Articles

South Africa to host the International Geological Congress in 2016

South Africa has won a bid to host the 35th International Geological Congress (IGC) in 2016. This was announced at the 33rd session of the IGC in Oslo on Sunday 10th August 2008, after a bidding process involving other contenders. The IGC, a four yearly event, is a major meeting of earth scientists from around the globe attended by more than 6000 delegates. At the conference latest insights into processes in and on the Earth are discussed and debated, which in more recent years has had a strong focus on climate change and its impact on natural Earth system processes. A feature at this year's congress is also the energy crisis and the potential of non-renewable resources of our planet, i.e. oil, coal and uranium, to meet the ever growing demand in the future.

In responding to the announcement that South Africa has won the bid to host the IGC in 2016, both the Ambassador to Norway, H.E. Ambassador Ismail Coovadia and the Chairperson of the Council for Geosciences of South Africa Professor Phuti Ngoepe, thanked voting delegates for the trust and confidence in South Africa to arrange a future IGC and highlighted the importance of such an event not only to South Africa but the entire southern African region, with Ambassador Coovadia making specific reference to the potential of an event of this nature in considerably strengthening scientific collaboration within the context of the India – Brazil – South Africa inter-governmental collaboration agreement.

The bid by South Africa to host the 35th IGC was conceived from the onset as a bid for the southern African region and the support of all states of the region was solicited prior to the Oslo meeting. At the time of the bid South Africa had the full support of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania, and a process will now be set in motion to ensure that the 35th IGC is a collaborative venture involving the earth science communities of all the states in the region.

In introducing the South African bid and extending the invitation to host the 35th IGC on behalf of the Government of South Africa, Thibedi Ramontja, the Chief Executive Officer of the Council for Geoscience of South Africa, stressed the need of a more concerted effort in building capacity among southern African states in the field of the earth sciences. He announced an initiative aimed at introducing a sustained effort in this regard that would draw on the vast expertise vested in the network of earth scientists under the umbrella of the IGC and the International Union of Geological Sciences.

* Access the website of the 35th International Geological Congress HERE.

Footnote: The bid submission involved the CGS, the Geological Society of South Africa and the South African National Committee of the IUGS. Details of the bid are viewable in the following compressed files, which will firstly need to be uncompressed with a suitable 'unzip' utility:

• Bid Submission
• Video Presentation
• Watch Video Presentation on YouTube (Click HERE )

Invitation to the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS)

The Secretariat of the Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), in collaboration with the Agence National de la Géologie et du Contrôle Minier (ANGCM), would like to extend a special invitation for you to attend our 3rd Annual Meeting. As agreed at the last meeting of the OAGS on the 12th of February 2009, this meeting will take place in Algiers, Algeria, from May 10-12, 2010 at the Safir Mazafran Hotel (http://www.hotelsafir-mazalgerie.com) and is the first of our meetings to take place outside South Africa. The programme, which is still undergoing finalisation, proposes an exciting combination of workshops and presentations, field excursions to sites of geological significance within Algeria and an opportunity to participate in the shaping of the future of the OAGS through attendance of the annual general meeting, which will inform the organisation’s future strategy and focus in the support of the earth sciences.

The OAGS 2010 Annual Meeting aims to attract larger attendance than ever before. It is our hope that representatives from scientific, governmental, economic and non-governmental organisations will come together to ensure not only the success of the meeting, but also the furtherance of the value that African geological surveys can offer to Africa and the world.

The Annual Meeting will take place on the 10th of May 2010, and will incorporate presentations from invited scientists on the first day. A field trip will be held on the second day of the meeting. The Annual Meeting is open to participation from all interested parties, however the Annual General Meeting of the OAGS on the third and final day will be open only to OAGS members.

We look forward to seeing you at the OAGS 2010 Annual Meeting and welcoming you to Algeria. Please contact Ms. Chantelle Ashley at the Secretariat as per the details listed below (alternatively, click HERE) if you require further information and details on how you can participate.
Yours faithfully,
Thibedi Ramontja

President: Organisation of African Geological Surveys

Invitation to the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS)

The Presidency and Secretariat of the Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Namibia, would like to extend a special invitation for you to attend our 4^th Annual Meeting. This meeting will take place in Windhoek, Namibia, from the 26^th of September 2011. The programme, which is still undergoing finalisation, proposes the continuance of the formula tested to success at our meeting in Algeria last year, including an exciting combination of workshops and presentations, and field excursions. It is no exaggeration to note that your participation will be of significance to the organisation and its continual focus on a strategy in support of Africa’s geological surveys and their contributions to the continent.

The meeting venue will be:

The Geological Survey of Namibia (auditorium)

Ministry of Mines and Energy

1 Aviation Road

Windhoek

Namibia

Logistical information regarding accommodation and other details, will be published here as it becomes available.

Once again we hope that representatives from scientific, governmental, economic and non-governmental organisations will come together to ensure not only the success of the meeting, but also the furtherance of the value that African geological surveys can offer to Africa and the world.

We look forward to seeing you at the OAGS 2011 Annual Meeting and welcoming you to Namibia. Please contact Ms. Chantelle Ashley at the Secretariat if you require further information.