The 4th WASWAC World
Conference was successfully held at New Delhi, India, during the period of
November 5-9, 2019. The theme of the conference is “Soil and Water Resources
Management for Climate Smart Agriculture and Global Food and Livelihood
Security”. This conference was jointly organized by WASWAC, International Soil
Conservation Organization (ISCO) and Soil Conservation Society of India (SCSI),
hosted by the SCSI, and co-sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), DST-SERB, NABARD, ISSSR, NBA, NRAA, CSIR and ISRO, and
supported by IUSS and ESSC.
This conference received a lot of
greeting messages from both host country government and many international organizations,
including the Hon’ble Vice-President of India, Minister of Agriculture &
Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Minister for Jal
Shakti, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, India Department of Agricultural
Research & Education and Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics, International
Rice Research Institute, International Water Management Institute,
International Union of Soil Sciences, Soil and Water Conservation Society,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Watershed Management Society of Iran.
At the opening ceremony, President of WASWAC, Prof. Li Rui, gave the
welcome speech. Then Chief Guest Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra introduced conferenced
related publications.
Opening ceremony of the
WASWAC World Conference IV
Welcome speech of Prof.
Li Rui, president of WASWAC
Introduction of
conference related publications
The
panel discussion topic is “Soil and Water Conservation under changing climate scenario:
Issues and Challenges”. Prof. Li Rui from Institute of Soil and Water
Conservation, Prof. Miodrag D. Zlatic, from Belgrade University, Dr. Samir A
El-Swaify from ISCO, Sh. V.W. Ambekar, ex-director of Agriculture, Dr. Jose L.
Rubio from Universitat de Valencia, Dr. C.P. Reddy from MoRD, GoI, Dr. Suraj
Bhan from SCSI, Prof. Mohammad H. Golabi from University of Guam,
representatives from NABARD and NBA attended the panel discussion.
The five days conference provided a
fruitful discussion concerning the following topics: soil degradation
assessment and remediation, water resource conservation and management, climate
smart techniques for sustainable agriculture, land use planning and management
for food and livelihood security, biodiversity conservation and strategic soil
and water management, future strategies for resource conservation to mitigate
climate change, next generation nutrient and water management in agriculture,
socio economics issues in resources management for livelihood security, policy
interventions in soil and water management for global food security, bio-industrial
approaches to watershed for food and livelihood security, geospatial techniques
and simulation modeling for soil and water management, and new paradigms in
soil health and nutrient management.
Several awards set up by WASWAC have been
given out at the conference and 11 scientists and experts won the awards. The
conference itself also set up some awards for the presentations, such as best
oral presentation, best poster and so on.
Oral presentations and discussions at the
conference
Poster presentations and discussions
Best oral presentation
award
Best poster presentation award
WASWAC
set up an exhibition booth for introduction of the association and its official
journal International Soil and Water Conservation Research. Many
attendees at this conference showed great interests in joining the association
and read about the journal.
Attendees filling forms to join WASWAC
Beside
the five day academic communication, attendees also enjoyed an Indian cultural performance
at the welcome ceremony. The traditional dancing performance added a lot of fun
to the conference.
Indian cultural
performance at the welcome ceremony
