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Vol.
28 No. 2
March-April 2006
IUPAC
Wire |
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News
and information on IUPAC, its fellows, and members organizations
See also www.iupac.org/news |
The
Year of . . .
2006 — The International Year of Deserts and Desertification
Desertification is one of the world’s most alarming
processes of environmental degradation. The great scope and
urgency of this challenge led the United Nations General Assembly
to proclaim 2006 as the International Year of Deserts and
Desertification. The “year,” now already in progress,
is intended to raise public awareness of the problem and to
help protect the biological diversity of deserts as well as
the traditional knowledge of those communities affected by
desertification. The primary objective is to profile desertification
as a major threat to humanity, reinforced under the scenarios
of climate change and loss of biological diversity.
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Drylands
constitute about 41 percent of the Earth’s surface and
support more than 2 billion people. Between 10 and 20 percent
of drylands are degraded or unproductive. Land degradation
affects one-third of the planet’s land surface and threatens
the health and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people in
more than 100 countries. Each year, desertification and drought
cause an estimated USD 42 billion in lost agricultural production.
The risks of desertification are substantial and clear. Desertification
contributes to food insecurity, famine, and poverty and can
give rise to social, economic, and political tensions that
further promote conflict, poverty, and land degradation.
www.iydd.org
2007–2008 — The International Polar Year
The International Council for Science (ICSU) formally agreed
to establish an International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007-2008.
It is envisioned that the IPY will be an intense, internationally
coordinated campaign of research that will initiate a new
era in polar science. IPY 2007-2008 will include research
in both polar regions and recognize the strong links these
regions have with the rest of the globe. It will involve a
wide range of research disciplines, including the social sciences,
but the emphasis will be interdisciplinary in its approach
and truly international in participation. It aims to educate
and involve the public, and to help train the next generation
of engineers, scientists, and leaders.
www.ipy.org
2008
— The International Year of Planet Earth
The
United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York, has
announced that 2008 will be the United Nations International
Year of Planet Earth. Related activities will span three years,
from 2007 to 2009.
The purpose of the Year of Planet Earth, encapsulated in the
tagline “Earth Sciences for Society,” is to:
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reduce risks for society caused by natural and human-induced
hazards
• reduce health problems by improving understanding
of the medical aspects of the Earth sciences
• discover new natural resources and make them available
in a sustainable manner
• build safer structures and expand urban areas, utilizing
natural subsurface conditions
• determine non-human factors in climatic change
• enhance understanding of the occurrence of natural
resources so as to contribute to efforts to reduce political
tension
• detect deep and poorly accessible groundwater resources
• improve understanding of the evolution of life
• increase interest in the Earth sciences in society
at large
• encourage more young people to study the Earth sciences
at the university level
“Around the shores of the Indian Ocean, some 230 000
people are dead because the world’s governments have
not yet grasped the need to use geoscientists’ knowledge
and understanding of the Earth more effectively,” says
Eduardo F.J. de Mulder, project leader of
the Year of Planet Earth and former president of the International
Union of Geology and Geophysics. “Yet that knowledge
is readily available in the practical experience and publications
of some half a million Earth scientists all over the world,
a professional community that is ready and willing to contribute
to a safer, healthier, and wealthier society if called upon
by politicians and decision-makers. The International Year
of Planet Earth (2007–2009) aims to contribute to the
improvement of everyday life, especially in the less developed
countries, by promoting the societal potential of the world’s
Earth scientists.”
www.esfs.org
Page
last modified 9 August 2006.
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Applied Chemistry.
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