The First Council Meeting for 2012 was held in Beijing (IRTCES) on 26-27 of March, 2012. Professor Li Rui (President), Professor Miodrag Zlatic (Immediate Past President), Professor Samran Sombatpanit (Advisor), Professor Ning Duihu (Executive Secretary), Professor Li Dingqiang (Councilor/ Deputy Secretary General), Professor Liu Xiaoying (Treasurer) and Dr Du Pengfei (Secretary) participated in the meeting. Professor Liu Zhen (Honorary President) met with all participants. The main issues discussed and conclusions are summarized as follows:
1. Report of the Secretary General
Secretary General Ning Duihu gave “A brief report on 2011 summary and 2012 plan”. All participants think that new council and Secretary have made a great effort to our Association in the last year. We have achieved progresses on aspects such as membership management and organization development, publications, training and workshop, promotion of exchange and cooperation, and some significant actions for Association development. Also 2012 is considered a very important year for Association development.
2. LANDCON 2013
Samran Sombatpani (Advisor) gave “A brief report on the preparing work of Landcon 2013”. All participants think the conference is very important for our Association we should pay more attention to the preparation work. In order to promote the conference preparation work it is necessary to write a letter to LDD and give some suggestion to them. Professor Samran Sombatpani (Advisor) is pointed as the representative of WASWAC to join the conference preparation work. At the invitation from the LDD Ning Duihu (Secretary General) will visit Thailand and discuss the conference in detail.
During the conference, the second council meeting will be held. At this meeting we select council and president for the next term, and the place of the third Conference.
3. LANDCON 1209
Professor Miodrag Zlatic (Immediate Past President) gave “A brief introduction on LANDCON 1209”. The conference of Sustainable Land Management and Climate Changes (LANDCON 1209) is initiated by WASWAC and University Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry. The conference is planned to be held in the Danube region of Serbia from 17 to 21 September 2012. The topics are (1) Land Degradation; (2) Land Conservation; (3) Climate Changes in Environmental Change; (4) Socio Economic Aspects of Land Degradation and Land Conservation; (5) Implemented Global/Regional/National Projects; (6) Education in Land Conservation.
4. Membership database
According to the previous data we will contact all members and update their information. In order to finish this work it is necessary to get help from all councilors and VPs.
5. Website
The design of Website is discussed. The design framework and text of Website will be modified based on the comments from the meeting.
It will be launched soon and directly managed by the secretariat in Beijing. At the same time the previous websites in Guangzhou and Tokyo will be closed or used for other purposes.
6. Brochure of WASWAC
The draft of WASWAC brochure has been discussed; some replenishment and modification were made.
7. Publications
Now there are 4 kinds of publication, Hot News (Monthly), Bulletin (Quarterly), Book series and LANDCON e-LIBRARY. It is necessary to have a group of editors for each.
8. Statutes revision
To meet the requirements of registration in China\To build the basic rules for association management\ To make it more complete gradually.
9. Award issue
There are 5 categories of awards and 1 category of membership that are being judged by the Awards Committee, as follows:
- Norman Hudson Memorial Award
- Distinguished Researcher Award
- Distinguished Extensionist Award
- Special Award
- Young Scientist Award
10. Specialized committees
In order to make council operation more efficient it is necessary to have some committees to work on different fields. Each Councilor has to be one member of at least one specialized committee according to his work fields and interest. It is necessary to have a brief description of each committee, including the tasks, organizations, activities, and others.
