START — the road from Bellagio

The START initiative (co-sponsored by IGBP, WCRP and HDP) has as its primary objective development of regional frameworks to support regional research related to global change, associated capacity building and synthesis scientific assessments related to policy development. START now has six regional networks under development in South-East Asia, Northern Africa, East Asia, South Asia, the Meditteranean, and Southern Africa. Issues before START include the coordination of regional activities with that of sponsoring programmes, the need for a more elaborated HDP, and the development of thematic programming that will secure multi-donor, multi-year support.