The Earth Sciences among the Community of Portuguese-Speaking countries and the future of Gondwana

This paper aims to report impacts and changes regarding the Earth Sciences development among the CPLP - Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East-Timor, Guine-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe), as a legacy of the International Year of Planet Earth (2007-2009). Extensive scientific literature has been produced in Portuguese during and after the triennium, namely as outputs of two important scientific events carried out in 2008 and 2012 at the University of Coimbra (Portugal). Those documents have been analysed and the results show a significant increase in the amount of researchers that have attended the events, in the affiliation institutions involved and in the produced publications. The kind of international cooperation represented within the analysed documents and the disciplines and territories that were under study also show increasing diversification and enlargement. With approximately 280 million speakers, Portuguese is the fifth most spoken language in the world, and this work highlights the fact that communication facilities provided by a common language displays a key role in increasing scientific multilateral cooperation related to various fields of Earth Sciences within the CPLP, thus contributing to reduce imbalances in science and technology between the North and the South and to promote sustainable development.