial planning. He has a chair in Wageningen University (WUR) and is director of the Wageningen University climate program and has a part time position as the director of the Climate Centre at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Career

Originally trained as a coastal engineer over time Pier Vellingas interest started to include the social dimensions of global environmental change. He was among the first scientists to publish on climate change and its implications regarding water and energy in the eighties.

His 1986 PhD on Beach Erosion and Dune Erosion During Storm provided the basis for the Dutch Delta Plan (evaluation and design of the coastal dunes as primary protection system).

In a newly created position he was advisor to the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment on the issue of Climate Change and the development of international CO2 policies. In this role he was key negotiator during the Netherlands EU-presidency of 1988, and one of the architects of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In 1989 he was actively involved in setting up the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as vice chairman in the first bureau of IPCC. He has also acted as an author of various chapters.

From 1995 to 1998 he combined his work as director of the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (a position which he held from 1991 to 2001) with a part-time position at the World Bank, United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Since 1991, he has been a professor of earth sciences at the Vrije Universiteit. Richard Tol is among his PhD students.

Other Activities

In 2003 he presented the Erasmus Liga Lecture on Climate Change and the safety of the Netherlands. This triggered national debate on the vulnerability of the Netherlands with regard to flooding and the need to update the Deltaplan.

He is a member of the “Uffizio di Piano”, a high level committee of scientists and policy makers charged by the Italian prime minister to supervise the high water protection and lagoon rehabilitation works in Venice.

At a national level he is involved in the setting up and management “Living with Water” program. He is chairman of the Foundation for Nature and Environment (Stichting Natuur en Milieu) and of the board of the Royal Dutch Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and. He is now responsible as chairman for the new major national Knowledge for Climate program.

Pier Vellinga gives many lectures in the field of climate change and related global change issues. He has published more than 120 articles as author or co-author in scientific journals, books, scientific reports and proceedings of a more general nature. He has frequently appeared in news media and participated in several interviews and scientific documentaries made by national and international broadcasting cooperation’s including BBC, ABC, CNN and Discovery.

Views on Climate Change

External links

• Climate changes Spatial Planning program [http://www.klimaatvoorruimte.nl] [http://www.climatechangesspatialplanning.nl]
• Climate Centre Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam [http://www.climatecentre.vu.nl]
• Platform for Communication on Climate Change [http://www.klimaatportaal.nl]
• Earth system science group Wageningen University [http://www.ess.wur.nl/UK/]
• Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change [http://www.ipcc.org]
• Foundation for Nature and Environment [http://www.mnp.nl]

References

1. Bouwer, Laurens M., and Pier Vellinga (2006, in press). On the Flood Risk in The Netherlands. In: Flood Risk Management in Europe: Innovation in Policy and Practice. Series: Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, Eds. Begum S., Stive, Marcel J.F., Hall, James W., Springer Verlag, approx. 600 pp, ISBN 1-4020-4199-3, available May 2006.
2. Kabat, P.,Vierssen, W. van,Veraart, J.A., Vellinga, P., & Aerts, J. (2005). Climate proofing the Netherlands, Nature, 438(7066), 283-284. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7066/edsumm/e051117-04.html]
3. P. Vellinga & R.J. Swart (1991) The Greenhouse Marathon: Proposal for a Global Strategy In: Climate Change: Science Impact and Policy, proceedings of the Second World Climate Conference, Cambridge University Press, New York, p. 129-135
4. Interview on Dutch television in 2005 [http://www.novatv.nl/index.cfm?ln=nl&fuseaction=videoaudio.details&reportage_id=137]
5. Article on CNN website [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/11/09/hague.preview.reut/index.html]
6. Erasmus Lecture on Climate Change and Safety (in Dutch) [http://www.falw.vu.nl/Nieuws/index.cfm/home_file.cfm/fileid/0D6599A3-BB9E-48D6-84E06F94ED568A79/subsectionid/B931A1C5-EE57-4BB8-834162EDCFBA860A]