Epilogue – The rhymes, musings and riddles of the International Community of Geological Surveys (ICOGS)

Building on the present volume, which provides a snapshot of GeologicalSurvey organizations (GSOs) from around the world in 2020, this epilogueprovides a retrospective on past efforts to form an international consortiumof GSOs. These efforts have had the noble aim of bringing GSOs together toaddress problems of global scale, but have not fully succeeded in building asustainable organization. The paper summarizes international discussionsheld over the past three decades, provides some analysis and makes somesuggestions on how a world association of GSOs may become useful, credibleand workable.