Centre for Development and the Environment

Centre for Development and the Environment
Senter for utvikling og miljø
Abbreviation	SUM
Formation	1984/1990
Type	Research institute
Location	Oslo;
Parent organization	University of Oslo
Website	www.sum.uio.no

The Centre for Development and the Environment (Norwegian: Senter for utvikling og miljø, SUM) is a research institute which is part of the University of Oslo. Its focus areas are international development and environmental studies.

History

The Centre for Development and the Environment was established in 1990, following the work with the report Our Common Future (the Brundtland Report), presented by the Brundtland Commission chaired by Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, and the increased focus on the environment and sustainable development.

In 2000, the Program for Research and Documentation for a Sustainable Society (ProSus), formerly called the Project for an Alternative Future (established 1984), was merged into the Centre for Development and the Environment. ProSus was established on the initiative of 17 organisations and was funded by parliament over the Norwegian state budget; it was part of the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities from the early 1990s and became part of the University of Oslo in 1996.^[1] ProSus was discontinued as a separate programme in 2006.^[2]

SUM is currently one of the few institutions in Scandinavia advancing synergic, interdisciplinary research on development and the environment, combining insights from the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities.

SUM was also the academic home of the founder of Deep Ecology, professor Arne Næss, and is the organizer of the annual event Arne Næss Symposium.

Structure

The centre is placed directly under the University Board of the University of Oslo. Its Board comprises representatives from the relevant faculties of the university, that is the faculties of Social Sciences, Arts, Natural Sciences, and Law. In addition, the Board has two members not connected to the university. The current director is Sidsel Roalkvam.

It is funded by the University as well as organizations such as the Research Council of Norway, the European Research Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD.

More than 50 people are affiliated with the Centre for Development and the Environment. The centre hosts the Arne Næss Programme on Global Justice and the Environment, which includes the Arne Næss Chair, which is awarded each year to "one or several scholars of international standing who have made a significant contribution to the study of global justice and the environment."^[3]

SUM is the host institution of Oslo SDG Initiative, the Oslo Academy of Global Governance and the Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health and the geographical research networks the Norwegian Latin American Research Network (NorLARNet) and the Network for Asia Studies.