International Year of Planet Earth - Earth Sciences for Society

The International Year of Planet Earth was officially launched at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 12-13 February 2008. Initiated jointly by UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the Year will demonstrate over the next 24 months just how important Earth sciences are for society.

How the Year came about:
In April 2005, the initiative for a Year was put forward by the Tanzanian Delegation to UNESCO's Executive Board, which adopted the proposal nem. con. A Draft Resolution on proclamation of the International Year of Planet Earth in 2008 was adopted by Commission III at UNESCO's 33rd General Conference on 12 October 2005. By then, 97 UN Member States had explicitly expressed support for the initiative.

The themes of the Year are:

1. Hazards: reducing vulnerability to natural and human-induced hazards;
2. Earth and Health: improving understanding of the medical aspects of Earth science;
3. Resource Issues: discovering new natural resources and making them available in a sustainable manner;
4. Soil: getting under Earth's living skin;
5. Megacities: going deeper, building safer;
6. Climate change: determining the longer term variations in climate change;
7. Groundwater: detecting deep and poorly accessible groundwater;
8. Earth and life: removing some of the question marks surrounding the evolution of life;
9. Oceans: abyss of time;
10. The Deep Earth: how it influences our environment.

 

See also:
:: Global Launch Event (12 - 13 February 2008)
:: Photo contest on "The Changing Face of the Earth"
:: Planet Earth: Earth Sciences for Society
:: UNESCO Earth Sciences website

Exhibition "Planet Earth: from Space to Place"

On the occasion of the launching of the International Year of Planet Earth 2008, UNESCO presents this exhibition from 14 to 17 February.

It celebrates the beauty, diversity and complexity of the Earth and explores the challenges facing our planet, highlighting the role of UNESCO and its sustainable development.

The themes of the exhibition are: Earth System; Dynamic Earth, Diverse Earth; Changing Earth; and Sustaining the Earth illustrated through multimedia elements such as the Magic Planet, a digital video globe® courtesy of NASA, and the PentaGlobe® created by Laurent Metterie.

Related link:
:: Exhibition: "Planet Earth: from Space to Place"

• Source:UNESCO SC
• 04-02-2008

Deep Earth
• © NASA - Video Globe