IUGG XXI
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ADMINISTRATIVE AND SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

Report of the IUGG Secretary General for the Period
from the XX General Assembly to March 31, 1995

1. Membership in the Union

At the closing of the 20th General Assembly in Vienna, there were 79 member countries with the following distribution:
Europe27
North and Central America5
Asia20
Africa19
South America6
Oceania2

Since then, Russia replaced the ex-USSR; Czechoslovakia membership was transferred to the two daughter states: Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993 after unanimous vote of the Executive Committee; Estonia, Croatia and Slovenija became provisional members respectively in 1992, 1993, 1994 after a vote by correspondence of the Adhering Bodies. All these memberships have to be ratified by the Council when it meets in July 1995.

During this period, many other countries expressed their desire to apply for membership, e.g. Costa Rica, Latvia, Moldova, Mongolia, Ukraine, Yemen. Correspondence with some scientists from these countries is continued by the Secretary General or via the Associations.

It must be noted that Guinea and Burundi, whose membership was accepted in 1987, have been suspended due to non payment of dues since that date.

Several other countries, being unfortunately in serious arrears of payment, are in observer status according to Statute 14.

2. Administration

Bureau

The Bureau elected at the XX General Assembly met briefly in Vienna (Aug. 23, 1991) just before the closure of this Assembly. It then met:

- in Beijing, China (June 1-3, 1992)

- in Paris, France (Nov. 16, 1993).

- in Boulder, Colorado, USA (July 18, 1994).

Each one of these meetings was followed by an Executive Committee meeting (in Beijing and Paris) or by a meeting of the Association Presidents (in Boulder).

The Bureau, on these occasions and by correspondence, dealt with all administrative matters. Some decisions were taken which, in conformity to the Statutes, did not require the consultation of the Executive Committee. In other cases, items were debated and then presented to the Executive Committee for decisions.

Executive Committee

It formally met two times:

- in Beijing, China (June 3-5, 1992)

- in Paris, France (Nov. 17-18, 1993) in accordance with by-law 12.

In addition, a meeting of the Association Presidents with the Bureau took place in Boulder, USA (July 19 20, 1994).

At the Beijing meeting, important discussions took place on the consequences of the recent geopolitical changes, and especially the policy to be adopted with respect to the Republics of the former Soviet Union; the decision was to be in line with ICSU policy by which those Republics could become member with no formality, should they so desire. A change in statute 4 was also analyzed and discussed, which resulted in the proposal made this year to the Council (together with other proposals for changes in various items of the statutes and by-laws). The Associations reported at length on their scientific activities and fruitful exchanges took place. The agenda for the meeting (Reading, UK, Dec. 1992) of the Fluid Earth Sciences Committee was also prepared, with emphasis on geochemistry and environmental problems.

The Paris meeting was a key one in that it was largely devoted to the preparation of the 21st General Assembly. The Chairman of the Program Committee at Boulder was invited and the main items of the program of Union symposia and interdisciplinary symposia were established. Proposals for Union lectures were also discussed. Besides regular administration matters and reviews, it was decided that: the Fluid Earth Sciences Committee (which met for a short time in Paris) would lie dormant because all past problems had been clarified. The Finances of the Associations were discussed, following works of and correspondence between the Finance Committee chairman (who was present at the meeting), the President of IAGA and the Treasurer. An adhoc committee was formed to prepare a well documented proposal for the next year. An important proposal on changes of statutes and by-laws of IAVCEI was discussed; some items were found to be in conflict with the Union statutes and IAVCEI was asked to make proper revisions. For the first time, the seven Secretaries General of the Associations held a separate meeting which was very fruitful in exchanging views on day-to-day business and the general running of the Associations.

Boulder was chosen as the place of the last meeting before the 21st General Assembly, since this offered the opportunity to everyone concerned to visit the premises and have a better view of the facilities. An account of the logistics and local organization was given by the Local Host Committee (chaired by the past Vice-President of IUGG). During the meeting, at which the Program Committee Chairman was invited, many features of the scientific program itself but also of the overall organization were reviewed. On the other hand, important questions were discussed: structural changes proposed by the Associations Secretaries General (versus other proposals and versus the study and report of the Advisory Board on Scientific Policy see further down), revised proposal for changes of the IAVCEI statutes, proposal for the finances of IUGG and of the Associations (made by the adhoc committee formed in Paris). Furthermore the chairmen of the Committee on Mathematical Geophysics and of the Inter-Union Commission on the Lithosphere were invited and came to deliver a report on their activities.

Advisory Board on Scientific Policy

This special Board was established by the Bureau in 1989. Following the "Recommendations concerning missions and objectives of IUGG" (Chronicle 204, pp. 4-9, 1991), this committee continued to operate under the chairmanship of the Vice-President, with the Association Presidents and two outsiders as members. The committee mostly worked by correspondence. The 1991 document was revised. The implementation of recommended actions was found difficult. However, an outcome is a set of modifications to the IUGG Statutes and By-Laws which are to be presented to the Council at Boulder (they were prepared by a smaller committee).

Secretariat

All documents, current files and archives, were moved in September 1991 from Brussels (Belgium) to the office of the new Secretary General (SG) in Toulouse (France) in September 1991, following a visit of the SG to the Honorary Secretary General (Baron Prof. P. Melchior). Specific documents necessary to run the production and distribution of the Chronicle remained in Brussels and will be left there until the end of 1995, at the time when the responsibility of this publication is to fall under the present SG. An assistant Secretary General was nominated. Besides helping the SG, his role will be to take the responsibility of the Chronicle on January 1, 1996.

The Secretariat work has been growing rapidly over these years due to an increase of the number of documents to be circulated, of faxes, electronic-mail messages ... This is performed thanks to two part time secretaries (who also work for the Bureau Gravimétrique International one of the FAGS offices, and for a department of the French Space Center). A large part of the logistics is covered by the French Space Agency.

The SG has managed the daily administration of the Union, the circulation of all information and documents of interest, the announcement of meetings, reports of administrative or scientific nature, of which many were published in the Chronicle. He has prepared the agendas and the minutes of the meetings of the Bureau and Executive Committee and participated in all these meetings at which he presented a summary report of the Secretariat works. He also prepared and circulated the program and agendas of the meetings that the Council, the Executive Committee and the Bureau will held at Boulder and visited (with other members of the Executive Committee and Bureau) the place of this coming General Assembly in 1994.

He visited the Union President, the Vice-President and the Honorary Secretary General, for administrative discussions and on the occasion of personal travel for scientific business. He also met the IAVCEI President and Secretary General to specifically discuss their statute changes proposal. He met with the Scientific Programme chairman of the 21st Assembly in France. He was appointed secretary of the IDNDR Committee (after the transfer of its prerogative to the Executive Committee) and prepared its meetings, agendas and minutes in 1993 and 1994; in this position he also attended the UN Conference on IDNDR (Yokohama, Japan) in May 1994 at which he presented a poster on the Union activities in this domain (with the help and worthy contribution of some Associations). He is to travel to the FAGS Council Meeting (April 1995) as new representative of IUGG (after P. Melchior).

Whenever known, changes in the composition of the National Committees were immediately put in the computerized data base and the information circulated widely. This data base initially came from the office of the Honorary Secretary General and is permanently updated. The address, telephone and fax numbers of over 2500 persons related to IUGG are in computerized form and will be the basis of the future yearbook (1996).

The SG has prepared the annual report to ICSU for 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 as well as the requests for ICSU-UNESCO grants every year (presentation of three projects at a time) following inputs from the Associations. He also managed the allocation of grants to the organizers of twenty symposia, workshops, schools in different areas, and of grants to individuals to attend the 21st General Assembly (after consulting the Associations and Commissions).

The SG organized the provisional admission of new Member Countries: circulation of applications, discussion and voting of the Executive Committee, vote by correspondence of all current Members.

The SG prepared the proposals for changes in the Union Statutes and By-Laws which are to be discussed by the Council at Boulder.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee met in September 1993 in Tortosa (Spain). It examined the financial situation and the budget of the Union. The Chairman of this Committee attended one session of the Executive Committee meeting in Paris (Nov. 1993) at which he was invited.

The Finance Committee will report to the Council.

3. Scientific Activities of the Union

They have been reported at each meeting of the Executive Committee and are the core of the annual activity report to ICSU. In particular, the scientific assemblies which most Associations have held in 1993 and 1994 have been reported in the 1993 report to ICSU, of which copy was sent to all Adhering Bodies or National Committees) and in the 1994 report. Reports on attendance, various symposia, highlights ...also appeared in several issues of the Chronicle.

To summarize, these are the Association Scientific Assemblies which took place during this period:

IAPSO had put all efforts in preparing the 21st General Assembly. Unfortunately, in the fall of 1994, the Executive Committee of this Association deemed the University of Colorado at Boulder non appropriate to their sessions and consequently decided to hold a separate scientific assembly in Hawaii in August 1995, despite all efforts made by the Bureau, the U.S. organizers and the Program Committee to bring them back to Boulder.

IAPSO has planned a joint scientific meeting with IAMAP in 1997, in Melbourne (Australia).

The number of Symposia organized by the Associations, the various commissions and committees (of the Union, of ICSU, or inter-Association ones), of direct interest to geodesy and geophysics, has been very large. Every time it was possible, announcements appeared in the Chronicle and/or reports were published afterwards.

Besides, IUGG has been deeply involved in natural disaster reduction activities via its Associations. Many of them have projects in the framework of the UN program for the decade (IDNDR). Moreover the Union, with its Past President, has been fostering a project to study instabilities of megacities. At the Executive Committee meeting in Beijing (1992) it was decided to transform the IDNDR Committee created in 1990 and to pass the action to the Associations. The newly formed committee consists of the Associations Presidents, Bureau members and Past President (the secretariat is done by the Union SG). At the Yokohama UN conference in 1994, the committee presented several posters. A brochure illustrating the works of the Associations in this domain is in preparation.

4. Inter-Association Commissions

Mathematical Geophysics

This committee held two meetings of high scientific level:

- in Taxco (Mexico): 21-26 June 1992, organized in four sessions (Inverse problems; lithospheric dynamics; low frequency observation of the Earth's structure; non linear dynamics and the solid Earth)

- in Villefranche-Sur-Mer (France): 19-24 June 1994, it was entitled "Complex space-time geophysical structures", and dealt with the physics of earthquakes, geophysical turbulence, self-organization, mantle dynamics and seismic tomography, coupled Earth processes.

SEDI (Study of the Earth's Deep Interior)

It is also a very active group which has yielded the formation of SEDI national groups (e.g. in the US, in Japan, in Canada, in China, in France).

Two international symposia were held: in Mizusawa (Japan) in 1992, and in Whistler (B.C., Canada) in 1994.

Tsunami Commission

This commission, created long ago by IAPSO and IASPEI, works closely with senior inter-governmental bodies, notably IOC and UNESCO. It was very active during the elapsed period (16th Int. Tsunami Symposium, contribution to IDNDR, establishment of an electronic Bulletin Board on Internet, publication of scientific articles).

5. Inter-Union Commissions and ICSU Bodies

International Commission of the Lithosphere

It is a joint commission of the International Union of the Geological Sciences and of IUGG, created in 1980, and it is unanimously recognized as serving an important role in improving collaboration between these two families since many of the most important questions in Earth Sciences require interaction between these.

ICL terminates its third five-year term with the completion of many activities (continued from the second term, and new ones) with the following themes: the geoscience of global change, contemporary dynamics and deep processes, continental lithosphere, oceanic lithosphere. A review by ICSU took place in the fall of 1994, which was very positive.

IUGG strongly supports the continuation of this commission after 1995. The Associations have been asked to appoint a liaison scientist to interact with the Union representative on ICL in his relationship with this commission.

ICSU

The IUGG President represents the Union in the General Committee and attended the General Assemblies of ICSU. He was also elected member of the ICSU Executive Board.

Projects like IGBP continue to receive great attention and ties established by the Associations resulted in many projects reflecting the input of IUGG.

Since 1991, fifteen projects have been financially supported by ICSU-UNESCO grants in the various areas of activity of IUGG.

ICSU Committees

FAGS: It is a federation of nine services, initiated by and having strong links with IUGG, IAU and URSI. These services hold world data bases, dedicated to certain domains and are very efficient at re-distributing information, after thorough validation or in very elaborated form. This efficiency results from the direct links which exist with the community of contributors and users, from the high degree of expertise and technicality of the scientists and staff which operate these services, and thanks to the generous support of the national organizations which house them.

WDCs (World Data Centres): The spirit by which these centres operate (mass archival, strictly speaking) is quite different from FAGS.

Ideas for a tentative merging of the WDCs, FAGS and CODATA were put up by ICSU during this period but aborted when this fact (of the basic difference between these bodies) was recognized.

On the occasion of the reviewing of the ICSU Panel o n WDCs membership, and after realizing that our official r epresentation had been non-effective, the IUGG E xecutive Committee decided that the Associations will in the future directly link with this panel.

CODATA: Following recommendations by our representative, considering that the major domain of activity and interests of CODATA (mostly biology oriented) were drifting away from those of the Union, the Bureau and Associations Presidents decided, in July 1994, to withdraw from this Committee at the Union level, but to keep links via some Associations wherever necessary, for higher efficiency.

Other Committees

The Union continues to cooperate with several other committees of ICSU and plays some role in their activities thanks to the participation of representatives, who support the Union views in these Committees and at some of their meetings and report to the Union. They are: COSPAR, SCAR, SCOPE, SCOR, SCOSTEP. COWAR was closed in 1993 (it became another committee with individual members only). In 1991, the IUGG Council decided to stop the support of CTS; however the former representative was sent to a meeting of this committee in July 1993 (Paris, France).

6. Other Bodies

- The Union has representatives on WMO, IHO. It is to be noted that WMO holds a great number of meetings; many of them have been attended by our representative (the Secretary General of IAMAP) plus sometimes the Secretary General of IAHS. Our representative on IHO has apparently been inactive.

- Our liaison officer with UNESCO has been very active. An inventory of the relationships between the Associations and some UNESCO Divisions was made, which is part of a report annexed to this document.

- The Union has also liaison officers with the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (which has direct links with IAG).

7. The Chronicle

The Chronicle was established in 1957 by G. Laclavère (who died on September 26, 1994, after a long illness). The continuation of the publication of the Chronicle since 1991 has been the responsibility of P. Melchior; 19 issues (207 to 225) have been published, at a rate of five issues per year (instead of six during the previous period). Printing costs have been kept very low thanks to the effort of P. Melchior, and thanks to the sponsoring of the mailing by the Museum of Natural History of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Besides the free distribution in the member countries (three copies per unit of subscription), there are over 200 subscriptions per year on average (217 in 1994), a non negligible percentage being not paid!

Unfortunately the Chronicle experiences a very severe crisis. Although it constitutes the memory of the Union, where one should in principle find all traces of activity, meetings, symposia, ..., the adhoc information which normally should regularly flow from the Associations does not, or with difficulty. Whereas a couple of Associations, plus a few individuals, chairmen of commissions, etc., provide regular input to the Chronicle, the majority seems not to find enough time (interest?) for doing so, and it has been more and more difficult to get publishable material in the last years. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Union (IUGG was one of the first three international unions founded in 1919), the Associations were asked in mid-1994 to write a summary of their history and main achievements for publication in the Chronicle but most of them have been very slow at doing it (or even did not yet provide their text). Also, the National Committees have been invited to write in the Chronicle, but with no effect so far.

These difficulties have been discussed among Bureau members and Association Presidents, and it was decided to create an Editorial Board composed of the Secretary General and his assistant, and with the Association Secretaries General (or another representative). The role of this board is: (i) to collect material to be sent to the present editor of the Chronicle until the end of 1995, at which date the responsibility of the publication will be transferred to the SG office (and more precisely to the Assistant Secretary General); (ii) to maintain the Chronicle in the most interesting form, especially by bringing in better status reports, outlooks for the future, reviews of inter-Association activities.

8. Conclusion

Taking over the position of my brilliant predecessor P. Melchior has been quite a task, although it was made easier by his constant help as I was setting out in office. His help from time to time, when I discovered new facets of my responsibilities, is also gratefully acknowledged.

I heartily thank all those who also helped me, regularly or on occasion, and especially the Union President, Bureau Members, and many Association Presidents and Secretaries General.

As I am going to remain in office (I now fully understand the contents of by-law 10, paragraph 2: the minimum time required to master the diversity of affairs is quite long!) some of those faces will change. I welcome the new ones and wish that, like their elders, they quickly cooperate and help me in my duties.

G. Balmino
IUGG Secretary General
March 31, 1995

IUGG XXI
Comptes Rendus

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