The International Year of Planet Earth in Portugal : past activities and further developments

The Portuguese National Committee for the IYPE was created in the framework of the Portuguese National Commission for UNESCO, in April 2007. The Committee incorporated the contributions of 220 private and public organizations, mainly municipalities and educational institutions of all levels, and sponsored more than 500 activities since then. The Scientific Programme emphasized relevant cooperation between Earth scientists from the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, under the guidance of their National Committees (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde and Mozambique). In consideration of the community of 230 million Portuguese speaking people, the Portuguese National Committee translated and printed the twelve brochures produced by IUGSUNESCO, posted them on the official website (www.anoplaneta-terra.org), and supported several editions also in Braille, in order to make Earth sciences readily accessible to all citizens. As a result of these accomplishments during the IYPE triennium (2007-2009), the Portuguese National Committee was invited by the UNESCO-IUGS Corporation to co-organize Planet Earth Lisbon '09, the Global Closure Event of the IYPE, which took place in Lisbon, 20 th to 22 nd November 2009.