The 21th International Geochemical Exploration Symposium (21th IGES) was held in Dublin, Ireland from August 28 to September 3, 2003. Over 200 delegates from 27 countries attended the meeting. Fifty-eight papers were orally presented and fifty papers posted at the meeting. In addition to the scientific program, the Annual General Meeting of the AEG (Association of Exploration Geochemists) passed a resolution for the name change from AEG to AAG (Association of Applied Geochemists). While conventional geochemical exploration techniques such as soil and stream sediment surveys have been playing an important role in mineral exploration, lithogeochemistry and hydrogeochemistry remain interesting fields for geochemists. Much attention has been paid to the deep-penetrating technique and its formation mechanism in overburden, which represents the future trend of exploration geochemistry in the world. Indicator minerals, isotopes and biogeochemical methods are being studied for specific mineral deposits in special landscapes. ICP/MS has become conventional procedures for the analysis of elements and isotopes in geochemical samples. Although the number of papers on environmental geochemistry was increased, most of them were related to the environmental geochemistry of mines or mineral deposits. Thus, to get fully involved in the environmental field, we geochemists still have a long way to go.