After obtaining the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan the Institute of Geography accepted priority decisions concerned two important problems.

1.Regularity the development of nature of Azerbaijan; study of natural resources and their ecogeographical peculiarities; problems of production, social infrastructure and economic and geographical problems of territorial organization of population; constructive and regional problems of the republic; desertification processes.

2.Factors causing the level changing of the Caspian Sea and study of its ecological conditions.

For solving there two complex problems the basic direction of scientific activity of the Institute are given below: complex study of regularities the formation, stability and changeability of geographical cover and development in regional scale; reconstruction of natural conditions of past geological periods; estimation of geomorphologic construction of the territory as one of the resourceformig factors; landscape evolution; genesis of climate and its forecasting; methods of struggle with desertification; rational utilization of natural resources; regional forecasting the changes of environment under the influence of global and anthropogenic factors; settling of population of Azerbaijan and territorial organization of production; hydrometeorological conditions of the Caspian Sea; ecogeographical problems.