Newsletter June 2001

Dear Colleagues,

Another six months have passed since the last newsletter in December and we are happy to report of very interesting meetings and to announce some important meetings coming up.
But before we would like to point out some administrative changes we are working on. Today we are happy to have about three hundred correspondents, who receive this newsletter every half a year. But as you can imagine this amount increases our mailing costs, so we will change our delivery to email newsletters. Some of you already received this newsletter per email, if you do belong to those who have received this newsletter per regular mail, we ask you to send us your email address. So you will get the next newsletter per email. Please send us your email to the following address: gapp@giub.unibe.ch. We hope to organize a mailing list, so we can keep you up with information on time.

Furthermore we are about to construct a website for the commission. You find it under:
www.giub.unibe.ch/sg/igu-gapp.html

Also we kindly ask you to send us information about your new publications and interesting announcements!

I hope to see you at the next meeting and send you the best wishes for a successful summer,

                                                                                                                                                                  Doris Wastl-Walter

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS: FUTURE CONFERENCES
The planned and confirmed future commission meetings are:
 

2001	STAVROPOL and KISKOVODSK (Russia), September 12.-17.
2002	LOS ANGELES (USA), Probably, March 16.-19.
	DURBAN (South Africa), August 4.-8. at the Regional IGU Conference
2003	LISABON (Portugal), spring
	PRAGUE (Czech Republic), autumn
	2004 GLASGOW (UK), at the next IGC

The Commissions on Political Geography, on Geography and Public Policy, and on Mountain Geography of the International Geographical Union, the Stavropol State University (SSU) and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IGRAS) organize in Stavropol and Kislovodsk (Russia) on September 12-17, 2001 the international conference: „Settlement Systems, Ethnocultural Mosaics and Geopolitics of Mountainous Regions“.
The main objective of the conference is an interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary transformations of settlement systems in mountainous regions in relation with their geopolitical role, political and administrative division, ethnocultural situation and economic processes.
It is supposed to consider mountainous regions in close connection with plains. Comparative studies of mountains are especially welcome. The focus will be made on Caucasus, including its Russian northern part and Transcaucasia. It is suggested  to discuss the following questions.
Part 1.  The demographic situation, migrations, settlement systems and political geography of mountainous regions
Part 2.  Dynamics of settlement and ethnopolitical conflicts in Caucasus.

For further information contact: Dr. Vladimir Kolossov; E-mail: vladk@online.ru

The joint meeting between our commission and the PGSG will be held at the Red Lion Hanalei Hotel in San Diego's Mission Valley March 16 through 19, 2002. The hotel is conveniently located near the airport with access to a number of sites of interest in San Diego, including the trolley the runs between Tijuana and the eastern suburbs, Sea World, the Presidio, and Old Town. The room cost at the Hanalei is $110 single or double. We will look for some cheaper accommodations as well.
Our plan is to have the Sunday and Monday be the main presentation days. The Saturday would begin with a field trip to the border, then have a plenary session in the evening. The Tuesday would involve a field trip examining coastal growth policies and air quality policies on the way to Los Angeles.
PGSG caps conference fees at $75 with a half fee for students. We may have to charge a separate fieldtrip fee.
Presumably the meeting will have the following title: Globalization on the Doorstep: Political Geography and Public Policy in Border Regions. Some sessions will be organized around the conference themes. Others will be open to all subjects engaging political geography and/or the geography of public policy.

For questions and further information contact Rex Honey: rhoney@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu

We are pleased to announce that the next regional conference of the International Geographical Union (IGU), hosted by the African Geographical Community, will be held at the International Convention Center (ICC) in Durban, South Africa. The conference is open to all scientists across the spectrum of the Earth, Environmental, Developmental and Social Sciences. Most of the Commissions and Study Groups of the IGU will hold business meetings in conjunction with the conference.
The challenges facing geography as a discipline, both globally and regionally, are many and varied and are arguably of greater importance at this point in time than ever before. Innovation, new technology and efficient networking are required to face the challenges posed inter alia by globalization, the sustainable and equitable utilization of resources, degradation and global warming.
The conference aims to present a forum at which these challenges can be addressed. Participants can choose from a range of pre and post-conference scientific excursions to some of the exotic destinations in southern Africa.

For further information see: http://www.turners.co.za/igu/

For registration and second announcement brochure download file from:
http://www.rhodes.ac.za/academic/departments/geography/html/igu2002r.html