IUGG XXI
Comptes Rendus
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IUGG XXI |
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OPENING ADDRESS
G. Balmino
Secretary General, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues. It is a pleasure for me to report on my first four-year term as Secretary General of the Union. It has been a difficult period for a secretary, in a rapidly changing world, with many challenges, budget cuts in many countries, trendy science sometimes competing with basic science, but also and fortunately with more and more people eager to do good science in our area and to contribute to the life of the Union and its Associations.
The membership in the Union increased.
Since the closing of the Vienna Assembly in 1991: Russia replaced the ex-USSR; Czechoslovakia membership was transferred to the two daughter states: Czech Republic and Slovakia; Estonia, Croatia and Slovenija became members, also Mongolia, the Ex-Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia, the Academy of Sciences located in Taipei as accepted by the Council today.
During this period, many other countries expressed their desire to apply for membership. Correspondence with scientists from these countries is continued.
The core of the Administration was done by e-mail, letters, faxes, and telephone. A great deal was also accomplished at regular meetings of Union officers.
The Bureau met briefly in Vienna just before the closure of this last Assembly. It then met: in Beijing, China (June, 1992), in Paris, France (Nov., 1993), in Boulder, last year in July and here three days ago.
The Bureau meetings in 1992 and 1993 and last week were followed by an Executive Committee meeting.
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 this Committee for decisions.
The Executive Committee formally met three times: in Beijing, in 1992, in Paris, in 1993, and two days ago.
In addition, a meeting of the Associations Presidents with the Bureau was held here last year.
At the Beijing meeting, important discussions took place on the consequences of the recent geopolitical changes, and especially as concerns the former Soviet Union. Among other matters, a change in statute 4 was analyzed and discussed, which resulted in an important proposal made to and accepted by the Council today.
The Paris meeting was a key one in that it was largely devoted to the preparation of this 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. 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 this 21st. General Assembly, since this offered the opportunity to everyone concerned to visit the premises and have a better view of the facilities. At all meetings and also by correspondence, important questions on structural changes were discussed under the guidance of the Advisory Board on Scientific Policy of which the chairman is our Vice-President, and which has been very active over this period.
The Secretariat work has been growing rapidly over these years due to a constant increase of the number of documents to be circulated. This was performed thanks to two part time secretaries and the help of the Assistant Secretary General. A large part of the logistics was covered by the French Space Agency.
We managed the daily administration of the Union, the announcement of meetings, the circulation of all information, reports of administrative or scientific nature, of which many were published in the Chronicle. We prepared the agendas and the minutes of the meetings of the Bureau and Executive Committee and participated in all of them. We also prepared and circulated the program and agendas of the meetings that the Council, the Executive Committee and the Bureau will hold during these two weeks.
I visited the Union President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and the Honorary Secretary General, for administrative discussions and on the occasion of personal travel for scientific business. I 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 I attended the UN Conference on IDNDR in Yokohama, last year, and my staff and I prepared a brochure on this part of the Union activities, with the help of the Associations. I also participated in the FAGS Council Meeting last April, as new representative of IUGG.
We prepared the annual reports to ICSU as well as the requests for ICSU-UNESCO grants every year, following inputs from the Associations. We also managed the allocation of grants to the organizers of twenty symposia, workshops, schools in different areas, and of grants to individuals to attend this General Assembly.
We organized the provisional admission of new Member Countries and prepared the proposals for changes in the Union Statutes and By-Laws which are discussed here by the Council.
The scientific part of the activities of the Union is in the hands of its seven Associations and of its inter-Association and inter-Union commissions.
These activities have been reported at each meeting of the Executive Committee and are the core of the annual activity report to ICSU. Reports also appeared in several issues of the Chronicle.
Six Associations (including IAMAS and IAHS which did it jointly) organised a scientific assembly during this period; each one was very well attended and successful.
IAPSO, which is unfortunately not with us today, has planned a joint scientific meeting with IAMAS for 1997, in Melbourne.
The Commissions on Mathematical Geophysics, on Tsunamis, and SEDI (Study of the Earth Deep Interior) have also been quite active and held several meetings of high level.
The International Commission of the Lithosphere is a joint commission of the International Union of the Geological Sciences and of IUGG; it is unanimously recognized as serving an important role in improving collaboration between these two families and, after having completed many activities, is going to start here its fourth five-year term.
Our President has had the responsibility of our relationship with ICSU and our links with various Committees of ICSU are quite good thanks to our representatives. Let me especially quote COSPAR, SCAR, SCOPE, SCOR, SCOSTEP and naturally FAGS.
The Union also has very active representatives or liaison officers with other bodies such as IAU, UNESCO, WMO, who provided reports to this General Assembly.
Besides the various journals and publications of the Associations, the Union has one publication: the Chronicle. The continuation of its publication since 1991 has been the responsibility of P. Melchior in his position of Honorary Secretary General. Twenty issues (207-226) have been published over this period, at a rate of five issues per year.
Unfortunately the Chronicle experiences a very severe crisis: it has been more and more difficult to get publishable material in the last years from the Associations, commissions, and the National Committees.
Solutions to continue such a publication or to find a substitute are to be discussed during this General Assembly.
To conclude, I would say that 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.
Thank you!
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