On 17 August 2026 at 11:00 a.m., at the UN Plaza building, 303 Baizakov Street, Almaty, the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre as a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO held a Round Table dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the outstanding Kazakh geographer – Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy.

Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy is a world-renowned scientist, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor, Scientific Director of the world’s only Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre as a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO (hereinafter referred to as the Centre), Honorary Director of the Institute of Geography, Honorary Chairman of the National Committee for the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, National Correspondent of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS, Switzerland), laureate of the Chokan Valikhanov Prize and the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He has been awarded the Orders of “Kurmet” (2017) and “Parasat” (2023), the “Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan” medal (2019), and others. He is the founder of the Kazakhstani school of glaciology, which includes one Doctor and eight Candidates of Sciences who defended their dissertations under his supervision, and is one of those scientists whose legacy has had an enormous impact on the development of science.

The results of his 15 years of research in the interests of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR and the Directorate of the Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR, with annual expeditions to the high-mountain regions of the region, including two Trans-Pamir expeditions and a Trans-Caucasus expedition along the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus from the Alazani River basin near the Caspian Sea to the Kodori River basin near the Black Sea, were recognized with the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the badge “Excellent Border Troops Serviceman of the KGB of the USSR”.

Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy made a great contribution to the development of Kazakhstani science by creating a number of new scientific fields in the areas of avalanche science and glaciology. Igor Vasilyevich’s research covers issues of mountain hydrology, hydrophysics of mountain landscapes, problems of assessing snow cover and avalanche hazard in mountainous territories, problems of glaciology, climate change, and current and projected assessment of renewable water resources. The results of many years of research have been reflected in numerous publications that have become a scientific basis for the study of the mountain cryosphere.

Over the years of his work, Igor Vasilyevich created a team to address scientific tasks. A number of studies were carried out by him jointly with his colleagues and students. The works of Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy have received wide scientific recognition and have made it possible to make a significant contribution to the development of fundamental geographical science.

Igor Vasilyevich devoted considerable effort and energy to the establishment of the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre under the auspices of UNESCO (hereinafter referred to as the Centre), which is the first centre of its kind not only in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, but also in the world.

At present, Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy works at the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre as a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO and provides scientific leadership for glaciological research in Kazakhstan.

The scientific activities of the jubilarian were highly appreciated by the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who sent Igor Vasilyevich congratulations on his 90th Anniversary, which were read out by Professor T.O. Balykbayev, Director of the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre as a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO.

The guests were presented with reports on his scientific activities (N.V. Pimankina – Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Leading Research Fellow of the Centre’s Laboratory for Monitoring the Dynamics of Snow and Glacier Resources, and V.P. Blagoveshchensky – Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Chief Research Fellow of the Laboratory of Natural Hazards of JSC “Institute of Geography and Water Security”).

This was followed by very warm congratulations addressed to Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy from the participants of the Round Table: from Amir Piric – Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty; from T.O. Balykbayev; on behalf of the Minister of Science and Higher Education, N.A. Kainbayev – Chairman of the Management Board of JSC “National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation” (NCSTE) – delivered congratulations; on behalf of the President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan – K.D. Alikhanov, Managing Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who presented Igor Vasilyevich with the commemorative medal marking the 80th anniversary of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Congratulations were delivered by:

M.V. Shahgedanova – Professor, University of Reading (United Kingdom);

Representatives of JSC “Institute of Geography and Water Security”: Zh.M. Birimbayev – Financial Director; A.A. Medeu – Doctor of Economic Sciences, Chief Manager for Project Management and Digitalization, Head of the Geospatial Economics Laboratory; A.A. Tursunova – Head of the A.A. Tursunov Water Resources Laboratory, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor.

E.Zh. Murtazin, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Deputy Director of the U. Akhmedsafin Institute of Hydrogeology and Geoecology;

Representatives of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University: A.S. Aktymbayeva – Dean of the Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor; and A.M. Artemyev – Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Acting Professor of the Department of Recreational Geography and Tourism;

Representative of Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University N.V. Ivleva, Associate Professor of the Department of Geography and Ecology, who presented I.V. Severskiy, as an honorary graduate of the university, with a commemorative university medal.

Kind words addressed to Igor Vasilyevich were expressed by O.V. Podolny, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences; A.M. Kauazov, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, employee of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia; and K.S. Kuzhukeyeva, Candidate of Legal Sciences.

Igor Vasilyevich also received congratulations from A.F. Glazovsky, President of the Glaciological Association of Russia; G.A. Nosenko, Representative of Russia on the Governing Board of CARGC (Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation); and R.A. Satylkanov, Director of the Institute of Water Problems and Hydropower of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic).

The staff of the Glaciological Centre congratulate Igor Vasilyevich Severskiy on his wonderful anniversary and wish him excellent health, vitality, a wonderful mood, creative longevity for the benefit of Kazakhstani science, further victories and achievements in his professional activities, as well as the realization of his most ambitious initiatives and plans.