IAVCEI collaborates not only with other Associations within IUGG International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, but with other international organisations too. UNESCO, in particular, has been a long-term associate of IAVCEI. It supports, especially, the role that IAVCEI plays in mitigating volcanic disasters. UNESCO has been supportive recently in the production of the video tape “Understanding Volcanic Hazards” (see below) and in the preparation of a volume of papers on monitoring volcanoes and assessing volcanic hazards. IAVCEI is involved with the UNESCO International Mobile Early-Warning System)s) for Volcanic Eruption and Related Seismic Activities (IMEWS) through the IAVCEI World Organisation of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) Commission (see below). IAVCEI also has links with the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs.
IAVCEI currently is committed to the aims of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly to run between 1990 and 1999. The general objective of the IDNDR is `to reduce through concerted international action, especially in developing countries, the loss of life, property damage, and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters’ (UN General Assembly Resolution 44/236). The IAVCEI Bureau established a special IDNDR Task Group that was active in generating a practical set of objectives for IAVCEI during the course of the Decade, and which is now a Sub-Commission of the Commission on the Mitigation of Volcanic Disasters (see below). The aims of IDNDR are in line with the independently derived and long-standing commitment of IAVCEI to foster a greater understanding of high-risk volcanoes throughout the world.
Another international project of interest to IAVCEI is the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) which has been advanced through ICSU. IGBP is concerned with global change, and especially with assessing the effects of man-made activities on the environment, such as the production of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, methane, and other gas emissions, primarily through fossil-fuel burning. Volcanism also can have a major influence on the gas and aerosol content of the atmosphere, andtherefore IAVCEI has established a Commission entitled Volcanism and the Earth’s atmosphere (see below) to tackle this topic in the context of global change.
The International Union of Geological Sciences is one of the largest non-governmental scientific organizations in the world. It promotes and encourages the study of geological problems, especially those of worldwide significance. It co-sponsors the quadrennial International Geological Congress, the International Geological Correlation Program and the International Lithosphere Program (with IUGG and ICSU). International Union of Geological Sciences IUGS-International Union of Geological Sciences.
The International Lithosphere Program The purpose of the ILP is to study the nature, dynamics, origin, and evolution of the lithosphere through international, multidisciplinary research projects and coordinating committees. The program operates under four program themes: geoscience of global change, continental dynamics and deep processes, continental lithosphere, and oceanic lithosphere. The ILP solicits suggestions for new projects each year. For information on current ILP projects, visit ILP’s home page at this link.