Geological Society of London - Parliamentary Shadowing Scheme

The Geological Society of London have recently advertised a fantastic opportunity for Fellows to spend time shadowing an MP or Peer. This will give them both parties a great opportunity to see how geoscience can be better integrated into policy.

The Geological Society writes on their website...

"Fellows will be able to improve their understanding of the working lives of politicians, and how they can make best use of their knowledge and skills to inform effective policy-making. MPs will in turn learn about the variety of activities undertaken by scientists, and how they can draw on the expertise and experience of our community. Each participating Fellow will spend two or three days shadowing an MP or peer in Parliament, with the possibility of further contact at the convenience of both parties. This might include a visit to the MP’s constituency, or to the Fellow’s place of work." 

Full details can be found on the Geological Society's website!

Engaging with Parliament

A few weeks ago I was reading about the worsening situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unrest and conflict in this country has resulted in the death, abuse and rape of many innocent civilians. I decided to send an e-mail to my MP, Vince Cable, urging him to encourage the government to ensure they take all necessary steps to secure a long-lasting, sustainable peace for the people of that huge nation, and that humanitarian support is ready in the event that the situation worsens in the east of the country.

Within a week of sending the e-mail, I had a letter back from Dr Cable saying that he'd written to both the International Development Secretary and Foreign Secretary with the concerns I was expressing. After a further week I had a letter back from the Department for International Development. In the UK, we have significant opportunities we have to engage with those who make and shape important decisions, through our constituent MPs, and others. 

Whether it's writing a letter to your MP, sending them an e-mail, or arranging to meet with them to discuss an issue at one of their surgeries - we should all make the most of these opportunities to let our views be heard, to express our opinions (be they ones of agreement or disagreement), and to ask questions. It's very easy to be sceptical about politics, about what influence we have with these communications - but they are opportunities that many people across the world would love to have. I also sincerely believe that they are opportunities that have and can genuinely influence mindsets, votes and ultimately policy.

It's not just our local MPs we can engage with, you can also contact Government Ministers and Departments, All-Party Parliamentary Groups, MEPs and Devolved Administrations (in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). You can find most relevant e-mails, and contact details on the internet using a search engine such as Google or this site is also very helpful!

Reminder: Write To Your MP

Clean water and access to good sanitation benefit many other areas of development. "When we get it right [water and sanitation], so much else follows" says Alan Duncan, UK Minister for International Development. Join our campaign to write to as many local MPs as possible to tell them that we believe it is right and good news that the Government is doubling the number of people it intends to reach with clean water and access to good sanitation. 

Find out more about what to do here...

Write to Your MP: UK to Double Support for Water and Sanitation

Last week we posted on our Facebook wall the fantastic news that the UK Government has decided to double its support to water and sanitation projects in the world's poorest countries. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) will work to secure access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation for more than 60million people over the lifetime of this parliament.

As we have posted numerous times, access to clean water and good sanitation has a knock-on benefit to many other areas of life. It means children will no longer have to walk many miles to collect water, thus increasing the time they can spend at school. It means health problems, many avoidable diseases, can be reduced. This is turn can improve the life expectancy of mothers giving birth and young children especially. Improved health, through drinking clean water, can mean less days are lost to sickness and so people have the freedom to work and generate income. In fact, for every £1 spent on water and sanitation in the developing world, it is estimated by the United Nations that a staggering £8 is returned in reduced health costs, saved time and better productivity.

Alan Duncan, Minister of State at DFID, recently stated in a debate to mark World Water Day:

"Ensuring access to water and sanitation for the poorest is, to pick a metaphor, the bread and butter of development. When we get it right, so much else follows: children become more likely to reach their fifth birthday, and they are healthier and in a better position to benefit from education; women, who carry most of the world’s water, are empowered; and economic growth and prosperity are enhanced and facilitated. While we fail to deliver those most basic necessities, not only are there an estimated 2.4 million preventable deaths each year, but generations of people become trapped in poverty."

Any increase in the support the UK gives to water projects is fantastic news and deserves to be celebrated. We are asking those readers of the GfGD Blog who are UK Citizens to take this opportunity to write a brief letter to their constituency MP to express your support for this decision. It is important to let our MPs know when there is something we are happy with, as well as something we are not happy with. There is much debate about the UK aid budget at the moment, and it will be great for many MPs to hear that we think giving more support to water projects is the right thing! 

Some of you may be regular letter-writers to your MP, others may have never done it before. Here's our simple step-by-step guide:

(1) Work out who your MP is by putting your postcode into this website

(2) Write a letter addressed to your MP, stating why you are writing, why this is important to you and what you'd like your MP to do. 

(3) The letter can be very brief - the more concise the better. You can use some of the information in this blog post or other posts, or do further research if you'd like. Make sure you are polite.

(4) Post the letter to your MP (!)

At a cost of 50-60p for a stamp and about 10 minutes of your time - there's no real reason not to get involved in this GfGD activity! Once you've sent your letter - why not comment on this blog, stating who you are, what you do (e.g. PhD Student at King's College London) and which MP you wrote to. It will be great to see how many different MPs we've managed to contact to tell them that clean water and good sanitation save the lives of many of the world's poorest communities!

Guest Blog: Is There Blood In Your Mobile?

Rosalie Tostevin is a PhD student and GfGD Ambassador at University College London (UCL). Her current research is looking at the link between ocean chemistry and the emergence of the first animal life. She has a strong interest in improving science communication and the ethical behaviour of the geoscience industry. Rosalie writes today about the terrible situation in central Africa regarding conflict minerals and the negative impact on communities - her post finishes with a strong call to action.

I recently went to a screening of Frank Poulson’s film, “Blood in the Mobile”, which investigates the use of conflict minerals in electronic products. Here I review the main message of the film and discuss the role for geoscientists may play in resolving the conflict.

RC (Source: CIA)

The wilderness of Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is littered with mines. The land is rich in coltan (tantalum ore - an essential component in many electronics) and many other minerals that the developed world depends on. Young men and children stay down unstable mine shafts for up to a week at a time in crowded unsanitary conditions. Unregulated soldiers earn money by taxing the miners every time they pass through control points and then take the product across the border to be distributed around the world.

Profit from the mining industry is fuelling the various militia groups in the area, a hangover from the end of the civil war in 2003. War is good for business - not only in the DRC, but in the West too. The US, China and Western Europe are making large amounts of profit from equipping them with arms.

Militia groups are outside of UN control, despite peacekeeping troops in the region constituting the UN’s second largest source of expenditure in 2011. Many of us were recently reminded of the situation in central Africa by the Kony 2012 campaign. The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) is now predominantly operating in eastern Congo alongside many other groups. There are countless stories of on-going war crimes and human rights abuses. Rape is being used as a weapon to tear apart communities and clear them off the land in order to ensure access to natural resources. 

Joseph Kabila (Source: US Defense)

Charities such as Oxfam and Save the Children are providing short-term relief and support for the victims, who are overwhelmingly women and children. However, there has not been enough focus on the underlying drivers of the humanitarian and developmental crisis. The militia groups are uncontrollable because of the unstable and corrupt political system. President Joseph Kabila came to power in the DRC’s first democratic elections in 2006. He also claimed victory in the recent election, which is riddled with accusations of rigging. The recognition of his leadership by the international community has angered many citizens of the DRC, both in the DRC and around the world. Protests have been organised every two days at the DRC embassy in London but have been largely unreported by the British press. Shana Mongwanga-Eloko, from ‘Africa lives!’ has been promoting campaigns driven by Congolese women. The Congolese people are fighting back, though if you watched the Kony 2012 video, you would be forgiven for thinking only westerners are trying to ‘save the Congo’.

How can we make a difference? Certainly not by sharing a viral video and it’s not as simple as a donation to charity either. There are two groups benefitting from this conflict: electronics companies and arms dealers. We need to legislate to ensure electronics companies publish their supply chain so that consumers can make informed ethical choices.

Blood in the Mobile

The geoscience community needs to develop a method of tracing mineral ores using geochemical fingerprints and radiometric dating techniques. Current efforts are focused on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, which generates a chemical profile that can then be compared to a master sample from a known location. Once the ore is processed it can no longer be fingerprinted, so it is necessary to test ores at an early stage, perhaps even in the field. However, no laboratory in the DRC is currently equipped to run these experiments. Companies such as Nokia claim they cannot trace or confirm the source of the minerals used in our phones. The film’s conclusion: we all have blood in our mobiles.

GfGD and Parliament

When establishing GfGD, I was keen to ensure communication with policy makers, advocacy and effective lobbying formed a key part of the work we do. Geoscience can inform many aspects of policy, and it is our responsibility as geoscientists to ensure that our work is being communicated to those with influence over policy – be that Ministers, backbench MPs or other policy makers.

Last week I had a number of opportunities to engage with MPs through events taking place in London. As a representative of the Geological Society, I took part in an event ‘Voice of the Future 2012’, in Westminster. It was an interesting event, with some positive outcomes and opportunities for further engagement.

NERC Funding of MSc Courses



David Willetts MP

The first such outcome was an opportunity to challenge David Willetts MP, Minister for Science and Universities, about NERC’s decision to end all funding for postgraduate taught Masters courses. The University of Leeds has already been forced to close its Geochemistry and Hydrogeology courses, and there has been a decline in numbers for the Engineering Geology course. These courses are essential stepping stones for geoscientists wishing to move into either industry or research after their undergraduate degree, or gain skills and further qualifications if already within industry. They provide essential training and skills for many of the problems and projects the UK will face in the coming years, and give graduates the skills to engage in projects all over the world, including the developing world.

The Minister acknowledged the crucial role of postgraduate taught Masters courses, and the difficult nature of this decision. MSc courses are in a difficult position as they are on the boundary between teaching and research – and don’t fit into either budget. It was welcomed to hear him acknowledge the importance of these courses and the problems of funding them. He also pointed out that students can get Career Development Loans, and that funding from university teaching budgets could help support these courses. This aspect of the answer was far from satisfactory, and I will be writing to the Minister to further highlight and explain our serious concerns about this decision, and the impact it is already having. There was support for the kind of courses NERC used to sponsor from Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Science and Technology Select Committee, and we will also be following up this conversation.

We are suggesting that students, and those who have previously benefitted from NERC funding for MSc courses, write to David Willetts MP and their constituency MP to express their concern at the impact this decision is having. You can find details of MP contact addresses on the internet. Letters must be polite and respectful, outlining your concerns about the impact this will have on the UK skills base, and the UK’s ability to engage in a global market.

Geoscience and Development

Andrew Miller MP (Source: Parliament.uk)

A further opportunity at the event was the opportunity to speak with Andrew Miller MP about the Select Committee inquiry into the role of science within international development. I asked the Chairman about the way in which the Department for International Development (DFID) gets its geoscience information to shape policy and projects, and how geoscientists can improve the way it communicates information to DFID, and DFID use this information, to have more effective development and humanitarian work. Mr Miller decided that this would be an ideal question to be asked to Stephen O’Brien MP, a Minister at DFID, during his evidence session during the inquiry. The evidence session will be held on the 25th June at Portcullis House, London, and is open to the public. I look forward to hearing the response of the DFID Minister to this question. It is great to have the role of geoscience in development acknowledged and discusses in this important report.

Communication to Policy Makers

Finally, the same Andrew Miller MP gave the Sir Peter Kent Lecture at the Geological Society last week, speaking about the role of geoscience in shaping public policy. He set out a clear challenge to us as geoscientists to engage in the need to improve the communication between scientists, policy makers and the public. This is something Geology for Global Development is keen to do, and keen to equip our members to do as we grow and develop.

Online Petition - Zimbabwe's 'Blood Diamonds'

Recently we posted a blog urging the Government to push for an immediate end to the export of diamonds from the  Marange field of Zimbabwe, while an independent and thorough investigation into alleged crimes against humanity is completed. If you are a UK citizen you can now sign an e-petition calling on Her Majesty's Government to:

(1) Lobby the Kimberley Process (regulating the sale of diamonds) to reverse the decision made earlier this year to allow the export of diamonds from two mines in the Marange region. 

(2) Lobby the Kimberley Process to instigate an urgent, thorough and independent investigation of the allegations of crimes against humanity. 

(3) Act decisively and rapidly on the findings of this investigation, to ensure that profits from the sale of these diamonds does not fuel further conflict in the nation, conflict which pushes people deeper into poverty. Profits must be used to benefit the Zimbabwe's citizens - improving infrastructure, food security, health and education. 

You can find the petition online here, and publicise it using Twitter and Facebook. In the event that this petition reaches 100,000 signatures over the next few months it will be considered for a debate in the House of Commons. Please do forward the link to this petition to anybody you think may be interested.

Geology for Global Development is a UK-based organisation working to raise the profile of international development within the geoscience community. As part of our work we undertake an advocacy programme - aiming to fight poverty and improve the lives of communities around the world through working to shape policy and lobbying Government. You can read more at www.gfgd.org/projects/advocacy.