The 35th International Geological Congress will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, between 28 August and 4 September 2016.
The event will be held in the acclaimed Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town, the “Mother City of South Africa”. Cape Town, with its beautiful setting on the southern tip of Africa, boasts Table Mountain, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, as its backdrop.
The 35th IGC will highlight the region’s geoscientific superlatives. The world-famous geology, geoheritage, and the geological and the scenic wonders of South and southern Africa will be comprehensively discussed. Ample opportunity for discussion and debate are provided for by the planned scientific symposia during a diverse scientific programme of oral and poster presentations, workshops, short courses and business meetings. With the cooperation of several other African countries, the aim of the large number of pre- and post-congress excursions and day trips is to allow visitors and delegates their very own experience of the geological superlatives of Africa and southern African. Further highlights of the 35th IGC include a large exhibition and geoscience outreach programmes under the overarching theme: Geology in Society, the Economy and Science, which encompasses all aspects of the geosciences. The focus of these outreach programmes will be the promotion of geoheritage globally, and especially in Africa. A special volume on the geoheritage of Africa is envisaged, which will highlight a number of the most spectacular geological wonders of Africa.
The currently debated issues in the geosciences will be featured. Proposed topics include climate change, the global energy crisis, water resources, resourcing the future mineral needs of nations, natural disaster mitigation, acid mine drainage and the protection and promotion of geoheritage. The scientific programme remains open for comment and the organizers invite suggestions.
More than forty field trips are planned. The diverse destinations include the Witwatersrand gold fields, the Bushveld Complex, the Karoo sedimentary basin, the Central African Copperbelt, the West African Rift Valley, the Okavango Delta and the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe.
A GeoHost programme aims to enable and support delegates from developing nations in Africa, as well as other regions, to attend the workshops, short courses and symposia of the scientific programme most relevant to the needs of such developing nations.
A number of symposia and workshops will also be devoted to the needs of young earth scientists through cooperation with the Young Earth Scientists Network. UNESCO has granted its patronage to the 35th IGC, adding to the relevance of the congress to developing countries.
The 35th IGC will incorporate the 2016 meetings of the Commissions, Task Groups and Joint Programmes of the IUGS and a Young Earth Scientists (YES) Congress. All geoscience groups are invited to consider integrating their 2016 meetings into the 35th IGC, to benefit from the opportunities being offered for synergies and networking.
By inviting you to attend the 35th IGC, the Local Organising Committee and the geoscience community of Africa are extending the well-known South African hospitality to all geoscientists globally.