IUGS at the 30th Colloquium on African Geology (CAG 30) in Nairobi

From 22 to 25 September 2025, IUGS President, Hassina Mouri, and IUGS Secretary General, Ludwig Stroink, joined scientists, policymakers, and industry leaders for the 30th Colloquium on African Geology, CAG 30, in Nairobi.

In her inspiring opening address on 23 September, Hassina Mouri applauded the outstanding organization of the event – made possible through strong IUGS support – and welcomed ~600 participants from across the continent. She celebrated Africa’s extraordinary wealth of natural resources and reaffirmed the IUGS’s commitment to supporting their responsible and sustainable exploration.

Left to right: "United in Geosciences – New Horizons for IUGS/UNESCO & Africa” special session; Ludwig Stroink after the Panel Discussion; Hassina Mouri giving her Welcome Speech; Asfawossen Asrat during his presentation.

Later that day, IUGS and UNESCO co-hosted the special session “United in Geosciences – New Horizons for IUGS/UNESCO & Africa” to advance the Ten Action Plan for Africa (TAP for Africa). Moderated by Ludwig Stroink, more than 70 participants, including > 50 in person and around 20 online, from 17 African and non-African countries, exchanged insights on priorities, challenges, and future directions to strengthen collaboration with the IUGS.

The forum also showcased the first successes of the TAP-Initiative. Ozlem Adiyaman Lopes from UNESCO announced the three awardees of the IGCP Call for Africa, while Anna Nguno of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf) presented the first key results from the Geodata Initiative and the status of Africa’s geodata metadata and inventory platforms. With his inspiring keynote “Fostering Researchers in the Geosciences (FoRGe) - IGCP 766 - Challenges and needs of African geo-science research”, Asfawossen Asrat, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), opened the stage for the final discussion on future collaboration of IUGS in Africa.