About CGB

The vision and mission of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau (CGB) is to promote interaction among geographers in universities and related institutions in Commonwealth countries, and most importantly it aims, when possible, to share the scientific research of its members with representatives of government, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations at workshops and conferences.

These objectives are incorporated into the Constitution to be:

1. The promotion of the study and practice of Geography at all levels within the Commonwealth, especially in developing countries;
2. The dissemination of information of interest to Commonwealth geographers;
3. The establishment and improvement of contacts with other Commonwealth organizations;
4. The organization and facilitation of capacity building workshops for developing Commonwealth countries in areas that are pertinent to these countries. The capacity building workshops should include not only academic faculty members but also individuals such as graduate students, employees of research organizations, NGO personnel, bureaucrats and private sector participants. The focus is to bring the expertise of geographers to engage on important contemporary issues with policy-makers and civil society.

Beginning in 1992, workshops have been organized to focus on critical issues of the time.

In the early years, the themes included:

Ecotourism,  Applied Tropical Geomorphology; The Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS; HIV AIDS; and Planning for Rapid Urbanization. In later years, the emphasis has been on climate change and its impacts, food security, sustainable development and finally implications of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Workshops since 2005:

• 2005: Climate Change and Disaster Mitigation in South Asia – held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
• 2005: Climate Change and Disaster Mitigation in South Asia – held in Penang, Malaysia.
• 2009: Climate Change and Adaptation in Africa – held in Cape Town, South Africa.
• 2011: Food security and the Role of Urban Agriculture – held in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
• 2015: Climate change, resilience and food security – held in Kingston, Jamaica.
• 2018: Environment and Sustainable Livelihoods – held in Guwahati, India.
• 2019: Contemporary Issues in Food Security – held in Maputo, Mozambique.
• 2020: Covid-19 Pandemic from the Eyes of Geography: Global, National and Regional Perspectives – Web conference held in Guwahati, India.

These workshops provided valuable forums for discussion and debate by bringing together academic, government, NGO and civil society participants, and leading to various outputs in publications. The CGB thereby promotes links between Geographers in universities across the Commonwealth,  sharing and disseminating research findings, which can have a meaningful impact on the livelihoods of Commonwealth citizens.

The Commonwealth Geographical Bureau (CGB) is an accredited organization of the Commonwealth.

The CGB was founded in 1968 at a meeting of the International Geographical Congress (IGC) in New Delhi.  The Constitution was adopted by the CGB General Assembly convened at the University of Ghana, September 1970. Amendments to the Constitution were made at later General Assemblies viz. the:

3^rd General Assembly, Paris, August 1984.

4^th General Assembly, Sydney, August 1988.

7^th General Assembly, Seoul, August 2000.

8^th General Assembly, Glasgow, August 2004

9^th General Assembly, Tunis, August 2008

The CGB is a network of institutions and individual scholars and currently represents the members of over 300 institutions across the Commonwealth (university geography departments and as well as many Geographers and scholars in related fields working outside of Geography departments or academia).

The CGB has held its General Assembly every 4 years at the International Geographical Union’s Congress (IGC), and elects its Officers and Management Committee at that Assembly.  The most recent GA was held at the 2016 IGC in Beijing. On account of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the GA scheduled for 2020 was cancelled.