2010 is a significant year for the Commission as it celebrates 50 years of work and a new Executive Secretary is appointed to succeed Patricio Bernal. Although the main celebratory event will be the next annual Executive Council meeting, activities are already underway in anticipation of the anniversary.

Commemorative table-top and mast-head flags, the latter to be flown on ships carrying out designated research cruises, were provided by the UK to IOC (see Fig. 2).


A ministerial round table at the UNESCO General Conference will be held this year (12/13 October) on the theme "Building stewardship for the ocean: the contribution of UNESCO to responsible ocean governance". The UK Minister for Marine Science will be invited.
 
As a body with functional autonomy, Member States were able to select six candidates from over 80 applicants for the post of IOC Executive Secretary, from which the Director General of UNESCO will make the appointment.

The Dyfi Valley has been officially recognised as the UK's second 'new style' UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The MAB International Coordinating Council (ICC) agreed to extend the original parameters of the biosphere reserve at its 21st session, held in May, bringing it in line with the 1995 Seville Strategy for biospheres. The whole of the Dyfi Valley, the area bounded from Aberystwyth, Llanbrynmair, Llanymawddwy, Corris Uchaf and Aberdyfi, has now become part of the new "Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere".

Welsh Environment Minister Jane Davidson said the award was a flagship project for Wales: "This status is a great honour not only for the area but also for Wales. The Dyfi Valley now joins a world-class group of special places for both people and nature. It provides a valuable example of how communities can live in a sustainable way". Allan Wynne Jones from the Dyfi Biosphere Partnership added: "Over the next year the partnership will be working hard to help local people take advantage of this new opportunity. We hope residents will use the new status to get involved with local projects aimed at sustaining the local economy, environment and culture".

For more information about the Dyfi Biosphere visit www.dyfibiosphere.org.uk.

The 21st session of the MAB-ICC, was held from 25 to 29 May 2009 on the Island of Jeju, Republic of Korea. A number of key decisions were made at the meeting, including the addition of 22 new sites from 17 countries to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) which now counts 553 sites in 107 countries. The ICC also reviewed the themes for its forward plan. Having produced the Madrid Action Plan (2008-13) for the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the ICC agreed particular ecosystem themes to focus effort over the coming 4 years: humid tropics, coastal and marine ecosystems, mountain regions, deserts, agro-ecosystems and urban systems. Climate change was recognised as a cross-cutting theme to tie in with the UNESCO Climate Change strategy.

Crucial to raising the profile of the biosphere reserve network within UNESCO and the UN system was the proposal that UNESCO's next General Conference consider how to use biosphere reserves more effectively as learning platforms in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. A recurring topic and example was the use of TV and film as an educational tool to convey the work within biosphere reserves and the wider MAB Programme.

There was significant progress reported against the actions of the Madrid Action Plan; in particular the development of the "Clearing House mechanism" as an interactive library of information from each of the reserves to share information and projects.

The session formally recognized the new name for Braunton Burrows- North Devon's Biosphere Reserve and the operational area of the extended catchment and marine area totaling 3500 sq km.

For more information on the 21st session of the MAB-ICC, visit this link.

The External Relations Committee of the Geological Society of London as the UK National Committee for the IGCP maintains frequent contact with the IGCP Secretariat in its role of administering and monitoring input into the IGCP's science projects by the Earth science community of the UK.
 
The Committee's continuing review of the IGCP's new structure noted that the decision of the IGCP Secretariat to replace the number of annually approved projects from 10 per year to a maximum of 5 projects (but with enlarged range and societal relevance) appears to have been well received by the profession. At a time when project proposals had been declining in number for some years, including 2006-7, response by the profession to the new structure has seen a doubling of the number of applications in both 2008 and 2009. Applications are now coming in from nations and scientists who have never before applied to IGCP, and expressions of interest in the new, broader themes have been broadly equal in number. In welcoming this outcome, the National Committee will continue its debate on ways of optimising both use of IGCP resources and introducing a much larger 'flagship programme' to integrate with 'big science' initiatives by other international organisations as a further means of enhancing the effectiveness of the new strategy introduced in 2008.
 
The Committee regards the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) as itself in a state of change and having the incentive and potential to initiate 'big science' projects, thus helping to boost the position of the IGCP.

The outcome the 2009 annual competition for UNESCO-IGCP project status included notable success by UK geoscientists. Five new projects were announced in March 2009 (to run for 5 years - 2009 to 2014), two of which involve co-leadership by UK Earth scientists. The first, entitled 'Radon, health and natural hazards' is led by co-leader and initiator Professor Gavin Gillmore (Kingston University) and also includes Dr. Robin Crockett (University of Nottingham) as co-leader. Other co-leaders come from France, Poland, Taiwan and India. A second project on 'Evolution of Asian river systems' is co-led by Professor Peter Clift (University of Aberdeen), with other co-leaders from China, Japan, India, Australia and Taiwan. All three remaining projects include UK involvement of scientists from the Universities of Portsmouth, Brunel, Liverpool, Lancaster, Stirling, Durham and Southampton. Thirteen of the current 37 active projects are co-led by UK scientists, which is somewhat higher than within the past 37 years of IGCP.