A report on his activities during 1995 was received from Bill Fyfe who is President of the International Union of Geological Sciences. He believes that IUGS must focus on geosciences in the service of society. In meetings with UNESCO in Paris the direction of the International Geological Correlation Program was turned toward resources and the environment. A special issue of "Nature and Resources" on "Partnerships in Geoscience" was issued on this topic. At a special meeting of the European Geological Surveys in Trondheim the role of the geologist in areas such as highway construction was emphasized. Two meetings in India on urban waste and problems arising from coal- energy-technology were held. An international meeting on the need for new technologies to protect the environment took place in London, Ontario. At the annual meeting in Thailand of the International Commission on Scientific Unions the IUGS program on "Partnership for Earth Management" was presented. A diverse group of experts is being assembled to move it forward. The Commission formed a special group in which IUGS is now a major player, to examine sustainable energy.

Fyfe attended and participated in the 3rd Pacific Rim Congress in New Zealand, the World Bank Meetings in Rio and Sao Paulo, the executive meetings in Jordan and Adelaide, and the Continental Scientific Drilling Project meeting in Colorado.

A special review group on nuclear waste disposal was organized by Fyfe and close relationships have developed with Japan and Sweden on this topic. A special meeting in Japan on stress in the crust initiated a new program involving urban planning, architecture, materials, and earth sciences. UNESCO press has published "A Global Geochemical Database" with A. Darnley as the key editor. IUGS is forming a working group to expand this work on geochemistry of the earth surface.

Standing Committee On International Geoscientific Relations

This is a summary of the reports on international activities of Canadian organizations in 1995 presented at, or submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Standing Committee on December 11th, 1995 at the Geological Survey of Canada. The request for reports this year was accompanied by a series of questions formulated to solicit specific information on financial support of the organization and the participation of Canadians in the international bodies with which many organizations are affiliated. The answers to these questions are incorporated in the reports. These reports record only a part of Canada's international geoscientific activities; several organizations that are invited to report each year do not reply.

Canadian Chapter, International Association of Hydrologists

The Canadian Chapter is polling its members to determine whether they wish the chapter to join the Canadian Geotechnical Society. The chapter is funded by membership fees, 90 per cent of which are sent to the International Association. The International Association met in Edmonton in June of 1995 with an attendance of about 800. The emphasis was on groundwater problems in the 1990s.

Canadian Society of Coal and Organic Petrology

Recent activity has been focused on production of the "Atlas of Canadian Coal and Organic Petrology". Industry is being lobbied for corporate memberships. The Canadian Society is affiliated with the Society for Organic Petrology and the International Commission for Coal Petrology. The vice-president of the international body and the chairman of the international commisssion are Canadians. The Society solicits industry support to bring foreign delegates to Canadian meetings.

Canadian Continental Drilling Program (W. C. Brisbin)

A more complete report on the activities of this program appears elsewhere in this report; this paragraph summarizes the international aspects. The Canadian steering committee has been invited by the Committee on Scientific Drilling of the International Lithosphere Program to establish an international continental drilling program. Membership would be about US$ 700,000.The principal movers in this enterprise are the USA, Germany, and Japan. Canada was represented at a Dec. 10th meeting of this group at Stanford.

Commission on Comparative Planetology - IUGS (R. A. F. Grieve)

Richard Grieve is vice-chairman of the commission. IUGS has discussed discontinuing their support of this program. The Canadian group will cosponsor a meeting in Sudbury in 1997 on "Large Scale Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution".

Canadian Association of Palynologists (David Jarzen)

David Jarzen is vice-president of the International Federation of Palynological Societies of which the Canadian Association is a member. Next year Julian Szeicz will be a member of the Council. The Canadian Association is funded by membership fees and remits $1.50 per member to the Federation. The association sponsored the annual meeting of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists in Ottawa, Oct. 10-14, 1995. It publishes a Newsletter that goes to corresponding foreign members and libraries. The Canadian Association will sponsor a symposium at the 1996 Houston meetings.

Canadian Quaternary Association (CANQUA) (Weston Blake)

CANQUA is affiliated with the International Quaternary Association and dues to this organization are paid by the National Research Council office of external affairs. The CANQUA annual meeting was held in St. John's jointly with the Canadian Geomorphological Research Group. The meeting was attended by registrants from Europe and the United States. Nat Rutter is editor-in-chief of the INQUA journal "Quaternary International" and Norman Catto is Associate Editor. P.J.H. Richard is editor-in-chief of "Geographie physique et Quaternaire". CANQUA has contributed financially to sending delegates to INQUA meetings.

Canadian National Committee, International Permafrost Association (Alan Hegginbottom)

The National Research Council pays the dues ($2,000) for affiliation with the International Permafrost Association and the Geological Survey of Canada pays the operating costs of the Canadian secretariat and for the official delegates attending international meetings. Hugh French (University of Ottawa) is a vice-president of the international association and Canadians are represented on most working groups. The next international conference to be organized by the Canadian Commmittee will be in Yellowknife in 1998. The Canadian Committee makes a short contribution to each issue of "Frozen Ground", the newsletter of the International Permafrost Association.

International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits (D. R. Boyle)

The Association comprises six commissions and ten related working groups. The next major symposium will be held at Broken Hill, Australia, in 1998. The Working Group on Tin and Tungsten organized a field meeting in Yakutsk, Russia, in July, and in the Trans- Baikal area on Rare Metals and Palingenetic Granitoids.

Canadian Geomorphology Research Group (Greg Brooks)

This group is affiliated with the International Association of Geomorphologists. The Canadian secretariat is supported by the Geological Survey of Canada. The membership fee of $500 is paid to the international association from profits of the international congress at McMaster in 1993. Olav Slaymaker of the University of British Columbia will become president of the Association next year. The major international meeting of the International Association of Geomorphologists took place in Singapore in 1995. The Research Group was involved in organizing a special session on "Geomorphological Testing and Constraints on Ice Sheet Modeling" at the St. John's meeting, and sessions on "Climate Change in the Palliser Triangle" and "Aeolian Processes" at Saskatoon.

Decade of North American Geology (J. Wheeler)

Volume 6 of the Geology of Canada Series, "Geology of the Appalachian and Caledonian Orogen", was published in October, 1995, and volume 8 on "Canadian Mineral Deposits" is at the printer. Volume 7 on Precambrian Geology is in review and should be published in 1996. Plans to publish a summary volume on the geology of Canada have been put aside for the present.

Society of Economic Geologists (D. Sangster)

Canadians hold many positions on the Council and Executive Committee of the society and are the second largest group in the membership of 3,200. The Society sponsors four international lecture series and society lecturers have addressed several Canadian institutions and universities. Three Canadian geoscientists organized and led a joint Geological Association of Canada-SEG field trip to mineral deposits in south Africa. Sangster served as general coordinator of the Society's "International Field Conference on Carbonate-hosted Lead-zinc Deposits" in St. Louis and is editing the proceedings volume of this meeting.

Global Sedimentary Geology Program, Canadian Committee (A. Desrochers)

The Committee is planing a lecture tour next year of the Canadian universities to publicize the program. The group has also agreed to cooperate with the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and the Society for Sedimentary Geology in a major symposium on "Global Inventory of Cretaceous Organic-rich Events" in Calgary in 1997.

Ocean Drilling Program, Canadian Secretariat (Steve Scott) [see also Report of Standing Committees]

Canada's subscription of 1.35 million dollars in JOIDES is funded 50 per cent by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and 25 per cent each by the Geological Survey of Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. NSERC provides an additional 103,000 dollars for the activities of the secretariat. Canadians sit as representatives or alternates on four of the thematic boards and six service panels of the Ocean Drilling Program. The reports of the program are printed in Manitoba. The Program has completed 4.5 legs of cruises in the Mediterranean and Atlantic in 1995. During the leg in the north Atlantic the drill ship was damaged by a hurricane and was repaired in Halifax. Paul Robinson organized a very successful port call there for the public. The Canadian secretariat supplies funds for Canadians to travel to the ship and to attend the post-cruise meeting.

Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (A. Hegginbottom)

The Canadian National Committee operates under the sponsorship of the Royal Society and the Academy of Engineering. An extensive report was produced for the meetings of the "World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction" in Yokohama in May, 1994. The first issue of the newsletter "Action" has been published by the Canadian National Committee (July, 1995). Sites on the Internet have been established to give out emergency information. The committee is now concentrating on formulating an action plan for the second half of the decade

. The Canadian Committee is financed under contract by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Transport Canada, and Emmergency Preparedness Canada. Jim Bruce is a member of the Scientific and Technical Committee for the international office in Geneva. The National Committee sponsored several activities in Ottawa to mark the Special Day dedicated to Disaster Reduction. They also participated in the meetings of the working group on Emergency Telecommunications in New York, a conference in natural disasters in Peru, the International Conference on Emergency Preparedness in Hamilton, the conference of the Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction in Atlanta, and the workshop on high intensity winds in Brisbane.

Association of Geoscientists for International Development (S. Barr)

Since its founding in 1974, the Association has received much of its annual funding of $100,000 through the Canadian International Development Agency, but this grant will end at the close of 1995. Minor support has been received from the Joint Association of Geoscientists for International Development (UK), the British Geological Survey, from membership dues, and from the International Union of Geological Sciences. The Association used to pay travel expenses of third-world delegates but will no longer have funds. However, it has charitable status and hopes to be able to raised funds from the public and industry. The book and journal distribution service is operating under the direction of Owen White in Toronto. The future of the Association is in doubt in the light of its budget problems.

During 1995 the Association was involved in the following conferences and other activities: In Latin America - The Urban Hydrology network, 4th Latin American Congress on Organic Geochemistry, Urban Seismic Hazards Symposium. In Africa - Geology and a Sustainable Environment (Kenya), East African Women Geoscientists' Group (Kenya), Investment Opportunities in south Africa (Zambia), Zambian Journal of Earth Sciences. In Asia - Workshop on Geoscience and Urban Planning (Bangladesh), Course on Modern Technologies for Mineral Resources (India), Symposium on Phosphorites (Pakistan), 10th Himalayan-Karakoram-Tibet workshop (Switzerland), a textbook on Hydrology (India), Geoscientific writing and editing workshop (India and Nepal), Southeast Asian Newsletter. Worldwide - scholarships to 32 graduate students, Small Mining International (Montreal).

Canadian National Committee, International Geological Correlation Program (D. Benson)

The Canadian Committee is affiliated with the international program that is jointly sponsored by the International Union of Geological Sciences and UNESCO. Funds to pay partial expenses of Canadians involved in the Programs' projects are provided by annual grants from the Canadian Geoscience Council. Dave Benson has been secretary of the National Committee for several years. At present no Canadians serve on the international administrative bodies but four Canadians have chaired these boards in the past.

A full day symposium on "Biotic Recovery from Mass Extinctions" (a project of IGCP) was held at the Geological Association of Canada annual meeting in Victoria and two similar international meetings will be held in Canada in 1996. The program is heavily involved in symposia at the International Geological Congress in Beijing and Canadians are listed as co-leaders in seven sessions. Canadians participated in 29 international projects of the program in 1995 as listed below.

The 20th annual meeting of the National Committee took place in Toronto on March 7, 1995. Dave Benson summarized the meetings of the Board in Paris at which 18 new projects were evaluated and 8 were accepted. The National Committee considered requests totalling $33,100 from 19 of the 27 projects that will have active Canadian participation in 1995 and $19,700 was allocated leaving $900 in reserve for new projects.

During 1995 Canadian participation ranged from providing international leadership to 9 projects, the hosting of one international and one Canadian meeting, the presentation of keynote addresses and lectures to international audiences, the continuation of research directly related to projects, to making inquiries concerning participation in new projects. Two new projects were proposed by Canadian co-leaders: "Response of the ocean/atmosphere system to past global changes" revised and resubmitted by H.H.J. Geldsetzer, and "Circum-Arctic Lower-Middle Paleozoic vertebrate paleontology and biostratigraphy" submitted by Mark Wilson.

Newsletter 22 of the Canadian National Committee contains reports of Canadian activity in 1995 in the projects listed below with the names of their Canadian representatives (International leaders are designated in bold):

Colin W. Stearn

1995 Annual Report