Dear authors and readers of the Journal!

We have great pleasure and honor to inform you that the founder and publisher of our journal, the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, celebrates its 95th anniversary on December 23, 2024. To be more precise, it begins its celebration in view of the fact that it was on December 23, 1929, at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR that a decision was made to establish the Research Institute of Agricultural Reclamation under the People's Commissariat of Land Resources of the Ukrainian SSR on the basis of regional reclamation organizations and research stations, and the newly created Institute began its work in May 1930 in Kharkiv. From November to December of the same year, the Institute was transferred to Odesa, where it operated until 1941. After a break caused by the war, the Institute resumed its work in May 1944 in Kyiv, where it continues to operate today. During the period from 1935 to 1992, the Institute was called the Ukrainian Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation, from 1992 to 2011 - the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences, and from 2011 to the present - the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.

The Institute is the leading state scientific institution of Ukraine in the field of scientific support for the development of water management and land reclamation. As of 01.12.2024, the scientific staff of the Institute consists of 104 researchers, including 12 Doctors of Sciences, including 3 Academicians of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and 1 Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 41 Candidates of Sciences. The structure of the Institute includes 8 scientific departments, Sarny Research Station and 2 experimental farms.

The Institute conducts extensive research in the areas of Water Resources and Land Reclamation. These studies have been and are being carried out together with co-executors as part of the State Research Programs formed for a five-year period.

Today, the Institute, as the lead research institution, conducts and coordinates the research of co-executors within the framework of the NAAS IPA 4 "Sustainable water use, formation of water security, development of land reclamation in the context of climate change" by performing fundamental and applied tasks (projects) under three subprograms:

- Formation of water security and reproduction of water resources in the context of climate change;

- Restoration and development of irrigation and drainage in Ukraine in the context of climate change;

- Use of reclaimed land in the context of climate change.

The Institute's research is characterized by complexity, a harmonious combination of fundamental and applied research, and is innovative and pioneering, known not only in Ukraine but also abroad.

The most important of these, completed in the last 15-20 years, are the scientific foundations of the Irrigation and Drainage Strategy in Ukraine, the Water Strategy of Ukraine, the scientific substantiation of the National Target Program for the Development of Water Management and Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro River Basin, the scientific foundations of flood protection in the basins of mountain rivers of the Carpathians, the scientific foundations of protection of territories and rural settlements from groundwater and surface water flooding, the concepts of agricultural water supply, restoration and  of

As a rule, the Institute's developments are brought to a level that ensures the possibility of their practical use. Over the period of its existence, the Institute's research and development has made a significant contribution and often served as the basis for the creation and functioning of a powerful water management and reclamation complex of Ukraine, which includes irrigation and drainage systems on a total area of more than 5 million hectares, hydroelectric power stations and canals that meet the best world analogs in terms of their technical characteristics.

On December 27, 1979, the Institute was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for success in the development of land reclamation science and training of scientific personnel. The high scientific level and practical significance of the Institute's developments are confirmed by numerous awards and prizes received by the staff of the institution, including the USSR Council of Ministers Award (1984), the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology (1997), NAAS Awards for Outstanding Achievements in Agricultural Science (2008, 2014), the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Award the Development and Implementation of Innovative Technologies (2020), and the Borys Paton National Prize (2024). For their significant contribution to the development of agrarian science and high professionalism, 22 employees of the Institute were awarded state awards, 9 received the title of "Associate of Honour". For outstanding scientific achievements, the Institute was awarded the Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (2005, 2019). In 2019, the staff of the Institute of Plant Industry and Mechanics of NAAS was awarded the Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for services to the Ukrainian people.

The Institute's scientific results are recognized outside of Ukraine: As a basic research institution, the Institute represents Ukraine in the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), the Global Water Partnership, and performs the functions of the National Center for River Restoration delegated to it by the European Center for River Restoration (ECRR).

The Institute maintains ties with well-known foreign research centers and companies from the United States, Germany, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, Poland, Hungary, and other countries.

Employees of the Institute regularly participate and make scientific presentations at the World Water Forums, ICID congresses on the rational use and protection of water resources and land reclamation.

Based on the results of competitions, the Institute's researchers are constantly undergoing internships at leading research centers in foreign countries - the University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), the Universities of Colorado, Texas, Ohio and California (USA) and under international programs: "Cochran (USA), the Department of Agriculture (USA), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Japan), Mashav (Israel), the Association of Dutch Companies PLUS (Netherlands), and the Lane Kirkland Foundation (Poland).

The scientific authority of the Institute in the international arena is confirmed by its participation in international projects with the Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDFGlobal), FAO and EBRD.

The Institute has created and operates scientific schools on energy efficient, environmentally friendly water use in irrigation systems (Academician of the NAAS and the Italian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Professor Kovalenko P.I.), drip irrigationProfessor P.I. Kovalenko), drip irrigation, environmentally friendly irrigation regimes and monitoring of reclaimed lands (Academician of NAAS, Professor M.I. Romashchenko; Corresponding Member of NAAS, Professor A.P. Shatkovsky).), bioenergy ecologically balanced farming systems on reclaimed lands (Academician of NAAS, Professor Tarariko Y.O.), system mathematical modeling and management of water and land use (Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Kovalchuk P.I.) and others.

The Institute has a postgraduate program, a doctoral program, and a specialized academic council for the defense of doctoral and candidate dissertations. According to approximate estimates, since the 1930s, 35 doctoral and 443 PhD theses have been defended at the Institute of Food Science and Technology of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. During 2020-2024 , the Institute's staff defended 11 dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Since 2002, the Technical Committee for Standardization "Land Reclamation and Water Management" (TC 145) has been operating at the Institute. Over this period, more than 200 National Standards of Ukraine on water quality, irrigation equipment and irrigation technologies have been developed, most of which are harmonized with international and European standards.

The Institute conducts active publishing activities. From 1967 to 2018, the Institute published an interdepartmental thematic scientific collection "Land Reclamation and Water Management". A total of 108 issues of the collection were published. Since 2019, the scientific journal "Land Reclamation and Water Management" has been published on its basis. In general, every year, the Institute's staff publishes more than 200 articles in domestic and foreign publications, about 10 monographs, and files up to 10 applications for inventions and patents.

Institute scientists are members of editorial boards and reviewers in scientific journals indexed by SCOPUS (Journal of Water and Land Development) and Web of Science (Agriculture Science and Practice).

The Institute annually organizes scientific conferences on water resources on Water Day (March) and on land reclamation (December). The Institute constantly demonstrates its scientific developments at various international and national exhibitions, forums and meetings.

The new developments and conceptual approaches developed by the Institute are reflected in the Water Code of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine "On Land Reclamation", "On Organizations of Water Users and Stimulation of Hydraulic Land Reclamation", "Irrigation and Drainage Strategy in Ukraine for the Period up to 2030", "Water Strategy of Ukraine for the Period up to 2050", "The National Target Program for the Development of Water and Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro River Basin for the Period up to 2021, The National Program "Drinking Water of Ukraine" for 2011-2021, Flood Protection Schemes and Programs in the basins of the Tisza, Prut, Dniester, and Stryi Rivers, and the Scheme for the Protection of Agricultural Land and Settlements in Kherson Region from Surface Water Flooding and Groundwater Flooding.

The Methodology for Pricing Water Supply for Irrigation, Industrial and Municipal Needs has also been widely implemented in the State Agency of Ukraine for Water Resources, which has become an update to the mechanism of paid water use in the water management and land reclamation sector

In general, the results and developments on the rational use and protection of reclaimed land in the pre-war period became the organizational, legal, scientific, methodological, technical and technological basis for ensuring the operation of irrigation systems and irrigation on an area of about 500 thousand hectares and water regulation on an area of about 300 thousand hectares annually. On these lands, regardless of weather conditions, crops were grown annually for a total of about UAH 20 billion.

After February 24, 2024, the Institute was actively involved in solving the problems caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation.

All the employees of the Institute actively help the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, believe in the victory of Ukraine and the soonest peace, which will certainly create additional needs and opportunities to work fruitfully to restore the water management and reclamation complex of Ukraine.

We congratulate all the staff of the Institute on the 95th anniversary of the institution's foundation, thank them for their fruitful work, which is extremely necessary for the state and the Ukrainian people, wish them further scientific success and discoveries, interesting ideas and innovative projects, and wish them good health and new achievements for the benefit of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine! Let's bring victory closer together!

 Sincerely yours,         Director of the IWPaLR of the NAAS                                                   Mykhailo Yatsiuk

 Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Land Reclamation and Water Management"                    Mykhailo Romashchenko