Academic Workshop of China Society of Desert in the Geographical Society of China successfully held in Changsha, Hunan Province

From October 26th to 27th, 2018, the Academic Workshop on Ecological Civilization and Green Development in Sandy Area, co-sponsored by China Society of Desert in the Geographical Society of China, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, CAS, Key Laboratory of Eco-hydrology of Inland River Basin, CAS, Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station,Naiman Desertification Research Station and Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, was successfully held in Changsha, Hunan Province.

Group Photo of Participants

More than 110 experts and scholars from Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Qinghai Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Dunhuang Academy, Institute of Desert Metrology, CMA, Urumqi, Nanjing University, Beijing Normal University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Hebei Normal University, Northwest Normal University, Jilin Normal University, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Ningxia University, Qinghai University,Shaanxi Normal University and Shaoguan University attended this conference, including professor Tao Wang—director of China Society of Desert in the Geographical Society of China,professor WenShou Wen—vice director of China Society of Desert in the Geographical Society of China, and professor YuXiang Dong.

Main Venue

Professor Jiong Jin, secretary general of China Society of Desert in the Geographical Society of China, hosted the opening ceremony of this meeting. As the representative of supporting agency,Professor Tao Wang delivered an opening speech and made a report titled "The Opportunity and Mission of Desert Sciences along the Green Silk Road". He looked back on the great progress and achievements of Chinese Desert Sciences over the 60 years which has been led by Mr. ZhenDa Zhu—founder of Chinese Desert Sciences. Then he expected that all the participants majored in different subjects could strengthen communication and mutual learning to promote deeper and wider development on Desert Sciences. Subsequently, professor Tao Wang reported the research and practice for combating aeolian desertification in China, which including the following aspects:1) recognizing of the types, manners, extent, patterns and development tendency of aeolian desertification in China. 2) clarifying of the physical and biological coupling mechanism of aeolian disaster. 3) establishing restoration ecology theory on combating aeolian desertification. 4)developing the engineering science on combating aeolian desertification. 5) improving the theoretical system for combating aeolian desertification. Professor Tao Wang emphasized that China is the first and the only country in the world to reach the UNCCD goal of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in the Aeolian Desertification by 2030. Finally, Tao Wang expounded the Belt and Road Initiative and the opportunity and mission of desert Sciences in the current context, and then discussed the strategic issues and scientific frontiers of Desert Sciences.

In this academic workshop, there is one main venue, two parallel sessions, with a total of 46 oral presentations. The participants had heated discussion on two major themes including Ecological Civilization and Green Development in Sandy Area. Meanwhile, in order to encourage the young scholars, China Society of Desert granted the excellent youth report award to ten participants, including ZiPing Guo, Jie Sun, XiaoYan Liang, YouHong Gao, XinRan Yu from Lanzhou University, JiaNan Liu, Jing Zhang from Ningxia University, MingMing Wang from Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, XuJiao Han from Beijing Normal University and Lin Yang from Shaoguan University.

Branch Venue

During this meeting, General Office of Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS, prepared a special exhibition showing more than 80 valuable photos and manuscripts of Sand Control Team of Chinese Academy of Sciences during the first investigation in 1959, which attracted lots of attention.

Professor JingGuang Zhang, vice secretary general of China Society of Desert in the Geographical Society of China, hosted the closing ceremony of this meeting. Professor Tao Wang thanked all the participants for their presence and support, and secretariat for its careful preparation during his concluding remarks. At last, he expected all the researchers to keep on working hard and be persistent to make contribution to national economic and social development and ecological civilization.