The 2nd inter-Regional Conference on Land and Water Challenges in integration with the Session on Land and Water Engineering of the 18th CIGR World Congress has been successfully held from Sept. 16-19, 2014 at Beijing National Convention Center, P. R. China. The theme of the conference focused on land and water challenges for an improved quality of life. The topics of the conference refer to a variety of scientific and technological issues and development strategies for improving the use and management of land and water to achieve higher productivity, sustainable use of the natural resources, environment conservation and enhancement, and for improved living conditions of farmers and the rural societies.
Vice Premier Wang Yang attended the Congress and gave a speech
The conference was organized by Prof. Guanhua Huang, the chairperson of CIGR Section I on Land and Water Engineering. More than 200 scientists, researchers, technicians and students from 22 countries throughout the world (US, Germany, Portugal, The Netherland, Italy, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, etc.) participated in the conference. Prof. Shaozhong Kang (CAU, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering), Prof. Luis S. Pereira (former CIGR president, Univ. of Lisbon, Portugal), Prof. Tammo Steenhuis (Cornell Univ.), Prof. Thomas J Trout (USDA-ARS), Prof. Jirka Šimunek (Univ. of California -Riverside), and Prof. D. Andrew Barry (Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) were invited to give the keynote speeches.
During the three days, around 47 Chinese scientists, researchers and students from Tsinghua Univ., Wuhan Univ., China Agricultural Univ., Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, etc., and 41 international scientists and engineers shared their research and presented their findings orally in the conference.
Prof. Shaozhong Kang and Prof. Luis S. Pereira participated in the conference and gave keynote speeches
Faculties and students from Center for Agricultural Water Research in China presented their research work in the conference. Prof. Taisheng Du, Dr. Xiaomin Mao, Dr. Zailin Huo, Dr. Liu Liu and six PhD candidates gave the oral presentations, Profs. Guangyong Li, Haijun Yan, and Fengxin Wang shared their research and findings in China-Us Water-Saving Technology Flagship special issue, six PhD students set up their posters in the corresponding subtopics. Profs. Xin Zhang and Fahu Li attended the conference. Profs. Shaozhong Kang, Guanhua Huang and Taisheng Du, Xiaomin Mao were invited to be chair and hosted some sessions of oral presentations.
Ssession board members election was held interval the conference. Prof. Guanhua Huang was elected as the honorary chair of section I, and Prof. Taisheng Du was elected as the new board member.
The conference aimed at promoting exchanges and collaboration on agricultural land and water management, thus offering the opportunities for researchers, scholars, managers and other professionals to share the latest findings and information through the discussion forum on challenges facing land and water issues in a global perspective.
