of the evolution of life, increase interest in the Earth sciences in society at large, encourage more young people to study Earth science in university. Themes Research themes for the Year included: Groundwater: reservoir for a thirsty planet? Hazards: minimizing risk, maximizing awareness Earth and Health: building a safer environment Climate change: the ‘stone tape’ Resource Issues: towards sustainable use Megacities: going deeper, building safer Deep Earth: from crust to core Ocean: abyss of time Soil: Earth’s living skin Earth and Life: origins of diversity Output and legacy As part of the IYPE legacy, 80 National and Regional IYPE Committees were set up to bring together key figures from various organisations into a single campaign dedicated to raising awareness of the Earth sciences among decision makers and the public. The Young Earth-Science Initiative (YES) was also created, providing a platform for young professionals in the Earth sciences. Initiated by two Italian geoscientists, David Govoni and Luca Micucci, it started in 2007 and grew rapidly at the Global Launch Event of the IYPE in Paris in 2008, during which many young geoscientists were invited to participate. From there, the YES Initiative expanded, eventually adopting a formal structure, a network of supporting organisations (including IYPE) and an invitation by the Chinese government to host the first International YES Conference in October 2009 in Beijing. An international collaborative project known as OneGeology was launched, aiming to bring together geological data from all nations into a digital database and thus transform them into a single computer language, providing free access to the online digital geological world map in the scale of 1:1 million. That initiative, spearheaded by Ian Jackson of the British Geological Survey, came under the IYPE banner in 2007. See also International Geophysical Year Scientific opinion on climate change United Nations International Years References External links Yearofplanetearth.org: official International Year of Planet Earth website ESFS.org: Planet Earth-file (pdf) 2008 in the environment Earth Earth sciences History of Earth science 2008 festivals 2008 in the United Nations Biology conferences Earth science conferences Science conferences Year Of Planet Earth Year Of Planet Earth