The Executive Committee of International Geographical Union (IGU) consisting of 9 delegates headed by Prof. Ronald F. Abler paid a visit to Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences on November 4, 2010.

Prof. LIU Yi, director of IGSNRR, delivered a welcoming speech to the delegates. He reviewed the history of IGU and its contribution to the development of geography. “China’s entry into IGU has had a positive effect on China’s geography,” He said. “And geography has played a part in China’s social and economic growth”.

LIU added that the visit of the delegates and the 33rd International Geographical Congress that will be held in China in 2016 would promote academic exchanges between Chinese geographers and their international colleagues and bring China’s geographic study to new heights.

Prof. ZHOU Chenghu, vice director of IGSNRR, gave an overview of the institute, particularly its research facilities and achievements. ZHOU’s introduction aroused interest ofthe delegates who then had a heated discussion with the geographers of IGSNRR.

The delegates then looked around the Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling(LENOM), State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System(LREIS), and the library of IGSNRR, which impressed them a lot.

IGU was established in Brussels in 1922. It has 34 Commissions ranging from Applied Geography, Gender Geography, Marine Geography to Landscape Analysis and Water Sustainability

IGU Executive Committee Members in LENOM  Data center