On behalf of the Management Team of the International Year of Planet Earth I wish you a healthy and exciting New Year.
It is with great pleasure that I can announce the decision by the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 2008 as the UN Year of Planet Earth. On the 22nd of December the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a Resolution by the United Republic of Tanzania and co-signed by 82 nations, to proclaim 2008 as the UN Year of Planet Earth. The press release issued by the UN after adoption of the Resolution, reads as follows:

"By a draft on the International Year of Planet Earth, 2008, which the Committee approved without a vote on 11 November, the Assembly would declare 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth. It would also designate the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to organize activities to be undertaken during the Year, in collaboration with UNEP and other relevant United Nations bodies, the International Union of Geological Sciences and other Earth sciences societies and groups throughout the world. Also by that draft, the Assembly would encourage Member States, the United Nations system and other actors to use the Year to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences in achieving sustainable development and promoting local, national, regional and international action."

The Committee, to which the Press Release refers, is the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly where the International Year was discussed in two terms and approved before it was brought in the Plenary Session of the General Assembly. In fact, the International Year of Planet Earth will be a triennium, starting in 2007 and closing by the end of 2009, with the UN Year of Planet Earth 2008 in the centre.
UN proclamation, with significant political implications, would never have been possible without your great and continuous support and that of the Initiators, IUGS and UNESCO. On behalf of the Management Team, I would like to express our greatest appreciation and gratitude to you making this possible. We sincerely hope that the International Year of Planet Earth will continue enjoying your support and encouragement until the end of the triennium!
The next meeting of the Management Team will be held in Paris, on 27th and 28th January.
With my kind regards

Eduardo F.J. de Mulder
Chair Management Team International Year of Planet Earth


SECOND LETTER FROM ED DE MULDER, 1 February 2006

Dear Colleague,
It is my great pleasure to announce that the General Assembly of the United Nations, at its Plenary Session of 22nd of December 2005, proclaimed 2008 as the UN Year of Planet Earth by consensus. This UN Year is the core year of the 2007-2009 triennium during which the International Year of Planet Earth (Earth Science for Society) will operate. This will be the first ever UN Year for the Earth Sciences.
The Press Release issued by the UN, is reproduced below.
"By a draft on the International Year of Planet Earth, 2008, which the Committee approved without a vote on 11 November, the Assembly would declare 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth. It would also designate the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to organize activities to be undertaken during the Year, in collaboration with UNEP and other relevant United Nations bodies, the International Union of Geological Sciences and other Earth sciences societies and groups throughout the world. Also by that draft, the Assembly would encourage Member States, the United Nations system and other actors to use the Year to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences in achieving sustainable development and promoting local, national, regional and international action."
The International Year of Planet Earth aims to demonstrate the great achievements made in the geosciences and to urge politicians and decision- makers to apply such knowledge for the benefit of humankind. Now that this IUGS and UNESCO initiative has collected the political support of 191 UN member countries, our fund-raising campaign will begin with approaches to a broad sweep of the private sector including extraction industries, governments, foundations, insurance companies, banks et cetera.
The International Year of Planet Earth will soon be incorporated as a legal entity with tax exempt status for donations. It will consist of a Board of Stakeholders (IUGS, UNESCO, Chairs of the Outreach, Science and Development Committees, Founding Partners, Sponsors, donors and regional representatives) and a Secretariat.
The Secretariat will be outsourced, and the call for proposals will be open until 15th of April 2006. We invite all professional geoscientific and other qualified bodies to consider hosting the International Year's Secretariat. For more details, please go to the Year's website: www.yearofplanetearth.org.
National implementation of the Year of Planet Earth is essential for its success. We kindly invite all of you to approach your national IUGS representative, UNESCO Commission or any other relevant geoscience body inn your country to start preparations for your own national Year of Planet Earth in connection and cooperation with the International Year's Secretariat. For that purpose you may wish to select 2007, 2008 or 2009, as best suits your national needs. As the preparation for UN proclamation and promotion of the International Year has been the joint responsibility of IUGS and UNESCO and of the Founding Partners, we propose that representatives of these bodies be included in your National Committee. In order to maximize advantages to be gained from the International activities and the services provided by the international Secretariat of the Year's Corporation, as well as adding an international dimension and outreach component to your national activities, we propose to formalize such relations through written agreements. Suggestions for developing national committees for the Year of Planet Earth can be downloaded from the Year's website: www.yearofplanetearth.org.
Calls are open now for submitting international project proposals on the outreach programme and on selected science themes. Again, please go to our website for downloading Expression of Interest forms and submit these to the (IUGS) Secretariat.
Finally, I invite you to 'spread the word' about this major global event in the history of the Earth Sciences; never before have all nations of the world explicitly invited our geoscience communities to convey their knowledge to society with a view to having decision-makers and governments make use of that knowledge for the benefit of all humankind. Let us work hard together to ensure that this unique triennium will be the greatest (geo)show on Earth!