BuaNews (Tshwane)
12 August 2008
Pretoria — South Africa has won a bid to host the 35th International Geological Congress (IGC) in 2016, reported the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
The announcement was made at the 33rd session of the IGC in Oslo after a bidding process involving other contenders.
The IGC, which takes place once every four years, is a major meeting of earth scientists from around the globe attended by more than 6 000 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, [such as] oil, coal and uranium, to meet the ever growing demand in the future," said the department.
In responding to the announcement that South Africa has won the bid to host the IGC in 2016, both the Ambassador to Norway Ismail Coovadia and the Chairperson of the Council for Geosciences of South Africa Professor Phuti Ngoepe, thanked voting delegates for their confidence in South Africa.
Professor Ngoepe highlighted the importance of such an event not only for South Africa but the entire southern African region and the continent.
Mr Coovadia made specific reference to the potential of an event of this nature to strengthen scientific collaboration within the context of the India - Brazil - South Africa (IBSA) 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 all states gave their support prior to the Oslo meeting the DFA said.
"At the time of the bid South Africa had the full support of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania," said the department.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Council for Geoscience of South Africa Thibedi Ramontja stressed the need for a more concerted effort in building capacity among southern African states in the field of earth sciences.
The CEO 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.
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I wonder if they will tell me of a geological column that actualy exists somewhere outside a text book.