Meeting reports
All Abstracts of Argentina ASADEP - IALE Conference May 2009
All Abstracts of IALE's 25th World Congress in Wageningen, the Netherlands (Vol.1, Vol.2)
IV. International Conference “Contemporary Problems of Landscape Study and Geoecology” (Minsk, Belarus)
On October 14–17 2008, the Faculty of Geography of the Belarusian State University (BSU), the Belarusian Geographic Society and the Belarusian National Foundation of Basic Research organized in Minsk the IV International Conference “Contemporary Problems of Landscape Study and Geoecology” dedicated to the 100th anniversary from the birthday of Prof. Vasiliy Dementyev (1908–1974). This person is undoubtedly considered to be founder of Belarusian school in the field of landscape research. The organizing committee is consisted of recognized scientists and researchers from Belarus, Russia, Poland and Slovakia.
About 190 participants attended the conference. They represented 24 universities and 16 academic institutions from the Republic of Belarus and 22 universities and 16 academic institutions from other countries. Conference presentations and posters were dedicated to the following topics: (1) Theory and Methodology of Landscape Science and Geoecology; (2) Contemporary Methods and Techniques in Landscape and Geoecological Researches; (3) Regularities of the Evolution of Environment under the Influence of Anthropogenic Factors; (4) Geoecological Problems of Rational Nature Use; (5) Landscape Ecology; (6) Territorial Organization of Geosystems and (7) Landscape Planning.
The conference was opened by Prof. I. I. Pirozhnik, the Dean of the Faculty of Geography of BSU and Chairman of the conference. Prof. O. F. Yakushko, one of the first alumna of V.A. Dementyev, delivered her memories about this outstanding scientist during the plenary session. In the framework of the plenary session program, Prof. M. Kozova presented the state of researches in the field of landscape ecology and landscape planning in Slovakia She informed about IALE activities and invited all participants to the European IALE Conference 2009: 70 years of Landscape Ecology in Europe “European Landscapes in Transformation – Challenges for Landscape Ecology and Management”. Prof. I. I. Pirozhnik delivered a presentation devoted to social and demographic aspects of landscape ecology. He stressed the role of anthropocentrism in landscape and geoecological researches as a prevailing methodology. Prof. A. N. Vitchenko illustrated basic methodological problems of geoecology in his presentation.
More then 80 papers were presented at parallel sessions. They demonstrated a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches along with different applications in the field of landscape studies, landscape ecology and related sciences. More then 30 abstracts of papers have been submitted and published in the Conference Proceedings “Contemporary Problems of Landscape Study and Geoecology”. IV International Conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary from the birthday of Prof. Vasiliy Dementyev, Minsk, Belarus State University, October 14–17 2008, 360 pp. (in Russian).
In the conclusions, conference participants recommended to prepare all needed steps for establishment of the Belarus Association for Landscape Ecology. Conference participants also recognised the need for accomplishing in Belarus the access conditions of the European Landscape Convention.
Valentin Yatsukhno, yatsukhno@bsu.by, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
Maria Kozova, kozova@fns.uniba.sk, Comenins University in Bratislava, Slovakia
Conference Living Landscape: memory, transformation and future scenarios (Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic)
On November 10-11, 2008, the Department of Geography Faculty of Science University of J. E. Purkyne organized the International conference titled „Living landscape: memory, transformation and future scenarios”. The venue of the conference was the Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Usti nad Labem (Czech Republic). The theme of the conference aimed at various approaches and applications of landscape modelling in its broad sense, which is the issue that have led the geographical and landscape ecological disciplines at least during the last two decades.
The conference was divided into four sessions, chaired by members of the scientific committee, and devoted to the following issues:
1. Ecological aspect of spatial-functional landscape heterogeneity
2. Economic and social transformations: impacts to regional scale
3. Perception of social changes
4. Landscape modelling and Geographic Visualization
The conference was opened by Jiri Andel, chair of the scientific committee of the conference, by presentation: Scope, research, aims and main results of the “GEOSCAPE” project”. Overall, there were eight plenary presentations, which covered topics such as changes in European landscapes, weeping landscape, landscape classification, changes of land use, protecting environment and creating regional cohesion, global powers of retailing and other issues.
The scientific committee prepared a list of recommendations to further development of research of driving forces of landscape change at all spatial and temporal scales, landscape assessment, landscape modelling, geoinformatic technologies and other key issues. After reviewing process selected presentations will be included published in a monograph (proceedings), which was preliminary accepted for publishing by Urban and Landscape perspectives Series in Springer Verlag. Other presentation will be published after reviewing process in the GeoSpace Journal (published by the Department of Geography Faculty of Science University of J. E. Purkyne – see www.geo.ujep.cz).
The conference was a final part of the long-term research project “Methodical procedure of Social and Ecological Links Assessment with Economic Transformation: Theory and Application (GEOSCAPE project)” funded by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affair and at the same time it was occasion to present the research results of scientists from other countries. Especially thanks to foreign participants, the conference extended itself into international event represented by more than 50 scientists and decision makers from 4 continents and 19 countries (e.g. Austria, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, USA, and other countries. Besides, more than 60 students from the University of J. E. Purkyne participated at the plenary and sessions presentations. Further information about the conference is available on web site http://conference.geoscape.cz/index.html
Tomas Orsulak, J. E. Purkyne University in Usti nad Labem, Czechia, orsulak@sci.ujep.cz
Maria Kozova, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, kozova@fns.uniba.sk
