IGD Emblem Competition
The scientific proposers of IGD have decided that the Day needs an emblem to give greater visibility to geodiversity and the International Day itself, and to support the concept as it is discussed at the UNESCO General Conference. As such we are calling on the young people of the world to make their submissions for the International Geodiversity Day emblem.
The competition is open to all who are younger than 30 years old on July 31st 2021. The candidates participate in their private and personal capacity. Proposals from minors must be submitted by a person have legal responsibility for them.
The Organizers encourage proposals from all regions of the world, with the competition being open to all who are younger than 30 years old on July 31st 2021. The deadline for submissions is 17:00 GMT on July 31st 2021.
The rules and procedures of the competition can be found HERE. It is up to entrants to decide if text, such as the name of International Geodiversity Day, the date, etc, is included within, or alongside the emblem.
Entries can be submitted via our online form HERE. (You will need to sign in using a Google account to submit your entry).
Good luck to everyone!
Update: April 16th, 2021
Yesterday the proposal for an International Geodiversity Day crossed what could be argued to be its hardest test, as it was approved by unanimity within one of the UNESCO Executive Board Commissions. More than 70 countries have co-sponsored this proposal, which is a sign of the remarkable support is has from all continents! We are so grateful to colleagues who have helped secure the support of such a wide and diverse group of countries.
What is the next step? The IGD proposal will be formally accepted by the Plenary meeting of the UNESCO Executive Board next Wednesday (this should be a formality), and will then be submitted to the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference that will held in November 2021.
Many thanks also to so many of you for having joined us yesterday afternoon for the Promoting Geodiversity workshop. It was an inspiring few hours to have more than 600 colleagues from around the world coming together and explore the potential of IGD.
Please, feel free to follow all updates at www.geodiversityday.org, and online via #InternationalGeodiversityDay
With all good wishes,
José Brilha
Murray Gray
Jack Matthews
Zbigniew Zwolinski
The decision of the UNESCO Executive Board can be found HERE.
Update: March 17th, 2021
On March 17th, the Preparatory Group of the UNESCO Executive Board met to discuss a number of proposal in advance of the Executive Board meeting in April. This included the International Geodiversity Day concept. We are pleased to say that the response of Member States was resoundingly positive, and the initiative has been recommended for acceptance at the April meeting. Some of the comments of representatives are shown below:
Update: March 5th, 2021
We are pleased to announce that following the support of colleagues from around the world, the proposal for an International Geodiversity Day is now officially on the agenda for the next UNESCO Executive Board Meeting! UNESCO Member States supporting the proposal include: Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Italy, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Viet Nam, and Zimbabwe.
You can find the proposal here: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375688
The proposal will now go forward to a vote at the 211th session of the Executive Board, which will take place between 7-21 April. All being well, the final decision will then be made at the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference in November 2021, with the first International Geodiversity Day being on 6 October 2022. There is still time for more countries to show their support, so do continue to lobby your country’s UNESCO Permanent Delegation. Member States wishing to add their name to the proposal should contact the Portuguese Delegation.
Thank you once again for all your help and support towards this worthy endeavour. Over the coming weeks we will be in touch with more news on the upcoming vote, and also a number of online events we will be holding to highlight the International Geodiversity Day project. In the meantime, do refer to the website, geodiversityday.org, for more information.
With all good wishes,
José Brilha, Murray Gray, Jack Matthews, Zbigniew Zwolinski
Details of our team and how to contact us can be found HERE.
Why is Geodiversity Important to You?
Let us Know!
Geodiversity is intrisically connected to so many aspects of life - we want to hear why YOU think geodiversity is important, and deserves an International Day to highlight this. Send us a video of no more than 90 seconds, telling us who you are, where you're from, and why geodiversity is important to you. We're interested to hear from people all over the world! We will select a number of these to be included in our website, and who knows, they may become part of the first International Geodiversity Day!
Please email your videos to Jack Matthews, jack.matthews(at)oum.ox.ac.uk.
Some examples of videos already sent in can be found below, as well as throughout the website:
Institute of Applied Ecology (Oikon)
Northern Velebit National Park
Vis Archipelago UNESCO Global Geopark
