The WASWAC secretariat meeting was held in Beijing on 19-21 February 2013. WASWAC council advisor Dr Samran Sombatpanit, President Li Rui, Secretary General Ning Duihu, Treasurer Liu Xiaoying and Secretary Du Pengfei attended the meeting. At the meeting the following issues were discussed.
1. The Second WASWAC World Conference (WASWAC-WCII)
Dr Samran Sombatpanit gave a brief report of the Second WASWAC World Conference preparation work. The Announcement (Call for Papers) has been launched since February 16. The general program has been worked out.
The general schedule is as follows: September 4th afternoon will be Council meeting; on the 5th after the opening ceremony the keynote speech will be in the morning. From the afternoon to the next day (the 6th) the conference will proceed in concurrent sessions. A field trip will be arranged on the 7th.
During the second conference, we will decide the place, time and organization for the Third WASWAC World Conference, and it will be announced during the closing ceremony.
We hope that our association members and others who are working in the field of soil and water conservation related can be Thailand to join us, to make WASWAC WCII more influential.
2. The Journal of International Soil and Water Conservation Research
The candidates of editorial board member were proposed by President Li Rui. The Board consists of Advisors (10), Editor-in-Chief (1), Associate Editors (12), and Board Members (60). The candidates were selected based on suggestions of councilors. The updated name list will be submitted to the Journal Management Committee for discussion. Some documents for the Editorial Board, such as “Editorial Board Authorities and Duties”, “Call for Paper Submission”, and “Paper review form” have been prepared.
The first issue of ISWCR was discussed. So far there are 8 papers received, 2 of them were sent for reviewing and the others are in pre-processing stage. There is still too many works to be done by the end of March, so the first issue of journal can be launched in schedule. Specific works have been discussed and arranged.
3. The Second WASWAC council meeting
According to the conference schedule the second council meeting will be held in the afternoon of 4th of September. President will give the report on behalf of the council. In order to get a good summary it is necessary to have the reports from all committees. The secretary general Ning Duihu will give the report of the secretariat. Treasure Professor Liu Xiaoying will give the report of finance situation. So we hope that all councilors will be able to attend the conference and council meeting in September.
In addition, it is also necessary to do more preparation work before the next council starts in January 2014.
4. The Award issue
It is very important for WASWAC to make the awarding more efficient and attractive. Now there are 5 kinds of awards,
WASWAC Norman Hudson Memorial Award (every year)
WASWAC Special Award (every 3 years)
WASWAC Distinguished Researcher Award (every 3 years)
WASWAC Distinguished Extensionist Award (every 3 years)
WASWAC Excellent Youth Award (every 3 years)
Dr Samran will propose a criteria and regulation for each award and let all members know the meaning and procedure of application and selection.
At the WASWAC-WCII the awards will be presented at the end of the opening session on September 5, 2013.
5. Membership management
The database of membership should be updated. Dr Samran will contact all past Vice-Presidents and confirm their willingness to continue. A new group of Vice Presidents will be appointed in order to promote and make a good communication with members.
During the meeting there was also a discussion of other issues, such as e-LIBRARY, printing of special publications, membership fee and others. Everyone will finish the tasks to be assigned soon after the meeting.
