[محبة الحبيب]

The First International Conference on African & Arabian Geoparks


تنظيم"المؤتمر الدولي الأول للمنتزهات الجيولوجية الإفريقية و العربية"، و الذي تجري فعالياته ما بين 21 و 28 نوفمبر 2011 بمدينة الجديدة بالمغرب

The First International Conference on African & Arabian Geoparks : Entitled “Aspiring Geoparks in Africa and Arab world”

PREAMBLE
The African Geoparks Network “AGN” was initiated during the precongress of the fifth conference of the AAWG held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in May 2009. The AGN aims to identify, promote, and advise on the importance and preservation of geological sites in Africa and Arab regions in collaboration with other stakeholders. This initiative is supported UNESCO, IUGS, GSAf. In that Framework, the AAWG and the AGN in collaboration with UNESCO Cairo Office decided to organize the First International Conference on African and Arabs Geoparks in 2011 in Morocco. The conference also aims to launch the Arabian Geopark
Network. All researchers in the fields of geoheritage, geotourism, conservation, environment and sustainable development to policy makers, economists, geopark and local community administrators and leaders, NGOs, business operators and individuals with interest on geoheritage development are invited to participate and contribute to make this event a success.

CONFERENCE SUB-THEMES
Aspiring Geoparks in Africa and Arab world
Communicating Geoheritage
Role of Women and Youths in conservation of natural heritage
Environmental Changes and Geoparks
Global and Regional Geoparks Networking
Geoparks, Geo-education and Geo-Tourism
Geoparks and Sustainable Development

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
2 days technical sessions
6 days post-conference field trip

SCHEDULE & CALENDAR OF THE EVENT
20 November 2011: Arrivals and registration
21-22 November 2011: Technical sessions.
23-28 November 2011: Field trip.

FIELD TRIP
The Moroccan Atlasic and Anti-Atlasic geological landscapes were shaped by successive orogenies (Eburnean, Pan-African, Variscan and Alpine). Because of the various geological events that affected Morocco, rocks and landscapes are extremely varied. The geoscientific problems posed by these exceptional outcrops are widely discussed and hence much debated during scientific congresses, local and international conferences, and the related field trips. Many sedimentological, petrographical and structural witnesses of this period are of exceptional quality in Morocco and many of these witnesses are unique, very educational and deserves to be preserved and presented to visitors, specialists or not, in a less academic and more widely accessible way. These sites are even more attractive as their geographical, historical, architectural and traditional frames are exceptional. We hope that our geotraverse through the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas will give an overview on the different orogenies that have shaped the Moroccan geological landscapes and we hope also that the participants will enjoy the scenic beauty of the wonderful
landscapes that we will drove trough during the six days. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING
Inorder to accommodate a maximum number of interesting papers we are compelled to allocate a maximum of 15 minutes to the oral presentation followed by an additional 5 minutes for discussion. Transparency
projectors and data show (Power Point format) equipment will be available. The poster session presentations will run parallel to the
oral session.

SPONSORSHIP POSSIBILITIES
AAWG, AGN & UNESCO Cairo Office will sponsor participants from Africa and the Arabregion who will present a nomination file for a potential Geopark sites in their countries.

REGISTRATION FEES
• 200 € for non African & private companies.
• 100 € for African and Arab academics.
• 80 € for AAWG members who have already paid their membership fees.
• 50 € for African & Arab students.
The registration fees will include abstract volume, coffee breaks, and conference lunches.
• Gala Dinner 50€
FIELD TRIP FEES : 650 €. The last night is not included in the fees.

******** : English will be the official ******** of the conference.

ABSTRACTS
All authors are requested to submit their abstracts in English which will be reproduced in an Abstract Volume to be distributed to the participants. The deadline for abstracts submission is the 31th March
2011. All abstracts should be prepared according to the guidelines given below.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

General Guidelines
The abstract should not exceed 3 pages (figures, tables and references included), A4 size paper (21.0 x 29.7 cm), printed on one side, writtenin English. The topic covered should be relevant to the sub-themes of
the meeting. The name, address and e-mail of the communicating authormust be clearly specified. All correspondence will be maintained with this author only.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 31th March 2011.
Guidelines for preparation of the abstract The abstracts should be laid out in accordance with the main formatting points listed below. A limited amount of re-formatting will be undertaken by the conference secretariat, but submissions that are grossly aberrant will be returned to authors for correction.
• It must be submitted electronically in MSWORD
• The preferred font is TIME; title 14pt / affiliations 12pt / text 10pt, with single line spacing.
• The text must be typed leaving a 3 cm on the right and 2.5 cm on the top, bottom, and left argins.
• Headings may be used
• Figures and tables may be included and embedded in the text file
• References may be included at the end of the extended abstract
For any queries or problems please do not hesitate to contact theconference secretariat on its emails addresses : contact @ aawg.org

Submission of the Abstract
The abstracts must be sent as an attachment to contact @ aawg.org before 31 March 2011. The name of the electronic file must include the name of the first author, e.g. Siby.doc.

PUBLICATION : More details will be provided in the second circular

SECRETARIAT
Faculty of Sciences, B.O. 20, Geology Department
24000, El Jadida, Morocco
Tel: +212 668038116, Fax: +212 523342187
Email: contact @ aawg.org
For more information please consult regularly our website [url]www.aawg.org[/url]