Organisation and partners of the working group

• The Working Group of the international commission COGEOENVIRONMENT - the IUGS Commission on Geological Sciences for Environmental Planning.
• One of the active partners in the Working Group is the Centre for Metal Biology.
• The main organisation of the chairman is the Geological Survey of Sweden.

At the 28th International Geological Congress in Washington DC in 1989, a proposal was submitted to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) to establish a new commission for environmental geology. The proposal was accepted by the IUGS authorities and, at their executive committee meeting in Moscow in early 1990, the commission on geologic sciences for environmental planning, "Cogeoenvironment", was established. The definition of the term "environmental geology" is the study of the interaction between human activity and the geologic environment. It embraces geoscientific advice in planning and management of the environment. It also involves the prediction and forecasting of hazards and changes of the environment caused by human encroachment on geologic processes.

At its first annual meeting in The Netherlands in April 1990, the commission defined its terms of reference, goals and objectives in eight points:

• (1) To increase awareness among the general public of the essential contribution of geologic processes to sound planning and management of the environment.
• (2) To monitor the contribution of geoscience to environmental planning and management.
• (3) To encourage increased understanding among planners and decision makers of the value of the geosciences in planning the use and protection of the environment.
• (4) To strengthen the interest and participation of the geoscience community in the planning process, and encourage a greater sensitivity to the economic, social and political constraints involved.
• (5) To encourage the environmentally sound use of mineral and energy resources for sustainable development.
• (6) To promote the research required for a better understanding of environmental processes and for the development of new approaches and methods for solving problems.
• (7) To improve our capabilities to predict and forecast the evolution of the land and the geologic processes that affect society in the short and medium term, especially with regard to environmental impact assessments and natural hazards.
• (8) To improve communication, cooperation and the flow of information among earth scientists and other professionals working in this field, especially in those countries where environmental problems are most severe.
  

One important task for the commission is also to consider the impact of geology on human and animal health. Therefore it was decided in april 1996 in Spain, at a meeting of the commission. to establish an international working group on geoscience and health. The plans, objectives and terms of reference are included in this letter. As you can see this will be a very interdisciplinary group, involving both geoscientists, veterinary scientists and medicals. The framework of the group is broader than Environmental Geochemistry and Health and will be a complement to this latter topic. The main tasks will preliminary be to raise awareness of the matter of geoscience and health to environmentalists and decision makers and to produce information on proven relations between geology and health effects. Therefore work should also be carried out compiling methods distinguishing anthropogenic effects from natural effects caused by geology.

 Cooperative organizations

The Centre for Metal Biology

As one of the partners in the working group will be the Centre for Metal Biology in Sweden. During recent years there has been an increasing interest among politicians in Sweden in metal related diseases. Therefore the ‘Centre for Metal Biology’ was established in 1993, on the initiative of Swedish politicians. The members of the Centre are Uppsala University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Geological Survey of Sweden, the National Veterinary Institute, the University Hospital at Uppsala, and the municipality of Uppsala. The Centre was created as a scientific platform with the important tasks of performing research and informing various target groups such as politicians, physicians, veterinarians, teachers and students about the present state of knowledge in the field of heavy metals and diseases related to them in humans and animals. The Centre wants to increase and disseminate knowledge about metal biology through joint action and collaboration with other groups which have different research profiles and outlooks in order to increase the level of knowledge in the field of metal biology. With a strong background of research on metals in the air, soil, and water as well as on accumulation of these metals in animals and man, it is the intention of the Centre for Metal Biology to study the effect of either a deficiency or excess of metals. It is also the ambition of the centre to find efficient means far reducing or eliminating the load of metals on biological systems. Through the Centre for Metal Biology, possibilities for co-operation between disciplines are thus greatly increased. Therefore this Centre will be an active partner in the topic of Medical Geology.