A. Background and Justification

The degradation and deterioration of land resources have seriously affected global agricultural production and food security. Land degradation, particularly characterized by desertification, has become a global issue that has had a negative impact on the livelihoods and food security of billions of people. According to FAO, 25% of the world‘s land area is either highly degraded or undergoing high rates of degradation. China is one of the countries most severely affected by land degradation and desertification, with a total of 8 deserts and 4 sandy areas. The decertified land area covers 2.61millions square kilometers, accounting for 27.2% of the country's total land area. Therefore, in the new era of increasing global change and conflicts between humans and land, comprehensive research and practical applications focusing on agricultural security and engineering governance of degraded land have become important frontiers in modern geography innovation research. 

The transition of worlds’ agricultural development demands more for the efficient and ecological utilization and exploration of land resources. In this process, land consolidation engineering plays an important role in improving land quality and agricultural production conditions. Generally, different areal types impose different hydrothermal conditions, ecological conditions and soil conditions, making the agricultural development a complex process. Thus, it is necessary to promote interdisciplinary studies involving subjects of geography, agriculture, engineering and management. What are the key questions related to land engineering and agriculture? How does land engineering contribute to agriculture? What are the countermeasures to be put forward toward sustainable agriculture in the world?

The IGU-AGLE was officially established on December 29, 2016. Professor Yansui Liu assumed the inaugural chairman. Eminent scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Sweden, Thailand, Pakistan, and other nations served as deputy chairs and commission members. The IGU-AGLE aims to contribute to both the theories and practices of agricultural development in the following aspects: (1)To construct a technological system of land engineering in settling the bottlenecks of the transition of the world’s agriculture. In this process, land engineering can comprehensively integrate the water, soil, air and ecology to serve the agriculture of different areal types; (2)To establish research and experimental sites of modern agriculture in different countries. In this process, land engineering can extend technologies and modes of consolidating desert areas, degraded land and deteriorated land to different countries. This helps to improve land quality and explore land resources for agricultural development; (3)To create a platform for academic communication and exchanges, joint experiment and collaborations as well as training which aim to serve for the governments’ policy making. 

B. Mission and Targets

The commission’s mission targets the improvement of agricultural conditions of different areal types by way of land engineering which helps to increase the land productivity and grain production. It focuses on the role of land engineering in consolidating land resources and improving the agricultural conditions of different areal types. The commission activities will be arranged and carried out based on the linkages between land engineering and agricultural geography. In this process, collaborations will promote joint project applications and establishing research and experimental sites as well as doing the research work in different countries. Big data technology, GIS and mapping technologies will be used for experiments and analysis. All the commission activities are expected to contribute to the knowledge and understanding that how agriculture develops under different geographic conditions and how engineering work improves the agricultural conditions of different areal types. The commission involves scientists and researchers of rural geography, agriculture and engineering to share their knowledge and experiences. Academic communication and exchanges, training and publications will then be achieved by the commission. Commission members and other academic peers can benefit from the experiments and demonstration of key technologies which combine land engineering and agricultural geography in different countries.

The commission aim is rendered into six thematic areas:

C. Programme

The commission will strongly follow the purpose of IGU to promote Geography through initiating and coordinating geographical research and teaching in all countries of the world. We will endeavor to collaborate with global scholars in the field of villages, agriculture and land engineering to enhance mutual communications, share ideas and knowledge as well as training young professions.

Listed tasks are to be planned and implemented in the future under the guidance of IGU:

• √ To hold regular conference and thematic workshops of special topics focusing on land engineering and agricultural geography
• √ To carry out experiments of land engineering and agriculture of different areal types in the world. This tends to set experimental sites in different countries
• √ To jointly educate students and exchange scholars among the member universities and institutes, to focus on developing international agricultural geography
• √ To jointly organize professional scientific investigation and apply for international projects and do research of different case areas in the world
• √ To jointly write scientific papers, books and release academic reports