ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to draw attention to the urgent need for systematic information on the geochemistry of the surface environment at the global scale, as a basis for the maintenance of the earth’s essential life support systems. It outlines the concerns of international bodies, and the steps which have been taken by scientists to prepare an action plan, and invites national organization to participate in implementing the detailed recommendations contained in a report entitled A Global Geochemical Database published by UNESCO in 1995. A formal connection between geochemical mapping and the UN Global Environment Monitoring Programme was proposed by the UN Committee on Natural Resources in May 1996, under the title of Global Land Monitoring. In 1996 the IUGS sanctioned the formation of a new Working Group on Global Geochemical Baselines to encourage and facilitate implementation of the recommendations in the UNESCO report and to take forward the results of the International Geological Correlation Programme projects 259 and 360.
