IGU International Geographical Union

Union Géographique Internationale UGIIGU E-NEWSLETTER
Quarterly
URL: http://www.homeofgeography.org/
e-mail: g.bellezza@homeofgeography.org

New Series 9

January

2014

Editor: Giuliano Bellezza, IGU Vice President
This Newsletter is circulated to more than 1500 individuals and bodies. Announcements,
information, calls for participation in scientific events, programmes and projects are welcome.
Please send them to g.bellezza@homeofgeography.org or giuliano.bellezza@uniroma1.it

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
1 ) 2013 Report of IGU President Vladimir Kolossov
2) 31st ICSU General Assembly, Auckland, 31 August-3 September
3) Reports from Conferences and Meetings2a) Region-2013: strategy of optimal development", Kharkiv, 7-8 November 20132b) ISPRS/IGU/ICA Joint Workshop: Borderlands Modelling and Understanging for
Global Sustainability, Beijing, 5-6 December
4) Received from Former President Anne Buttimer5) Forthcoming events
5.1) Colloque SFSIC, Abidjan, 13-14 March 20145.2) Urban Affairs Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas, 19-22 March 20145.3) Collège International des Sciences du Territoire, 2e Colloque, Paris, 27-28 Mars1

5.4) Borderlands Studies Conference, Albuquerque (NM), 2-5 April
5.5) Region 2014, Human and Geographical Aspects, Kharkiv, 3-4 April
5.6) AAG Annual Conference, Tampa (Florida) 8-12 April
5.7) Colloque Métropole et Régions, Paris, 9-11 avril 2014

1) 2013 REPORT OF FROM IGU PRESIDENT VLADIMIR KOLOSSOVThe first regional conference of three in the period between the Congresses in Cologne (2012)
and Beijing (2016) was held in Kyoto on 3-9 August 2013. The conference gathered 1431
participants from 61 countries/regions, including 289 students. Such attendance is rather high forsuch meetings and nearly equal that at the IGU Congress in Tokyo (1980) and more than
expected by the Organizing Committee. An important part of participants came from the AsianPacific region which justifies the very idea of regional conferences: one of their most important
objectives is to contribute to networking geographers in a particular region of the world.
Naturally, the largest number of participants was form Japan (688) followed by Taiwan (78), theUS (70), India (55) and China (53). The Science Council of Japan provided financial support tocover all of the room charges at the center, allowing us to set a very reasonable registration fee
despite the elegant facilities.
The conference’s motto was “Traditional Wisdom and Modern Knowledge for the Earth’s
Future” which corresponded well to its main objective - examination of the relationshipbetween society/culture and environment and the venue, the ancient capital of Japan. The
opening ceremony was graced by the attendance of Their Imperial Highnesses Prince andPrincess Akishino and several other distinguished guests.
The scientific programme was rather diverse: it included the sessions organized by 39 of 40 IGU
Commissions and the interdisciplinary meetings hold on the initiative of separate groups, key
lectures of well known geographers and practitioners and special sessions devoted to theperspectives of our Union and to the main IGU interdisciplinary projects (International Year of
Global Understanding and Our Sustainable Cities). To increase the number of domestic
participants as much as possible, the joint sessions were organized by Japan’s major geographicalsocieties and research programs whose head investigators are Japanese geographers.
A special attention was paid to the support of young researchers. The Organizing Commmittee
not only set the registration fee for them lower than a half of its standard amount but besides IGU
grants also prepared its own 20 grants thanks to the generous financial support of the Tokyo
Geographical Society and the Human Geographical Society of Japan. The authors of the bestposter presentations by young researchers received special awards at the closing ceremony. New2

initiatives concerning a broader involvement of young scholars in IGU activities were discussed
in Kyoto, particularly through the contacts with the association of Young Earth Scientists (YES).
The Conference contributed to the development of cooperation between IGU Commissions. The
total number of presentations made at the conference was 1,256: 9 at plenary sessions, 780 at
commissions’ sessions, 382 (254 oral and 128 poster) at general sessions, 76 at joint sessions, and9 at other sessions. Two sessions may deserve a special mention. The first one is the special
session on the status of geographical journals, the issues of their ranking and open access. It was
shown that the abuse of citation indices can do particular harm to geography because of
discrimination of regional studies, human geography and publications in the languages other thanEnglish. It represents a serious threat to the future of geographical departments and canundermine the personal carrier of many scholars. It was decided that IGU should sign the San
Francisco Declaration and work out recommendations to national research and education
governmental institutions. The second one is the session organized on the initiative of IGU
Executive and devoted to the experience of geography teaching in universities.
The conference hosted the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo), a competition that gathers
the winners of national Geography Olympiads. iGeo celebrated in Kyoto its 10th anniversary.
As usually, the conference included an exhibition of geographical literature, maps, atlases andmultimedia products. The special exhibition “Traditional Wisdom and Modern Knowledgepresented in Maps” was held in honor of the Conference: Kyoto University is famous for its
excellent collection of old maps.
According to the special survey, a great majority of participants rated the conference
management of the Kyoto conference very high: they noticed quick and efficient registration
facilities, the work of volunteers, a user friendly Programme handbook, a memorable opening
ceremony and many more.

IGU Executive Committee Meetings and Decisions
The 2012-2014 IGU Executive Committee consists of eleven elected members:
President
Professor Vladimir Kolossov, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Staromonetny per., 29, 119017 Moscow Russia
Vox: +7 495 959 0029; Fax: +7 495 959 0033; E-Mail: vladimirkolossov@rambler.ru
Past President:
Professor Ronald F. Abler, 525 Pennsylvania Avenue, Unit 301, Sheboygan WI 53081-4666
USA
Vox: +1 202 431 6271; Fax: +1 920 208 3452; E-Mail: rabler@aag.org
Secretary General and Treasurer:
Professor Michael Meadows, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Department ofEnvironmental and Geographical Science, South Lane, Upper Campus, Rondebosch 7701 South
AfricaVox: +27 21 650 2873; Fax: +27 21 650 3456; E-Mail: mmeadows@mweb.co.za
First Vice President:3

Professor Dietrich Soyez, University of Köln, Department of Geography, Albertus-MagnusPlatz
D-50923 Köln, Germany
Vox: +49 221 470 2261; Fax: +49 221 479 4917; E-Mail: d.soyez@uni-koeln.de
Vice Presidents:
Professor Giuliano Bellezza, Via di Brava 121, 00163 Rome Italy
Vox: +39 06 66182023; Mobile: +39 392 951 5439; E-Mail: giuliano.bellezza@uniroma1.it
Professor Joos Droogleever-Fortuijn, Department of Geography, Planning and International
Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, Plantage Muidergracht 14, 1018 TV
Amsterdam The Netherlands
Vox: +31-20-5254012; E-mail: j.c.droogleeverfortuijn@uva.nl
Professor Yukio Himiyama, Institute of Geography, Hokkaido University of Education,
Hokumoncho, Asahikawa 070-8621, Japan
Vox: +81 (0)166 59 1283; Fax: +81 (0)166 59 1283; E-mail: himiyama.yukio@a.hokkyodai.ac.jp
Professor Aharon Kellerman, University of Haifa, Department of Geography, Haifa 31905
IsraelVox: +972 4 824 2816; Fax: +972 4 826 2134; E-Mail: akeller@univ.haifa.ac.il
Academician Dahe Qin, China Meteorological Administration, 46, Zhongguancun Nandajie
Beijing 100081 China
Vox: +86 10 6840 8926 and 6840 7926; Fax: +86 10 6217 4797; E-Mail: qdh@cma.gov.cn
Professor Jarkko Saarinen, University of Oulu, Department of Geography, PO Box 3000
Oulu, Finland
Vox: +358 40 48 40 777; Fax. +358 8 553 1693; E-Mail: jarkko.saarinen@oulu.fi
Professor RB Singh, University of Delhi, Department of Geography, Delhi School of
Economics
Delhi-110007 India
Vox: 91 11 27666783; E-mail: rbsgeo@hotmail.com or rbsgeo1@yahoo.com
The IGU Executive Committee held two meetings in 2013: in Rohtak, India (March) and in
Kyoto in August, before the Regional Conference. After the meeting in India the members of theEC addressed the National Conference on “Geoinformatics for Biodiveristy and Climate Change”
sponsored by the Indian National Academy of Sciences, Indian Council for Social Sciences andResearch and other governmental institutions. The approved minutes of the 2013 IGU Executive
Committee meetings are made available via the IGU E-newsletters at: http://www.igu-online.org
The agenda of these meetings and the decisions taken during them were structured along the IGU
priorities for 2012-2016 adopted after the 32nd Congress in Cologne.
The first priority is to keep and to strengthen the role of IGU as a truly global organization, i.e. toincrease the participation of geographers from the countries with low incomes and at the sametime to make IGU attractive for geographers from the “North”, particularly for young
generations. IGU meetings and publications have to be important milestones in their carrier. In
2013 several countries have either formally re-established membership or have indicated thatthey are likely to become IGU members shortly. The EC paid a special attention to networking
African geographers and worked out a “roadmap” to promote African and other developing
countries membership.
4

The second IGU priority is communication and integration of IGU Commissions’ work, thedevelopment of interdisciplinary research by promoting problem- and region-oriented
programmes and the cooperation between natural and social wings of geography in studying
future environmental conditions and their consequences for people, and institutional, economic,
and behavioral changes enabling effective steps toward global sustainability. IGU believes it very
important the involvement of geographers in the implementation of Future Earth, the mostambitious international research programme integrating natural and social sciences which has
been ever created. IGU through its national committees carefully selected the candidates toFuture Earth’s Science Committee. The world geographical community is represented in it byseveral members, including IGU Vice-President Dahe Qin. IGU also encourages joint and special
workshops, sessions and research projects sponsored by two or several Commissions. The EC
worked out the criteria for an IGU Commission excellence award and established the committee
to administer it.
The third priority is cooperation with local organizing committees (LOC) of IGU Congresses andRegional Conferences for keeping their high standards, looking for new flexible formats, andbridging gaps between geographers, policy makers and community leaders. IGU EC closelycooperated with the LOC of the next Regional Conference in Poland and for the first time signedwith it the Memorandum of Agreement establishing mutual commitments and financial
responsibility.
According to the fourth priority - cooperation with the leading international organizations incontributing to the cohesion of geography and its better international visibility, IGU participatedin the activity of ICSU and ISSC in embedding IGU in global research programmes andnetworks. IGU established closer relations with the Association of European GeographicalSocieties (Eugeo) and the European Association of Geographers (Eurogeo), and signed with them
the Memorandum on cooperation. IGU EC is also organizing “the IGU lecture” at theInternational Geographical Festival in Saint Dié (France). IGU sponsors the activity of the joint
Commission on Toponimy with the International Cartographic Association and maintains
working contacts with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IGS) and the International
Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), in particular in Geounions, the association ofinternational unions in the field of Earth Sciences within ICSU.
Geographical education is one of the major raisons d’etre of the geographical community and its
main priorities. IGU should continuously show the value of geographical education in various
international and national academic and policy contexts. IGU, Eugeo and Eurogeo are working
on a common project for promoting geographical education and keeping and modernizing
geographical curricula in secondary school.
IGU decided to celebrate in 2022 its centennial and created special Task Force. One of its
objectives is to prepare the extraordinary Congress to be probably held in France, and a new
publication documenting IGU history.

International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU)
5IGU strongly supports the transdisciplinary project of theInternational Year on Global Understanding (IYGU) which was
created on the IGU initiative and is coordinated by Professor Benno
Werlen, Chair of IGU Commission on Cultural Geography. 2013was marked by spectacular progress in the implementation of thisproject. First, its bodies (the Advisory Board, the Steering
Committee, the Outreach Panel and partly Regional Action Centres
were formed and started their activity. More important, the
UNESCO Executive Board and later the UNESCO General
Assembly have unanimously adopted the resolution of the IGU
initiative for the IYGU presented by the group of the East African countries in the name of
Rwanda. Therefore, there is a real chance that the UN General Assembly could proclaim theIYGU in 2014. The main idea of the project is to bridge the gap in awareness between local
actions and global effects and that there is the urgent need in global action towards resolving the
problems arising from global social and climate change. It was stressed that geographicaleducation for global understanding is critical for addressing global challenges - for providing
sustainable sources of clean water, food and energy, and for maintaining an intact environment
for the well-being of all people. The IGU initiative has already obtained earlier the support of
ISSC, ICSU and a great number of other international and national institutions. More information
about IYGU is available at: http://global-understanding.info/
The IGU Journals Database
There are many journals globally that deal with the broad church that is the discipline ofGeography. In recent years the domination of major publishinghouses in the scientific journal market has become muchstronger and it is clear that many geographical journals are
published that have a much lower profile and yet could provide avery valuable resource for geographers – researchers andteachers alike - in particular national or regional contexts. It
was for this reason that the IGU embarked on a project toestablish a searchable global database of geographical periodicals. Information, including contact
details, impact factor (where appropriate) and website addresses of more than 1000 journals from
more than 80 countries worldwide are now available online (follow the link from the IGU
homepage at: www.igu-online.org)
Sustainable Cities: The IGU ‘OurSus’ Project
IGU also supports the project of making the site on cities’ sustainable development created in2010 on the initiative of Dutch and Chinese geographers the world centre of information andcertification working under the sponsorship of IGU. This project is based on the idea that despiteof their different size, location and functions all cities arefacing similar challenges in terms of sustainable features, suchas green R&D, environment-friendly consumption, green
campaigns, challenges, and education, etc. In 2013 the project
had a full double Internet infrastructure, in English andChinese (www.oursus.org and zh.oursus.org). There were6

numerous cities presented on its website and many academics and professionals made use of it,
albeit still mainly from China. It is expected that the project will reach full maturity in 2016
towards the IGU Congress in Beijing. It should have a wide and internationally balanced
representation of both cities and users. It is necessary to mobilize geographical communities inmany countries and to create national centres of the project.

IGU Honors and Awards
At the Regional Conference in Kyoto President Kolosov declared Ton Dietz, Professor of Human
Geography at the University of Amsterdam and Director of the African Studies Centre andProfessor in African Development at Leiden University (the Netherlands), the IGU 37th Lauréatd’honneur. This award was established in 1976 to recognize individuals who have achieved
particular distinction or who have rendered outstanding service in the work of the IGU or ininternational geography and environmental research.
Communication and Outreach
The main communication tools of the IGU are its quarterly newsletter, compiled by VicePresident Giuliano Bellezza and its website, maintained by Secretary-General Mike Meadows.
Four issues of the new series of the e-Newsletter were published in 2013 and can be downloaded
from the website by following the newsletter link from www.igu-online.org. IGU now has a
Facebook page and the new website design. In 2013 volume 61-62 of the IGU Bulletin was
published representing the years 2011-12. IGU also issued a leaflet on its current activity andupdated the handbook for its members.
Forthcoming IGU Conferences
18th to 22nd August 2014, Krakow, Poland Regional Conference
20th to 26th August 2015, Moscow, Russia Regional Conference
August 2016: People’s Republic of China International Geographical Congress, Beijing
More details at www.igu-online.org

Vladimir Kolossov, President
vladimirkolossov@gmail.com

72) 31st ICSU GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ICSU’s highest decision-making body, its members, will be coming together again in 2014 for
the General Assembly, held every three years. Our hosts, the Royal Society of New Zealand,
have already been working closely for some time with the ICSU Secretariat in Paris, in order toprepare for this important event, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, from 31 August
to 3 September 2014.
ICSU members will be examining the work of the organization over the last three years andlooking ahead at the implementation of its Strategic Plan. Items on the agenda will include theExternal Review of ICSU, the state of ICSU’s different programmes and initiatives, a celebrationof its global environmental change research programmes over the last 30 years, as Future Earth
moves towards implementation, and reports from activities in the regions.
The New Zealand Day preceding the General Assembly will provide an opportunity for members
to find out more about indigenous Maori knowledge and culture and its links with science. The
General Assembly programme will include four Science Lectures, ranging from Antarctic
research, seismology and biology to science policy and education, as well as a young scientists’science panel.
Work on the practical arrangements for the event has been intensifying at the ICSU Secretariat in
Paris and at the Royal Society in New Zealand. Online registration will be available in January
for members to register for the General Assembly and make their hotel bookings. An update will
be
sent
round
to
membersassoon
asregistration
goes
live.
Meanwhile full voting members of ICSU have been asked to submit their nominations forcandidates for election to the Executive Board of ICSU, elections which will take place during
the General Assembly. The Members of the Nominating Committee, appointed by the Executive
Board, will be meeting in March 2014 to review the nominations and prepare theirrecommendations.
We
lookforwardtoseeingyou
in
AucklandinAugust2014.
Find out more on the General Assembly portal on our website.
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PECS – Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society
The Earth system, upon which human well-being depends, is in a period of unprecedented
transition. An increased awareness of these changes to socio-ecological systems is vital fordeveloping an effective response. However, significant gaps persist in our knowledge of therelationships between natural capital, human wellbeing, livelihoods, inequality and poverty.
PECS is a ten-year initiative, sponsored by UNESCO and ICSU and hosted by the Stockholm
Resilience Centre, which aims to contribute to filling these gaps by integrating research on the
stewardshipofsocial–ecologicalsystemsandtheservicestheygenerate.
The principal approaches of PECS research are comparisons of place-based, long-term socialecological case studies and the development of interdisciplinary working groups that focus on
different cross-cutting topics. PECS brings together a vibrant network of 11 transdisciplinary
projects, covering 30 local and regional case-studies around the world. The growing portfolio of
PECS case studies provides a wealth of regional and local assessments and generate new insights
into the complex and multi-scale dynamics of social-ecological systems. The case studies
explore, for example, the synergies and trade-offs among ecosystem services in the Norrström
8basin in Sweden; the relationships between ecosystems services and well being of the poor incoastal areas of Africa and Southern Africa; the interactions between land use, climate change
and ecosystems for sustainable land and resource management solutions in numerous sites
including Russia, China, Vietnam and Amazonia; climate change and impacts on biodiversity andecosystem services in Montreal; social structures and resilience to climate change in Norway and
Switzerland.
The PECS approach also puts a strong emphasis on working with a wide range of stakeholders on
the ground, including local governments, resource managers and NGOs to co-design and coproduce knowledge directly relevant to decision-making on land management.
The PECS agenda tackles fundamental questions underlying the sustainability challenges of the
21st century, and the local to global transformations required to enable better stewardship ofsocial-ecological systems. PECS has started the process of transitioning into Future Earth. This
provides opportunities to strengthen PECS’s contribution to transdisciplinary research for global
sustainability and its specific approach to transformations of social-ecological systems from local
to the global scale.
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ICSU in 2013 – the year in review
2013 was a landmark year for Future Earth, but ICSU, led by its Executive Board, was also busy
on many other fronts. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to making this sucha successful year.
We've collected the highlights from 2013 in our year-end review, which you can read on our
website.
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Call for full bids: Future Earth Secretariat
ICSU, on behalf of the Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability, has released acall for full proposals to host the permanent secretariat of Future Earth.
This follows an expression of interests step (July-September 2013) and a bidders’ conference(November 2013). The call for full bids is open to all those who were judged by the selection
committee to have submitted credible expressions of interest and were invited to participate in thebidders’ conference.
More information on the call is available from our website.
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Vacancies; Executive Directors for Integrated Research on Disaster Risk
(IRDR) and Urban Health and Wellbeing
Two key positions are open at interdisciplinary programmes co-sponsored by ICSU. Both theIntegrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) Programme and the Urban Health and Wellbeing
Programme are recruiting an Executive Director. More details are available on the job postings
for IRDR and Urban Health. Applications close on 20 and 18 January, respectively.
Read the full announcement on our website

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ICSU GeoUnions launch new website
The GeoUnions, a network of representatives of the international scientific unions of theInternational Council for Science (ICSU) dealing with Earth and space sciences, have establisheda new web presence.
The network's aim is to promote sciences worldwide, to communicate and to coordinate scientificactivities of individual unions.
The GeoUnions established a Steering Committee in 2004 for their activities, and to speak onbehalf of GeoUnions members to the ICSU Executive Board, ICSU Members and its
interdisciplinary bodies and at the international level. The Steering Committee of GeoUnions
meets normally a day before of ICSU General Assemblies and Scientific Unions Meetings of
ICSU.
Their new website can be found at www.icsu-geounions.org
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Urban Health and Well-Being International Programme Office to be hosted in Xiamen,
China
ICSU announced today that its new research programme on Urban Health and Wellbeing will behosted at the Institute of Urban Environment (IUE) in the city of Xiamen in southern China. The
institute was selected to host the International Programme Office after an open competition.
The Urban Health programme is a 10-year interdisciplinary research effort whose overall aim isto generate policy-relevant knowledge that will improve health status, reduce health inequalities
and enhance the well-being of urban dwellers. It will focus on the integration of natural, social,
medical and engineering sciences using systems approaches to address the complexity of urban
issues and their influence on health.
Read the full announcement on our website.
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Ocean Acidification expert launched at UNFCCC COP-19
In a major new international report launched at the UNFCCC COP-19 in Warsaw, experts
conclude that the acidity of the world’s ocean may increase by around 170% by the end of the
century bringing significant economic losses.
More information on the findings is available.
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Final Report of the Future Earth Transition Team publishedFuture Earth has just published the final report of the Transition Team, the group of experts that
led the initial design of the research initiative on global sustainability.
The report is available for download from the ICSU website.
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10

AFRICAICSU RCA 15 Meeting
The ICSU Regional Committee for Africa held its 15th meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, on 29 –30 August 2013. The meeting was attended by the full complement of the statutory members of
the Committee. The RCA 15 was preceded by a half-day seminar that was organised by ICSUROA in collaboration with the South African Institute of South Africa (one of ICSU ROA’s
regional partners).
The Seminar, which was held at South African Institute of South African Institute of South
Africa Offices, was attended by the RCA members, local scientists and other stakeholders. It
focused on issues related to energy, food and nutrition security in Africa. Two RCA members,
Prof Hillary Inyang and Prof Tito Fernandes, gave presentations during this event and thepresentations were well received. The two-day RCA meeting focused its deliberations on thestatus of the implementation of the Regional Office's four science plans and to seek the way
forward. The Committee was also updated on the accomplishment and planned activities of ICSU
ROA with the ICSU family as well as with the Office's partners and other science networks in theregion. During the RCA 15, the Committee proposed strategic and scientific advice to the
Regional Office that would enable it to accomplish its goals in the region. The next RCA
meeting, scheduled for March 2014, is planned to be held in Nigeria and will be co-organised by
the Nigeria Academy of Science
More news from ICSU's Africa Regional Office
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ASIA PACIFIC
Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific meets in Seoul back-to-back with the 5th ICSURegional Consultation in Asia and the Pacific
The e 16th Meeting of the ICSU Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific (RCAP) began inSeoul on 26 November 2013. Among the attendants was Professor Sukiman Sarmani, the new
representative from the Council of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, the host organization of
ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP). The Committee met briefly to review
progress of its work in four priority areas before adjourning to join the start of the 5th ICSURegional Consultation in Asia and the Pacific that had as its focus the new 10-year international
research programme, Future Earth. The Consultation will explore how Future Earth may be
implemented in Asia and the Pacific focusing on transformative pathways, capacity building andfundingneeds.
More news from ICSU's Asia-Pacific Regional Office
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LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEANFirst Meeting: ICSU ROLAC Scientific Steering Committee for Integrated Research an
Disaster Risk in LAC
With the purpose of developing scientific activities in ICSU-ROLAC for contributing to risk
prevention and management various actions have been carried out. These actions culminated in
3-5th September in Panama when a Steering Committee to ICSU-ROLAC was established,composed by 7 representatives of national scientific institutions from Argentina, Costa Rica,
11

Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Jamaica and Mexico. The committee also has representatives of IRDR,
UNISDR, IAI, UNESCO and from the Scientific Committee of ICSU-ROLAC. The objectives ofthe meeting were the establishment of the Steering Committee and to agree on a yearly working
Access and Benefit Sharing in Latin America and the Caribbean: A dialogue between
Science and Policy for academic research
The objective of this workshop was to develop a guide to promote dialogue between researchers
working with genetic resources and decision makers who are the focal points responsible for
implementing international regulations of ABS in the Latin America and the Caribbean. This
workshop included examples of good practices in the region and the positions of other users, suchas indigenous peoples. This workshop could be a pilot project to establish a dialogue between
science and policy for mutual benefit and promoting international cooperation. DIVERSITAS,ICSU ROLAC, SCNAT and IUBS organized the event. There were 30 participants academics,
policy makers and indigenous representatives from 9 countries of the region.
More news from ICSU's Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office3) REPORTS FROM CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
3a) REGION-2013: STRATEGY FOR OPTIMAL DEVELOPMENT – KHARKIV(UKRAINE), 7-8 NOVEMBER 2013
On 7-8 November, 2013 the Scientific and Practical Conference with International Participation"Region-2013: strategy for optimal development" was held at the Department for Social andEconomic Geography and Regional Studies, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University(Ukraine). Organizers of the conference, besides this university, were the Ministry of Educationand Science of Ukraine, Ukrainian Geographical Society, Taras Shevchenko National Universityof Kyiv, Kharkiv Regional Station of Young Tourists (Ukraine), Belgorod National Research
University (Russia).
244 participants submitted applications and abstracts, including: 206 were from other cities of
Ukraine (112 were from other countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, The
Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, Poland, The Czech Republic, France, Bosnia andHerzegovina).
The authors have submitted 180 abstracts that are thematically joined the 4 sections:
Role of Earth Sciences in the strategy for optimal development
Modern issues of regional development;
Social and economic development of regions.
Natural and resource potential and regional environmental policy.
50 participants were directly involved in the conference.
According to the program of the conference firstly the plenary session has been which Head of
the Department, Professor Lyudmila Niemets opened. The Presidium also included: Vice-Rector,
12

academician Mukola Azaryenkov, Dean of the Faculty of Geology and Geography, Professor
Vilina Peresadko, Deputies Dean – Associate Professors Oleg Polevych and Igor Udalov andfounder of the conference – Head of the Department for International Economic Relations, V.N.
Karazin Kharkiv National University, Professor A.P. Golikov.

Left: Lyudmila Niemets, Head of the Department for Social and Economic Geography and Regional

Studies opening the plenary section of the conference.
Right: Vice-Rector Mukola Azaryenkov welcoming the participants of the conference
Within the plenary section following reports were presented:"Features of the Development of the Human Geographical Studies in Kharkiv region," in which
Katherine Segida, PhD in Geography, associate professor of the department told about historyof the Department for Social and Economic Geography and Regional Studies, modern faces of
the Kharkiv human geographical school (K. Niemets, A. Golikov , L. Niemets) , topics of themodern research of the department.
The next speaker was Eugene Korostelev, associate professor of the Department for Regional
Geography and International Tourism, Saint Petersburg State University (Russia), PhD in
Geography, who talked about the features of eco-tourism as a factor of sustainable developmentin the Republic of Karelia in Russia.
Konstantin Mezentsev, professor of the Department for Economic and Social Geography, Taras
Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, presented the reporton the following topic: “Ukraine’s Cities: Resistance to the Challenges of the Social andEconomic Transformations”, where he showed demographic, economic transformation of cities
in Ukraine, new and old imaginations of cities as social and economic centers.
Andjey Sochuvka, Assistant at the Department for Spatial Planning, The University of Silesia,
PhD in Geography, reported on the organization of public passenger transport in MoravianSilesian region in the Czech Republic.
In the report of Vladimir Chasovskiy, Head of the Department for Social and Economic
Geography and Nature, Smolensk State University, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, thechanges in the industry of the CIS were emphasized.
Konstantin Niemets, professor of the Department for Social and Economic Geography andRegional Studies, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, presented author concept of the influencezone of human geographical objects, modeling of the integral influence function.
After the dinner participants of the conference was divided into sections listed above. Reports
devoted to methodic of GIS application for geomarketing studies, general human geographicalresearch, analysis of threats to economic security in Transnistria, modern problems of13

development of recreational nature in the Republic of Buryatia , the modern features of
employment, social security, food consumption, investment activity, industry development inUkraine and other countries of the CIS.

Left: Participant Konstantin Mezentsev presents his key position of the research.
Right: Ceremony of summarizing and closing of the conference

Next day participants were waited a trip to Chuguiv (Kharkiv region, at least 20 km from
Kharkiv), where they visited the museum of Illia Repin (1844-1930) (the famous Russian artist)and the Chuguiv museum of local lore.
Generally, the event was successful and guests expressed desire to visit the conference next year.

3b) ISPRS/ IGU/ICA JOINT WORKSHOP ON BORDERLANDS MODELLING AND
UNDERSTANDING FOR GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY – BEIJING, 5-6 DECEMBER

Organisers and most of the participants gathered outside after the Opening Ceremony

With the sponsorship of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing(ISPRS), International Geographical Union (IGU), International Cartographic Association (ICA),
14

Geographical Society of China (GSC), and the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the
ISPRS/ IGU/ICA Joint International Workshop on Borderlands Modelling and Understanding for
Global Sustainability was successfully organized on the 5th and 6th of December in 2013 in
Beijing, China, by the School of Geography at Beijing Normal University (BNU) and National
Geomatics Center of China (NGCC). This workshop aims to promote scientific research andacademic exchange on digital modelling, advanced analysis and comprehensive understanding ofborderlands. The Chinese Academician Dahe Qin (IGU Vice-President), Professor Jun Chen
(ISPRS President) and Professor Yanhua Liu (GSC president) co-chaired the workshop, andaround 80 leading scientists and young researchers from 11 countries participated in theworkshop.
This workshop organized two keynote sessions and five sub-topic sessions. Eight guest speakers
were invited to give speech in the keynote sessions. Yujing Ouyang, the director in the
Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, introduced thepast, present, and future of China’s boundary and ocean affairs. Victor Konrad, the President of
the Association for Borderlands Studies (ABS), gave a presentation on imagining and imaging
borders, which claimed that borders in globalization are the meeting points of globalizing forcesof security, trade and migration flows with emerging technologies, self determination andregionalization around the world. Jun Chen, ISPRS President, discussed the importance of theapplication of geographical technologies to global sustainability. He argues that reliable
information and effective analysis tools are requested to support borderlands studies through the
integrated utilization of geospatial analysis, web service, and other specific expertise. The threemajor challenges and suggestions in the borderlands studies from geospatial information science
were discussed in his speech. Giuliano Bellezza, the IGU Vice President, Professor at Universityof Roma, Italy, discussed the historical evolution of borders and clarifies different types ofborders in human history from natural borders to a possible borderless world in the virtual
cyberspace.

Following day: invited guests in the middle row, surrounded by some participants

Stanley David Brunn, Professor at University of Kentucky, US, gave a broad vision of boundary
in his speech. He focused on new transdisciplinary boundaries that are essential to study15

sustainability at local and global levels and also cyberspace worlds where there is much fluidity,
speed, networking that relate to issues of identity and territoriality. Paul Cheng, former Directorof the UN Statistics Division, and Ayako Kagawa, Chief Geo Support Unit of UN Cartographic
Section, presented the international boundary experiences by the UN. UN regards the adequatedelimitation and demarcation of international boundaries as a very important element for the
maintenance of peace and security in fragile post conflict situations, establishment of friendly
relationships and cross-border cooperation between countries. They provide the technical support
for different boundary requirements as each international boundary issue requires specific focus
and attention. Rana Singh, Professor at Banaras Hindu University, India, presented from a crossculture perspective to understand global sustainability. He argued human beings should think
universally, see globally, behave regionally, and act locally but insightfully. He thought this is anappeal for sharing wisdom for global sustainability in making our cultural landscapes mosaic ofhappy, peaceful and sustainable places crossing all the borders and transitions.

Question time after one session

The 19 oral presentations in the five sub-topic sessions cover diverse topics by using quantitativeand qualitative methods for analysis. The five sub-topics addressed were: scientific challenges
and perspectives in borderlands studies, analytical and quantitative methods for borderlands,
understanding of borderlands features, understanding cross-border communication and security,and modelling and representation of digital borderlands. One group of studies focused on
methodological and technical issues, such as data sources and collection of borderlands
information, data analysis of borderlands information, visualization of borderlands
information， and the application of newly developed method on borderlands management. The
other group of the papers focused on empirical studies on specific topics, such as polar region,
Chinese border policy, cooperation between border cities, geo-energy security, and nontraditional security in the South China Sea.
The workshop emphasized two important issues of borderlands and sustainability studies:interdisciplinary and practice-oriented. The papers, from the perspectives of history, culture, andtechnology respectively, studied the borderlands and sustainability. The challenges and solutions
on borderlands derive from practice. To advance borderland study in the future, we needmultidisciplinary efforts by attracting people from various majors including geography,
16international relation, law, environment science, economics and so on. We also need to apply
new technologies in GIS, remote sensing and other necessary tools in the research. This
workshop indicated the importance of multidisciplinary efforts, and we hope it will shed light on
future research on borderlands modelling and understanding.
oooooooooooooooooo

After the workshop, School of Geography at Beijing Normal University invited four professors todeliver guest lectures to the graduate students: Directions and Advances in the Study of Borders
in Globalization by Prof. Victor Konrad, Frontiers and Borders: From Ancient Time to
Postmodern by Prof. Giuliano Bellezza, Visual Geopolitics: A New World Order? by Prof. Stan
Brunn and Sacred Geography and Landscape Geometries: Interfaces in Holy Places of North
India by Prof. Rana Singh. Both the guest lectures and discussion afterwards provided a good
opportunity for the graduate students to learn about the progress in borderlands studies (see photo
above and below).

174) RECEIVED FROM FORMER PRESIDENT ANNE BUTTIMER
Last December former IGU President Anne Buttimer sent to relatives and friends her nice and kind
Xmas Circular. This year, with her permission, I take from her Circular the initial lines, showing her
mind, always open to world and environment. But this year she gave more importance to one
particular event: the demise of Nelson Mandela. In 2002 in Durban I had the privilege to see theCeremony when Anne consigned him the IGU Planet and Humanity Award. Let me, please, tell my
impression: he fully deserved the award, and his thanking words have really been a lesson not onlyor real, lived life, but also of political, economic and human geography.
Dear
Christmas greetings! It’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed since my last Yuletide
greeting. We have had a really mild Autumn here and only a few days of wintry weather.
Elsewhere, of course, there were tragic climatic events – not only in countries which refuse tochange their environmentally damaging behaviour - but also in lands of innocent victims such as thePhilippines. When will humanity really learn to respect our “Mother Nature” and live in moresustainable ways? The splendid efforts of Pope Francis are surely encouraging.
Then in December our beloved Madiba passed away. Memories of his warm embrace in Durban
2002 remain vividly in my heart. Having accepted our IGU Planet and Humanity Award, he spoke
touchingly about his own personal geography. If you would like to have a copy of that speech, letme know. (anne.buttimer@ucd.ie)
Presentation of the International Geographical Union's Planet and Humanity Award to
Nelson Mandela, Durban, 4 August 2002
Speech of Anne Buttimer, President:“The International Geographical Union is honoured and overjoyed to present its Planet andHumanity award to Mr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Madiba. As aleading humanist and statesman, in championing human rights andfreedom for the oppressed, Mr Mandela’s immense and selflesscontribution to the welfare of humanity, is acknowledged globally. His
honours are many, including the Nobel peace prize. His curriculum
vitae provides many lessons to scientists and politicians about our
responsibility for the stewardship of society and the naturalenvironment of our planet Earth. Only a few of his political andhumanitarian achievements can be highlighted here:Your willingness to undergo suffering for the alleviation ofhuman oppressionYour visionary and resilient engagement in socio-politicalactivities that eventually led to the democratization of South AfricaYour commitment to the alleviation of poverty and championing of humandignity, and
Your unwavering belief in youth as the cornerstone of nation building.
18

Mr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Madiba, your profound sense of justice, humility and warmth, andyour sterling qualities of leadership, indeed render you an ideal and deserving recipient of the IGU
Planet and Humanity medal for 2002. On behalf of the international community of geographers, I
personally thank you for the inspiration, the courage and the challenge which you continue to offer
us. Siyabonga.”

Address by Mr. Nelson Mandela:
The President of the International Geographical Union, esteemed members of the Union, ourinternational visitors, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: my grandchildren, including Dr
Ben Ngubane, the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, and Mike Sutcliffe there, they
have to keep on reminding me that I have now lost power and influence. I should remain with mygrandchildren. I hope they will revise their opinion after this occasion - because a man who has lost
power and influence cannot be honoured by such an organization!
And it is with a special sense of humility that we stand here to receive the Planet and Humanity
award. We are aware of how much correspondence and intervention it took to finally secure ourpresence here this afternoon. We need to indicate that the effort it entailed to finally conclude thediscussions about our participation had nothing to do with an unwillingness to accept this prestigious
award, or an attitude of playing “hard to get”, as the colloquial saying goes. We ourselves, as wellas our office, long ago indicated to our Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, that wewould be extremely honoured to receive the award. The vagaries of leaving official office andhaving to establish home as an unemployed pensioner, contributed to the uncertainty of not knowing
where and in what condition one would be when the event comes around at last. Employed people
and those in office can never imagine how chaotically unscheduled the lives are of those who findthemselves in the idleness of retirement and pension. We are very happy that out of that chaos, ouroffice could contrive to have us here, at this most prestigious event and occasion.
I am a simple country boy, and I remain astounded and overawed by the awards and honours thatpeople, for some incomprehensible reason, decide to bestow upon us. A colleague of mine often
asks me how it is that I remember so distinctly people I have met, days on which events haveoccurred, and the details of occurrences. My consistent and truthful reply to him is the following: I
am a simple country boy, unacquainted with all of these marvelous and strange things of the world.
Every time I encounter people, things and events, they remain indelibly stuck on my overawedmind.
I left the country in April 1941, and many people may wonder why I call myself still a country boy.
But although I left the country in 1941, the country has not left me. This visit will be such anoccasion that I will never be able to forget, and it is furthermore an occasion that takes me back to
concrete memories of and present-day knowledge about my origins as a country boy. When I go to
the place and area of my birth, so often as I do, the changed geography of the place strikes me with aforce that I cannot escape. And that geography is not one of mere landscapes and topography, it is
the geography of the people. Where once there were trees and even forests, we now see barrenness.
I can no longer walk those distances, but until a few years ago, I would traverse the miles of land I
knew as a child and young man, and one was saddened at the poverty of the people - poverty lived
out in the geography of the place. It is the geography of women and young people, walking miles
19and miles to find the paltriest pieces of wood for fire to cook, and make a meal, and to keep a shelter
warm.
The trees and forests were destroyed exactly because our people were so dependent upon them, assources of energy. And in turn, people are today cold and in want of energy for cooking, cleaning
and basic comforts because the trees and forests are destroyed. I walked and I saw in the land of myyouth, women walking, but walking in poverty and destitution. The streams of my youth that wereplaces of beauty and inspiration were now clogged up and dirty. I saw the descendants of themothers of our people bowing down to secure with their bare hands the cleanest of the dirty anddangerous water in those streams and pools.
How would they get that water clean enough to use it for household purposes? I often ask them.
They would boil it, they reply, if only they had wood or other sources of energy to do so.
I was taking a walk a few days ago in my country village, and I came across a stream which waspolluted and where the water was moving very slowly. And then I found three women fetchingwater. And I asked them, “What are you going to do with that water?”
They said, “We are going to use it for domestic purposes. We are going to cook with it, drink it,
clean ourselves”.
I said, “But the water has tadpoles moving around, it has algae, this green stuff that covers stagnant
water”. And I said, “Up there, you see people washing their bodies and their clothes. That water
comes here”.
They say, “That is our life”.
And then I asked this question: “What do you do with this water before you use it?”
They say, “We do nothing. We use it as it is”.
And then I asked a foolish question. I was born in that area and I am supposed to know theconditions, but for me twenty-seven years of prison life was sufficient to make me forget about theliving conditions of my people. I then asked the question, “Don’t you boil it before you use it?”
They all exclaimed simultaneously. “Boil it with what? Look up, right up to the horizon, there is nota single tree. We have no electricity. With what must we boil it? We use cow dung, and that gives
more smoke than heat”.
I felt humiliated because I should never have asked that question, but I did. The alternatives seem
clear: use what they have and suffer the consequences. And the consequences were and remaincholera and other environmentally induced diseases.
On the 9th of May, I was in New York and I met one of the most powerful businessmen in theworld, who has supported us in the past, and built a school and a clinic. And when I formed the[Nelson Mandela] Foundation, he invited me and my wife to his place in the United States ofAmerica. He then gave my wife five million dollars, and gave me ten million. And his partner gave20

my wife seven-and-a-half million, gave me seven-and-a-half million too [for charity work in South
Africa].
Now I said to him, “I want you to build forty-five schools in the countryside in South Africa,
because there are vast areas in the countryside where there is no school, where there is no clinic”.
He said, “No, I concentrate on health. I propose building so many clinics in your country.”
And we had an argument. I said, “No, clinics are alright. But in the countryside the situation, thethinking of the people, is that the sangomas are more reliable than the clinics, modern clinics. We
therefore want an educated core of people who are going to campaign in the countryside to say,
These clinics are much better than sangomas. So that’s why I want you to build your forty-fiveschools.”
We couldn’t resolve the argument. He said, “No, I am prepared to respond, but only in the field ofhealth”.
“Well”, I said, “let me go back and go to consult”.
I came back home and I consulted the Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal. He overruled
both of us, and he said, “No, there are many schools throughout the country without water, without
sewerage, where the school children have to go to the Veldt to relieve themselves. They havenothing to clean themselves so they use grass and then their fingers are soiled. With soiled hands,
without washing because there is no water, they go and handle food. Bread, sandwiches, hard meallypap, meat, fruit, and in that way cholera spreads”. And then Professor Asmal said, “What we want is
the installation of water in all the schools. And it’s going to cost a lot of money”.
Well, I have written to the businessman to say, this is what the man who knows this field thinks weshould do. No schools, no new schools, no new clinics, but water for the schools that are there,
because that will go a long way in preventing cholera. These conditions I have seen repeated all over
our country, our continent, and the developing world.
We accept the honour you bestow upon us today, not as an honour in the usual sense of that word.
We accept it as an acknowledgement of our common lack of honour, as humanity, for the manner inwhich we are destroying our mother planet and the chances for our children to have a sustainable
future on earth. Your award is however also a source of encouragement to take up and continue thestruggle for a world in which we can live in dignity, not only among ourselves as human beings, butalso as human beings in relationship with our natural environment.
South Africa will soon be hosting the all-important World Summit for Sustainable Development.
As your Union gathers here and now, it is part of the challenge to our country, its leaders and its
people to be seen to be in the vanguard of the modern-day struggle to render our environment alivable and sustainable one for our children. I try to live by the simple precept of making the world
one in which there is a better life for all, particularly the poor, marginalized and vulnerable. A
devastated geography makes for a devastated people. It renders people vulnerable, and the
traditionally vulnerable - women, children, the aged and disabled - will always be bearing the bruntof that suffering.
21

Let us stand together to make of our world a sustainable source for our future as humanity on thisplanet. I thank you.”
Eventually, a few days before the diffusion of this newsletter, Anne Buttimer, found the way to give
all of us the possibility to see the video of the awarding Ceremony, with the essential help of
Barbara Craig, Executive Assistant of the University College of Dublin (barbara.craig@ucd.ie),
This is the mail Anne received from Barbara:
Dear Anne,
Here is the video link you can give them if they want to download the Nelson Mandela video
speech with your speech. The video file is in .avi format so it should read okay on their
computers and they will be able to download it directly too from this link. http://goo.gl/zZzYXmThanks and Kind Regards,
Barbara.
And Editor, on behalf of the Newsletter Readers, gratefully expresses all possible thanks to Anne,
Barbara and the University College of Dublin.

5) FORTHCOMING EVENTS(more information in the Home of Geography website, Events 2013)5.1) COLLOQUE SFSIC, ABIDJAN, 13-14 MARCH 20145.2) URBAN AFFAIRS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, 19-22
MARCH 20145.3) COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL DES SCIENCES DU TERRITOIRE, 2E COLLOQUE,PARIS, 27-28 MARS
5.4) BORDERLANDS STUDIES CONFERENCE, ALBUQUERQUE (NM), 2-5 APRIL
5.5) REGION 2014, HUMAN AND GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS, KHARKIV, 3-4 APRIL
5.6) AAG ANNUAL CONFERENCE, TAMPA (FLORIDA) 8-12 APRIL
5.7) COLLOQUE METROPOLE ET REGIONS, PARIS, 9-11 AVRIL 201422