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• Relations between UIS and FSUE:
  FSUE in no case represents a danger to the UIS, and does not aim to occupy its place. UIS and FSUE are different organizations with different actors with the same aim: Speleology.
• Joint project between UIS and FSUE:
  The Spanish Federation and the Author would like to yield the rights for the edition of a book aiming to teach children about speleology in different languages. The Spanish Federation’s initiative is to have this book project as a joint venture between the FSUE and the UIS (c/o UIS Department of Education/ M. Messonyer).

d. ISCA meeting
E. Mercado talked about the last ISCA meeting in Bermuda (last year) where he, Hubert Trimmel, and Arrigo Cigna represented the UIS. D. Summers (new president ISCA) attended the 2nd Session of the current UIS Bureau meeting (see below).


11) Upcoming meetings and events
a. Baltic Speleology Congress + G. Assembly of FSUE
ACTION 10: F. Nader will ask Urs Widmer to represent the UIS at this congress.

b. European Congress of Speleology (Vercors – France, August 23-30; 2008)
A. Eavis, F. Nader and most probably G. Veni will be present at that meeting.

F. Nader suggested that several UIS Commissions can plan their annual meetings during that congress (e.g. Commission of Deepest and Longest Caves, Commission of Cave-Rescue, etc.).

END OF SESSION 1

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UIS BUREAU MEETING – AGUADILLA, AUG. 4/ 2007 – SESSION 2

12) Workflow and Efficiency of the UIS Bureau (F. Nader)
a. Follow-up of Commissions – need for good organization (Task of VP)
ACTION 11: F. Nader will maintain contact with the commissions and will discuss with A. Klimchouk about follow-up and to eventually prepare a proposal for the next UIS Bureau meeting.

ACTION 12: F. Nader will coordinate with the Informatics Commission about the possibility of having a blog for UIS Bureau Communications. UIS emails will have titles that start with “UIS”; those that are very important will have “Urgent” and those that are only for information will have “For Info” in their title.

b. Commission on Longest and Deepest Caves (New President)
Jose-Luiz Membrado will act as a coordinator of this commission to revive it.

c. Ice Caves Working Group
A new working group (head: Aurel Persoiu – Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology) within the Commission of Glacier Caves & Karst in Polar Regions (head: A. Eraso).

d. UIS Website and Informatics Commission
The Informatics Commission requested acceptance of electronic voting and internet policies proposed in the Beirut Bureau meeting (2006). F. Nader informed the Bureau about the heavy work load this commission is faced with, about the problem that occurred with the UIS website and its server this year, and the fast reaction and efficient response by the commission members.

e. UIS Bulletin
ACTION 13: P. Bosak will finish Bulletin # 51-2 for 2005 and 2006 by August 18, 2007. He will print 350 copies and send them to A. Eavis. In these bulletins it will be clearly stated that no hardcopies will be provided for future issues. F. Nader will take over the Bulletin for 2007 and onward, which will be sent to national bodies and delegates as a PDF.


13) UIS/ISCA
ACTION 14: UIS will continue to actively collaborate and build a strong relationship with ISCA, especially on the level of the Department of Protection and other commissions.


14) Reglements Interieurs (Finalization) – to be completed since Beirut’s meeting
ACTION 15: Approval for all changes on Internal Regulations (last by P. Bosak), request to get the latest version published on the UIS website.

ACTION 16: The UIS Treasurer is asked to refund F. Nader the cost of purchasing a 200 Megabyte external hard disk in order to store UIS electronic archives. F. Nader, P. Bosak, and A. Mihevc are requested to take care of UIS archives.


15) 14th ICS (Kalamos-Athens) Pending issues
a. Payment status (P. Bosak)
DONE

b. Proceedings (A. Eavis)
The draft proceedings are finished, we should receive a copy here in Aguadilla.

16) Finance update (P. Bosak)
ACTION 17: Financial report of P. Bosak is approved. P. Bosak will send a short summary of the financial report to F. Nader (Secretary).

ACTION 18: The UIS Treasure (P. Bosak) asked to pay up to 5,000 US Dollars depending on the needs of IJS for the printing of the upcoming issue.

Modes for payments of member-countries
ACTION 19: Request that member countries pay their fees by bank transfer. If the fees are 50 US Dollars per year, the delegates are encouraged to pay for more than one year. If cash payment is nevertheless necessary, the delegates must use the cash-money form provided by the UIS Treasurer (P. Bosak). These details will be published on UIS website and in the UIS Bulletin.


17) UIS/UNESCO
a. Cave-protection themes and new developments (P. Williams)
Paul Williams reported on karst and cave matters raised at the 31st Session of the World Heritage Committee of IUCN held in June in New Zealand. The most important development is that two international quality karst and cave sites have been accorded Natural World Heritage status: South China Karst and Jeju Island, Korea.

b. IUCN Thematic Studies on World Heritage Karst Landscapes and Features (P. Williams)
The IUCN is about to embark on a global thematic study of karst and cave sites.
ACTION 20: Julia James will circulate the list of the protected World Heritage Sites for karst after contacting Elery Hamilton-Smith.

c. World Heritage Sites (Jeju Island; Kyung Sik Woo)
ACTION 21: Secretary General (F. Nader) will send congratulation letters to the State Parties in China and Korea whose applications for karst and cave areas to be accorded Natural World Heritage status were successful: 1) Shilin (Stone Forest), 2) Libo (Cone Karst), 3) Wulong (Tiankeng), and 4) Jeju island

d. Cave protection issues – commercial cave tours (S.-E. Lauritzen)
ACTION 22: A subcommittee will be formed by S.-E. Lauritzen, J. James and P. Williams and will work on reviewing the Code of Ethics and providing an “Extension of the Code of Ethics.” This must be achieved before the 2008 UIS Bureau meeting (see also ACTION 5)

e. Meeting at the UNESCO Paris 20 July 2007 (F. Nader, Jessica Cohen)
ACTION 23: F. Nader will proceed with the paperwork for collaboration with UNESCO. A. Mihevc will provide the needed legal documents and S.-E. Lauritzen and P. Williams will provide an abstract for the proposed project on “The Climate Record from Caves”.


18) Proposed projects:

a. UIS Book
ACTION 24: Jose Ayrton Labegalini will coordinate and edit a book on the history of the UIS. The deadline for the draft manuscript is the next UIS Bureau meeting in 2008.

b. New international expedition to support cavers (Iran, 2008; F. Nader)
F. Nader introduced his proposal to launch an International Expedition to support and help Iranian cavers who are need cave-rescue and survey trainings (http://iran.speleo.tv). The proposed expedition will take place in September or October 2008 and will be similar to the International Speleology Expedition to Tanzania (ISET) under the auspices of the UIS which helped and supported the newly established national caving organization in Tanzania (http://tanzania.speleo.tv). F. Nader asked the UIS Bureau accept this activity under the auspices of the UIS.

d. Others (Paolo Forti)
The Italian Federation of Speleology proposes to provide 50 PowerPoint presentations (with more than 1000 slides) about all aspects of speleology to be considered as a UIS. In order to translate the PowerPoint files into different languages, UIS help and support is requested.
ACTION 26: The UIS Bureau grants full support to this project, to provide the UIS logo for use, and offer revision and translation support if needed.


19) Varia
a. BBS
F. Nader will contact P. Deriaz to follow-up development on the BBS level and to see how UIS Bureau can help in this matter (if needed).

b. Vjetrenica – Popovo Polje (BOSNIA – HERZEGOVINA)
ACTION 27: Secretary General will send the letter drafted by P. Williams.

c. Ilsu Dam (Turkey)
ACTION 28: F. Nader will contact A. Klimchouk and the Turkish cavers to ask for recommendations and advice.

20) Location for UIS Bureau 2008 meeting:
The Bureau decided to have its next annual in conjunction with the Vulcanospeleology Conference in Jeju Island (Korea): tentative dates are 6-7/09/2008. A. Eavis, F. Nader, and probably G. Veni will attend also the FSUE Congress (Vercors, France).

21) CLOSURE and KERRVILLE TRIP
The President closed the 2nd session around 17:00 Puerto Rico time.

A. Eavis, P. Bosak, F. Nader, and G. Veni went to Kerrville to meet the organizers of the 15th ICS and to inspect the venue. This trip took place from 7 to 10 August 2008 and resulted in fruitful discussions leading to closer cooperation. The University was visited on the 8th of August and all facilities were inspected. On the 9th the team visited the Natural Bridge Caverns and other nearby karst features.