Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, formerly China Research Institute of Geography established in 1940, is beside Xuanwu Lake and on the foothill of Zijin Mount, having beautiful scenery, elegant environment and a galaxy of advanced culture and talents, and also a knowledge innovation unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. With its development for 70 years, it has become China’s sole comprehensive research institute with lake - basin system as its main research object, which dominates the development direction of China’s scientific research on lake sciences, having an important influence in the international community, and having its own distinguished disciplinary characteristics and advantages in various research fields, including lake physics, lake chemistry, lake biology, lake sediments, global change, and regional sustainable development, etc. It has made great and historic contributions to our lake resources development and environmental governance, as well as the sustainable economic development of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the southeast coastal economically developed areas.

Since being listed into the CAS knowledge innovation units, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology has its overall strength improved steadily. Under the joint efforts of all staff, our institute has always focused on major national strategic needs, has combined its own development orientation and disciplinary layout, has presented proposals, and has undertaken a series of major research projects of lake governance and the protection, which have greatly enhanced our scientific research strength and status, and has laid a good foundation for follow-up significant scientific research fruits. At present, the construction of the State Key Laboratory of Lakes and Environment is moving forward steadily, relying on our institute. Taihu national field lake ecosystem monitoring station, Poyang Lake wetlands observation station, Fuxian plateau deep-water lake research station, as well as China’s lake - watershed database field observation platforms and data centers have run well. The III-phased integrated knowledge innovation supporting pilot projects are in full swing. All these are bound to inject new impetus for a big leap and sustainable development of Nanjing Institute of Geography.

Looking to the future, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology will adhere to catering to the forefront of world science and technology and the national strategic needs, carry forward and make persistent efforts to build our institute into an irreplaceable and well-known international comprehensive research institute of lake sciences with significant disciplinary advantages and distinctive geographical features in the national knowledge innovation system, a high-level personnel training base, a national lake resources utilization and environmental governance engineering research center, and a sustainable development research and policy-making counseling center for economically developed areas.