International Geographic Union

The first International Geographic Congress was held in 1871 in Antwerp .

In its present form, it was founded in 1922 in Brussels. The governing body is the Executive Committee (consisting of the President, eight Vice-Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer), elected by the General Assembly, consisting of the heads of national delegations. In the structure of the IGU, commissions and research groups also operate on an ongoing basis. Once every 4 years, congresses of the IGU are held. The IGU Bulletin is being issued.

The USSR became a member of the union in 1956 . Coordination between Soviet geographical organizations and the IGU was carried out by the National Committee of Soviet Geographers, transformed in 1992 into the Russian National Committee of the International Geographic Union (currently the chairman is Academician V.M. Kotlyakov , and the Executive Secretary is A. B. Sebentsov). In 1976, the IGU Congress was held in the USSR.

Currently, the union includes 87 countries.

The goals of the IGU:

1. Facilitate the study of geographical problems;
2. To initiate and coordinate geographical studies requiring international cooperation, to promote their widespread scientific discussion and publication of their results;
3. To ensure the participation of geographers in the work of international organizations;
4. To contribute to the improvement of the collection and dissemination of geographical data and documentation both within and between the IGU member countries;
5. To facilitate the holding of International Geographical Congresses, regional conferences and specialized symposia, the themes of which are consistent with the objectives of the Union;
6. To take part in any other forms of international cooperation in order to promote geographical research and put their results into practice;
7. Promote the international standardization and unification of the methods, nomenclature and symbols used in geography.

The working languages ​​of the IGU are English and French ^[1] .

The IGU is a member of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ISCU) and the International Council of Social Sciences (ISSC).

The governing body is the Executive Committee, which consists of the President, Prof. Dr. Sc. V. A. Kolosov (Russia, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences); Secretary General and Treasurer - prof. Michael Meadows (South Africa, University of Cape Town), previous president prof. Ronald F. Abler (USA, Pennsylvania), vice president prof. Giuliano Belezza (Italy, Rome), Vice President Joos Droogleever Fortuijn (Netherlands, Amsterdam), Vice President prof. Yukio Himiyama (Japan, Asahikawa), vice president Aaron Kellerman (Israel, Haifa), vice president academician Dahe Quin (China, Beijing), vice president prof. Jarkko Saarinen (Finland, Oulu), vice president prof. R. B. Singh (India, Delhi), vice president prof. Dietrich Sowec (Germany, Cologne) ^[2] .

List of International Geographical Congresses ^[3] held by the International Geographic Union:

• Gerasimov I.P., Poksishevsky V.V. International geographic congresses // Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Series geography. 1956. No. 4. P. 4-15.
• Annenkov V.V., Gerasimov I.P., Mints A.A. Stages of development of modern geography: (On the 100th anniversary of international geographic congresses; 1871-1968) // Izv. USSR Academy of Sciences. Ser. geo 1972. No. 3. S. 90-100.
• Snytko V.A., Sobisevich A.V., Shirokova V.A. History of science at the Regional Conference of the International Geographical Union Geography, Culture and Society for the Future of the Earth // Issues of the History of Natural Science and Technology. - 2015. - No. 4. - S. 815-817.

• Official site - International Geographical Union
• Urban Geography Commission
• International Geographic Union - Russian National Committee.
• Gorkin A. Thirty years later - about the 23rd International Geographical Congress in Moscow.