The environmental geography research at Peking University has been conducted in the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, with the support of Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes Analysis and Simulation. They grew out of the Environmental Research Section of Physical Geographical Specialty of the Department of Geography at Peking University. In 65 years of geographical research at Peking University, environmental geography research was initiated from traditional physical geography, and developed into chemical geography and environmental geography gradually in the 1970s, due to the emerging environmental pollution and ecological degradation issues in this period. Since then, the research areas have been widened gradually. Nowadays, relying on the discipline of environmental geography, one of the branches of geography, researchers in the Department of Environment Sciences have made creative achievements in the fields such as regional environmental processes of toxic pollutants, biogeochemical cycling and interface migration of pollutants, toxicological effects of pollutants and their ecological and health risks. Now, their research holds a leading position in China. In addition, this department carried out a number of applied studies and consulting studies on environmental hotspots of China, such as environmental policy making, environmental and resource law drafting, and contaminated land remediation. Their studies have played significant roles in environmental protection, ecological conservation and sustainable development of the country. In the last decades, we have fostered many high-level professional talents, who have made remarkable achievements after their graduation. In the future, the environmental geography research team at Peking University will continue its efforts in scientific research and personnel training, especially in providing comprehensive solutions for regional environmental governance, as well as for some key environmental problems related to air pollution and soil pollution, so as to meet the needs of the country.

The biogeography research at Peking University commenced in the late 1950s with formation of a Plant Geography Group. It was expanded to the Teaching and Research Section of Landscape Ecology in the late 1980s and further grown into the Department of Ecology at the beginning of the 21st century. As a part of the Department of Geography (Now College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University), biogeographical and ecological research team of Peking University has greatly improved the research of vegetation structure, function and dynamics with efforts of more than half a century. It has made pioneering achievements on research about plant geography in arid and semiarid areas, timberline and other ecologically important areas. It is among the first institutions in the country to promote macro-ecology including landscape ecology and urban ecology. In recent years, the Peking University research team has carried out pioneering work on global change studies, including climate change and ecological response, carbon cycle, biodiversity conservation, plant stoichiometry, serving the country's policy of mitigating and adapting climate change and conserving biodiversity. Research facilities of Peking University biogeography and ecology team have renewed and built over the last years. The construction of observation facilities in Saihanba Ecological Station, the platforms of forest fertilization experiment, and timberline monitoring strongly enhance the ability of biogeographical and ecological studies. The National Natural Science Foundation Innovation Research Team "Structure and function of terrestrial vegetation in China" has played a role of research integration. In the future, the integration of different scales of ecological research will be strengthened and ecological degradation and restoration will be promoted.

As a result of the reorganization of the universities and academic departments in 1952, Peking University set up the Department of Geology and Geography and started the teaching and research in Geomorphology and Quaternary science. This marked the establishment of the discipline of Geomorphology and Quaternary at Peking University. Over the past 65 years, great achievements have been made in the fields such as neotectonic activity and tectonic geomorphology, climatic geomorphology, fluvial geomorphology and sedimentology, sedimentary facies and comparative sedimentology, remote sensing and geographical information system, Quaternary stratigraphy and chronology, Quaternary climate and environmental change, marine geochemical processes and environmental evolution, and environmental archaeology and past human-environment interaction. These progresses have not only played an innovative and leading role in some of the related research areas, but also helped to solve a series of practical problems in the national economic development, thus representing great contribution to the development of Geomorphology and Quaternary science in China.

With the increasing diversification in the field of geography, the discipline development and scientific research of Geomorphology and Quaternary Science in Peking University will strengthen integration with all branches of physical geography and other fields of Earth Science within the framework of Earth System Science. To contribute more to the development of Geomorphology and Quaternary Science in China, particular emphasis will be put on the research on the links between the geomorphological evolution of different macroscopic spatio-temporal scales and the modern processes, and on the understanding of complex impacts of various components of the earth system on the evolution of geomorphology. Systematic simulation and numerical modeling on the climate change, environmental evolution and geomorphologic processes will be developed. Both theoretical research and the development and application of new technology in Geomorphology and Quaternary Science will be strengthened.

The Human Geography Discipline at Peking University (PKU) originated from the Economic Geography Discipline at the Geology and Geography Department which was established in 1955. The department is the first comprehensive teaching and research institute which has teaching, research, and practice activities in the Human Geography Discipline in China. Over the past 60 years, the Human Geography Discipline at PKU has been emphasizing the importance of both teaching and research, and giving priority to practice over theory. It has been experiencing a shift from focusing on the basic theory of the Human Geography Discipline to integrating both basic and applied research. Both an interdisciplinary way of research thinking and an interdisciplinary subject of human geography have been formed with a coordination between liberal arts, sciences and engineering. The Human Geography Discipline is operated together by the Department of Urban and Economic Geography, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and the Research Institute of Historical Geography. In the past 60 years, the Human Geography Discipline at PKU has achieved a series of well-recognized, innovative and high impact research outputs in both domestic and overseas in the fields of urbanization, urban system, urban and regional planning, land use assessment and planning, industrial location and regional industry evolvement, industrial clusters and innovation network, housing and real estate economy, scenic areas and world heritage, village and township development planning, urban social geography, time geography and behavior geography, historical geography, tourism geography research and planning, quantitative geography, transport geography and transport planning. These research outputs provide important scientific and technological supports to the national social and economic development, and have significant contributions to sustainable development of the society, the economic system and the urban-rural areas. In the future, the Human Geography Discipline at PKU will be engaged in servicing the national strategies and commit itself to pioneer the discipline development. It will continue to grow with a stress on communications and collaborations between disciplinary subjects. It will enhance its capability to serve the decision making for national strategy, and increase its reputation and influences in the field of human geography research in the world.

The development of integrated physical geography at Peking University can be traced back to 1952, when the national department adjustment was taken and the Department of Physical Geography was set up at Peking University. Over the course of more than half a century, a discipline system of integrated physical geography has been gradually formed facing the disciplinary frontier and national needs. In view of the increasingly severe problems related with climate change, natural resources, eco-environment and socio-economic development, integrated physical geography of Peking University has made great progress in land surface process and mechanism, land use/cover change and its eco-environmental effects, ecosystem services and human well-beings, ecological risk assessment and security pattern construction, and physical geographical division, taking a leading role in the development of China's integrated physical geography. Looking forward to the future, the integrated physical geography of Peking University will continue to focus on the mechanism of pattern and process of water, soil, climate and biology, the effects of human activities and global environmental changes on natural geographical process and pattern, quantitative assessment of factors and processes coupled with the regional resources and eco-environmental effects and associated socio-economic impact, constructing a fusion system through coupling observation data and land surface model, so as to make contributions to national strategy such as construction of ecological civilization, main function-oriented zoning, territorial development, and integrated watershed management.

Geography focuses on the interaction among factors on earth surface, and their spatial distribution and temporal evolution. Human environment interaction constitutes the core of this discipline. Geography is also by and large based on regional studies. As an academic discipline, it has not only substantially contributed to national sustainable development and ecological progress, but also enabled us to better understand and deal with issues with regard to resources, environment, and urbanization emerging in the last few decades alongside economic development. Geography at Peking University always seeks to move beyond the current academic frontier on the one hand, and to meet the national strategic needs on the other. It now has two national key secondary disciplines, physical and human geography, and one primary discipline, ecology.