The CHEMRAWN committee was founded in 1975 to drive an initiative of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) based on the recognition that chemists worldwide have skills and expertise to help address some of mankind's most pressing problems. These include the alleviation of hunger, the acquisition and conservation of raw materials, the development of new energy sources, and the proper management of our natural resources and environment. A major objective of CHEMRAWN is to define priorities from a chemical perspective with the aim of providing leaders in governments, industries, universities and other concerned organizations with the information needed for effective government and private sector response.

The Green Chemistry theme of CHEMRAWN XIV builds on the efforts of the IUPAC Working Party on "Synthetic Pathways and Processes on Green Chemistry" promoted by Physical Organic Division (III. 2), which was founded in 1997 in Geneva. The first results of the Working Party will be presented in the IUPAC General Assembly (Berlin, August 1999).

The CHEMRAWN committee has acted through a series of world conferences. To date, ten such conferences have taken place and others are now planned (see below). These have been international and interdisciplinary, involving participation by world leaders from science and technology and also government, industry, and the concerned general public. CHEMRAWN conferences are different in that they involve more than just scientists; focus on issues; and through a Future Actions Committee of the conference develop a set of actionable recommendations complete with planned follow-up actions. These "Perspectives and Recommendations" are distributed widely to decision-makers throughout the world.

Past CHEMRAWN Conferences:

I: Toronto, Canada (1978): Future Sources of Organic Raw Materials

II: Manila, Philippines (1982): Chemistry and World Food Supplies: The New Frontiers

III: The Hague, the Netherlands (1984): Resources Material Conversion

IV: Keystone, Colorado USA (1985): Modern Chemistry and Chemical Technology Applied to the Ocean and Its Resources

V: Heidelberg, Germany (1986): Current and Future Contributions of Chemistry to Health

VI: Tokyo, Japan (1987): Advanced Materials for Innovation in Energy, Transportation, and Communications

VII: Baltimore, Maryland USA (1991): The Chemistry of the Atmosphere: Its Impact on Global Change

VIII: Moscow, Russia (1992): Chemistry and Sustainable Development

IX: Seoul Korea (1996): The Role of Advanced Materials in Sustainable Development

X: Budapest, Washington, Hawaii, Brisbane (2000-2001): The Globalization of Chemical Education: Preparing Scientists and Engineers for Transnational Industries

XI: Montevideo, Uruguay (1998): Latin American Symposium on Environmental Analytical Chemistry

XII: Nairobi, Kenya (1999): Cancelled

XIV: Boulder, Colorado (2001): Toward Environmentally Benign Processes and Products