For the first time Chile is set to host a Regional Geographic Conference (UGI 2011). In November 2011 we will receive geographers and those professionals involved with the geo-sciences at an occasion enabling a gathering for science and friendship in relation to geography.
Without doubt, our country is the best geographic stage for holding this major international meeting. Flanked by the Andes mountains and the Pacific ocean, Chile is at the south-western edge of South America. Its unique and varied geography includes the driest desert in the world, glaciers, lush forests, rushing rivers and fertile valleys. The nation is divided into 15 administrative regions; however, if one wants to quickly understand its amazing diversity, it is easier to divide Chile into just its three climatic zones: the northern zone with its deserts and wide cyclic thermal variations, where the main resources are from mining and fisheries; the central temperate zone with four well-defined seasons enabling the cultivation of its famous wines and fruit for export, and the southern zone where first the rains and then the cold temperatures increase as one moves towards the southern end of the world, yet a great potential for tourism and also one of the southern hemisphere’s largest reserves of fresh water are also found here.
Considering the natural attractions present from north to south throughout Chile, also the range of services that Santiago offers as a modern city, the Local Organizing Committee for UGI 2011 has prepared a schedule of activities that will satisfy the scientific, social, cultural and tourism needs of the attendees.
The invitation has been made, while the IGU as one of the organizers of this conference provides the backing and identity under which UGI 2011 is being set up and structured. The Commissions and Task Forces are invited to meet in Santiago, where participants from Latin America and the world are expected to gather.
We recommend that you keep visiting the web site www.ugi2011.cl, as this is the permanent means of communication up to the start of the conference. |