International Year of Planet Earth
The year 2008 has been proclaimed by the UN General Assembly as the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE). Ireland fully supported the proclamation. IYPE has been registered as a not-for-profit corporation under the patronage of UNESCO and associated organisations. The IYPE proclamation reflects international recognition that whilst geoscience is particularly relevant to the needs of modern society it must demonstrate clearly how society can benefit from its accumulated knowledge as well as from the impact of future investment.
The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI), with the support of the Royal Irish Academy, has established a National Committee for IYPE which is broadly representative of geoscience in Ireland. Its purpose is to maximise the impact in Ireland of IYPE and to convince decision makers and the public that geoscience is an exciting and important discipline which makes critical contributions to society.
A specially dedicated website for the Irish IYPE initiatives has been set up - http://www.planetearth.ie/. This site provides a comprehensive overview of IYPE and from it newsletters and brochures can also be downloaded. The site will be the focus of the year's activities and we urge all to visit it if possible. At this time just the background content is “live” but over the coming months we will be populating the site with varying content including news, photographs, programme of events updates, educational materials etc.
It is hoped that it will become the leading resource for those interested in regularly finding out more about IYPE. It is also hoped that early in 2008 will see an interactive dimension to the site primarily geared towards the general public and the education sector. Please visit the site, and often, but for now please do not expect too much!
In the meantime, here we are happy to provide some basic details on IYPE to whet the appetite!
Importance of IYPE
The National Committee for IYPE is optimistic that successful management of the IYPE programme in Ireland will have the following benefits:
- Ireland will play an active role in an important UN initiative and provide important leadership in promotion and innovation;
- An improved public understanding of geoscience will make Ireland an attractive centre for increased inflows of students and researchers;
- Ireland’s knowledge economy will benefit in circumstances where the country’s numbers of geoscience students and researchers increase significantly (whether home-grown or attracted from abroad);
- GSI can expect an increased use and sale of its data, products and services, accordingly as the public become more aware of the potential contributions of geoscience;
- The third level in Ireland will benefit from increased numbers of students and researchers, leading to the development of research centres of excellence and a networked graduate school of geoscience.
Draft Programme of Events
Arising from various meetings and working groups within the committee a Draft Programme of Events for 2008 has been prepared. This is available to view on the website http://www.planetearth.ie/
WE SEEK YOUR FEEDBACK ON THIS PROGRAMME – is it appropriate and sufficient to assist in improving public understanding of the contribution and relevance of geoscience in a modern society? The aim is to set out an exciting programme which will capture the attention of the widest general public. Let us know what you think - help us devise a spectacular programme for Ireland that will be the envy of the world......