2008 International Year of Planet Earth
United Nations has proclaimed 2008 International Year of Planet Earth
The United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York, has proclaimed the year 2008 to be the United Nations International Year of Planet Earth. The Year's activities will span the three years 2007-2009.
The Year's purpose is to:
- Reduce risks for society caused by natural and human-induced hazards
- Reduce health problems by improving understanding of the medical aspects of Earth science
- Discover new natural resources and make them available in a sustainable manner
- Build safer structures and expand urban areas, utilizing natural subsurface conditions
- Determine the non-human factor 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 Earth science in university