News & Notices
Proposal
for Designation of 2011 as an International Year of Chemistry
At its recent Assembly on August 11-12 August 2007, IUPAC Council endorsed
the plan to obtain United Nations approval of 2011 as an International
Year of Chemistry. The Union is therefore pleased to invite all Adhering
Organizations, Associated Organizations, and other Chemical Societies
to assist with a designation that would create a strategic opportunity
to communicate the central importance of chemistry in every facet of
modern life.
The decade 2005-2014 is the United
Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. As a central
contribution to the decade, IUPAC wishes to enlist as large as possible
various chemical communities support in obtaining designation of 2011
as the International Year of Chemistry.
Chemists play a key role in providing solutions to many of the major
challenges facing the world today, helping to address the Millennium
goals. This initiative is being led by the International Union for Pure
and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), a worldwide scientific organization that
objectively addresses global issues in the chemical sciences, and with
a truly global reach with just about 50 National Adhering Organizations
and 20 Associate National Adhering Organizations.
You can support the nomination of the Year of Chemistry at the UNESCO
General Conference, September 2007, where it is planned to be introduced
as a resolution, by contacting your National Committee/Delegation to
UNESCO. This is a most important first step prior to a request later
this year that the United Nations declare 2011 the International Year
of Chemistry.
> UNESCO contact
details > http://erc.unesco.org/portal/
PermanentDelegations.asp?language=en
An International Year of Chemistry will:
- Serve as a focal point for activities by national chemical societies,
educational institutions, and non-governmental organisations
- Enhance the understanding and appreciation of chemistry amongst
the public
- Promote the role of chemistry in contributing to solutions to many
global problems
- Build capacity by engaging young people with scientific disciplines
- Serve as a catalyst for international cooperation
This is a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity for national and regional
chemical societies, educators, industrial associations, and others to
join together to raise the profile of chemistry around the world and
communicate the central importance of chemistry in every facet of modern
life.
Further information regarding the proposed International Year of Chemistry
can be obtained from:
Prof. Peter G. Mahaffy (King's University College, Edmonton, Canada)
e-mail: [email protected]
Dr. John M. Malin (Arlington, VA, USA)
email: [email protected]
or from the IUPAC Secretariat at
<[email protected]>.
first posted 27 August
07
> Follow-up Update from Prof. Bryan Henry, the President of IUPAC
(pdf file 107KB;
3 Oct 2007).