International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme

International Geoscience Programme (IGCP)

A better understanding of the Earth is essential for the diversity of life and future of human society. UNESCO is the only United Nations organization with a mandate to support research and capacity building in geology and geophysics, and the International Geoscience Programme is its flagship.

Last update:15 September 2023

The International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) serves as a knowledge hub of UNESCO to facilitate international scientific cooperation in the geosciences. The IGCP mission includes promoting sustainable use of natural resources, advancing new initiatives related to geo-diversity and geo-heritage and geohazards risk mitigation.

Since 1972, the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) has partnered with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) to bring together thousands of Earth scientists from around the world and allowed them to benefit from the cooperative spirit generated under the umbrella of UNESCO.

In 2018, IGCP welcomed a new partner, the Jeju Province Development Corporation (JPDC) of the Republic of Korea. Through the new project partnership agreement entitled “Geoscience for Society: JPDC supporting the International Geoscience and Geoparks programme” the JPDC supports IGCP projects and UNESCO Global Geoparks.

Programme themes

The IGCP promotes collaborative projects with a special emphasis on the benefit to society, capacity-building, and the advancement and sharing of knowledge between scientists with an emphasis on North-South and South-South cooperation. IGCP operates by providing seed funding grants donated by UNESCO, IUGS, and extra-budgetary sources. IGCP projects primarily deal with geosciences on global issues within its five themes:

Earth resources

sustaining our society

Global change and the evolution of life

evidence from the geological record

Geohazards

mitigating risks

Hydrogeology

geoscience of the water cycle

Geodynamics

control our environment

Each project has an average lifespan of five years and its progress is assessed annually through a rigorous peer-review process conducted by the IGCP Council following the evaluation reports from members of the Scientific Board during the first half of February.