The Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) was established in 1999 through the merger of the former Institute of Geography (IOG), founded in 1940, and the former Commission for the Integrated Survey of Natural Resources (CISNAR), founded in 1956.
In the past half century, IGSNRR and its predecessors have led the way in geographical research in China, making major research contributions in the rational use of natural resources; ecological and environmental protection; comprehensive land consolidation; sustainable regional development; and resource and environmental information systems.
Much of the work conducted by these institutes has had a very great national impact and has received national awards. Examples include research on the spatial differentiation of China's natural environment; research on the comprehensive management and exploitation of land in medium- and low-yield fields in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain; study of the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its effects on the natural environment and human activity; compilation of the National Physical Atlas of China; theoretical and applied research on regional development patterns; and establishment of the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN), etc. Since 1978, IGSNRR and its predecessors have won 248 national and provincial-level science and technology awards, of which 43 were national awards.
