About IGU-GEOSUS

The mission of IGU commission on Geography and Sustainability (IGU-GEOSUS) is to promote Geography for people to thrive in a sustainable and equitable world. IGU-GEOSUS will support the purpose of IGU to promote Geography through initiating and coordinating geographical research and teaching around the world, and provide a platform for communication among geographers globally with the aim of promoting research and innovation in relation to sustainability. IGU-GEOSUS will aim to serve as the focal point for developing, coordinating and implementing interdisciplinary research and education to promote sustainable development through an integrated geography perspective.

IGU-GEOSUS is the successor of the former IGU Commission on Geography of Future Earth: Coupled Human Earth Systems for Sustainability (IGU-GFE), which was formally established in October 2017 and approved by IGU in November, 2024.

IGU-GEOSUS will promote wider analysis and innovative thinking about global land sustainability through the bridging and synthesis of physical geography, human geography, ecology, hydrology, atmospheric, climate and social sciences. With this mission, the commission aims at promoting and facilitating the following six thematic areas:

1. Fundamentals of Geography for Future Earth, and especially new theories and hypothesis on coupled human-earth systems for sustainability;
2. Open and inclusive platforms for Geospatial Big Data and observations of coupled human-earth systems;
3. Integrated Earth system models to deepen our understanding of complex Earth systems and human dynamics across different scales;
4. Linkages and dynamic analysis among ecological process, services, and human wellbeing;
5. Human Contributions and Responses to global climate/environmental changes and sustainability;
6. Evaluation tools for sustainable development, multi-scale sustainability evaluation, and sustainable scenarios for transformative development pathways.