2021 Istanbul
34-th International Geographical Congress in Istanbul is POSTPONED to August 16th – 20th 2021
Following the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the IGU Congress in İstanbul is postponed for one year.
The Istanbul Congress will now take place from August 16th to 20th 2021. All registration fees received, abstracts accepted, travel grants awarded, and the conference programme already developed for this year will be carried over to 2021. Any delegate who has already paid the registration fee may use that fee to participate in the Congress in August 2021 and, if desired, submit a new paper for the August 2021 Congress.
For more information please visit the official web site of the conference: https://igc2020.org
KEY TOPICS
Globalization vs Localization
In its most basic meaning, “Globalization” is a model of international trade investment and communication that has developed in the last quarter of a century. In this framework, globalization supports government policies that enable economic activities to open up to domestic and international markets in order to ensure development in poorer countries and raise people’s living standards. In reality, however, these policies created a free market that would harm local businesses, local cultures and human communities. On the other hand, there is a social, political and legal aspect of globalization. Globalization also represents a reciprocal link for these phenomena. In this sense, globalization aims at a single world in economic, political and legal sense.
On the other hand, the concept of localization has evolved as a feature of local characteristics in economic, social and cultural fields. Globalization and localization, which have emerged as opposing concepts in a sense, are two concepts born of missing ones. It is important to protect local differences that are at the root of a multicultural world but are under the threat of globalization. Geography is a science that can assess all the details of globalization and localization.
Climate Change
Climate change has become one of the most important issues of today. However, it is not understood by all people what climate change is, what kind of problem it is and what the reasons are. Along with the ongoing natural climate change, the negativity caused by the human being causes the climate change to be perceived as a problem today. Climate change is a natural process, but in the last century human activity has affected the course of this natural change.
In fact, human-induced climate change is an environmental issue. Degradation changes under the pressure of natural areas destruction, urbanization and industrialization are the anthropogenic causes of climate change. Therefore, mitigating the negative pressures on the environment will also reduce human pressures on climate change.
It is an important process to understand the adaptation conditions besides the struggle with the climate change and to determine the ways of adaptation to the changing climate conditions of the people. Geography science is an important scientific discipline that can evaluate all this process in every direction.
Migration and Conflicts
Another important problem of today’s world are migration and conflicts. Political problems, especially in “hot regions”, cause conflicts and migration on the other hand. Human trafficking, especially starting from the Middle East and North Africa and crossing the Mediterranean through illegal routes, has tragic consequences. These illegal activities cause social problems, especially in many European countries.
On the other hand the political and military problems in Iraq and in Syria towards Turkey led to the migration of millions of people, and this has brought together the social and economic problems.
Discussing these problems, especially those related to the Mediterranean basin, away from political approaches, from a geographical point of view, and developing solution proposals will be an important result.
Earth and Disasters
All the earth system consists of fully dynamic conditions. Each process from plate movements to mass movements is a natural part of this dynamic system. The dynamic processes in the atmosphere are also a natural part of this process. The mass movements that have developed through these natural processes have existed for millions of years.
However, the increasing population and the environmental damage caused by humans have increased the vulnerability from these natural processes. Today, the number of measures to be taken against natural disasters with increasing number of effects has gained importance. On the one hand, natural disasters affecting human life also cause economic losses. In this respect, natural disasters are not only the subject of Geography, but also within the scope of the field of science in every socio-economic area.
Eurasia and Middle East Studies
Istanbul is located at the intersection point of Eurasia and the Middle East. This region, where many civilizations have been established for thousands of years, still hosts many nations together. As a congress based in Istanbul IGC2020, is open to discussing all problems in this region with scientific foundations. All subjects related to physical and human geography will be evaluated in this context.
Anthropocene
Was the end of the Holocene period we were in? This question has been asked frequently in recent years in terms of the extreme pressure on man’s earth systems and the extent of his degradation. Mankind began to be influential on the biosphere, especially after the Industrial Revolution. It affected terrestrial ecosystems, influenced the atmosphere, and carried out activities that would cause changes in the hydrological cycle. Environmental pollution, loss of natural areas, atmospheric pollution, pollution of the sea and oceans, and climate change, all these problems have caused mankind to cause changes on the earth systems. Thus, the natural processes have deteriorated and a new era has begun. This period in which man is influential is now called Anthropocene. The Anthropocene defines Earth’s most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced. According to some writers, Anthropocene, which started with the Industrial Revolution, started after the Agricultural Revolution according to some other authors. However, whatever the case, the Anthropocene used to describe the influence of the human being on the mediator is the study area of both Physical and Human Geography. For geographers it will be an important field of study in the near future. And as geographers it is not possible to stay away from this process. For this reason, it was one of the main topics of this congress.