The 1st World Conference on Soil and Water Conservation under Global Change was held from 12-16 June 2017 in Lledia (Spain). For the first time, all the main World Scientific Organizations promoting wise and sustainable use, management and conservation of the main natural resources, soil and water, responsible for maintenance of life in Earth, have decided to have a joint Conference, called CONSOWA.
The 1st World Conference on Soil and Water Conservation under Global Change (CONSOWA), was a joint Conference of the International Soil Conservation Organization, the World Association for Soil and Water Conservation, the European Society for Soil Conservation, the International Union of Soil Science, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, the International Erosion Control Association and the World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research in parallel with the VIII Simposio Nacional sober Control de la Degradacion y Restauracion de Suelos.
The main objectives of the 1st World Conference on Soil and Water Conservation under Global Change (CONSOWA) were:
1. To analyze the present and previewed future situation, at World-wide level, of the conservation of the soil and water resources, as influenced by Global Changes, including population growth and development, changes in land use and management, and human induced climate changes. This situation would be analyzed and discussed taking into consideration the close and critical relation of the use and management of the limited soil and water resources with present and future climate changes, natural disasters, and with food and water supply for an increasing World population.
2. To promote an increased collaboration, and even a full integration of their activities, to reach their goals more efficiently, of the main scientific international organizations promoting soil and water conservation research and activities at Worldwide level.
Which were mainly fulfilled.
The Conference was carefully organized during the last two years, after having the approval of sponsorship from the different International Organizations and from the Spanish Soil Science Society (SECS), when they were approached by Prof. Ildefonso Pla, who took the responsibility for the organization.
Thanks to all of them and their collaborators, we have been able to organize this very complex Conference, which has been very well qualified by most of the participants.
Afterwards, we got the important collaboration of the European Geophysical Union (EGU) Meeting Support Program, of the IUSS Stimulus Fund and of the IUSS Division 3, of the ESSC Grants Program, which allowed us to finance scholarships, including registration fees, to a group of bright young researchers, mainly from developing countries, and to cover registration fees of some keynote speakers from developing countries. Some of the young researchers from developing countries also got free lodging in the UdL dormitories.
Some collaborations from local Organizations, and especially from the Diputacio de Lleida, the Paeria de Lleida, the Institute Geologic de Catalunya, the Cosell Catala de la Produccio Integrada and AKIS International, also contributed to the success of the Conference.
Although initially we have previewed an attendance of 300-350 participants, based on the people that had manifested their interest and intention to participate, submitting on time short abstracts, finally the number of registered participants was close to 250. This reduction in number could be mainly attributed to cancellations for different reasons, among them difficulties to get entry visas (at least 60) and to get financing from their Institutions. For future conferences, it would be necessary to take into consideration those increased limitations, which will decrease the number and countries of origin of participants. In our case, those limitations to get entry visa, apparently were not solved in many cases even with our invitation letters, certifying the reception and approval of the submitted paper, for oral or poster presentations. Still, with all those limitations, we were able to have participants from 35 countries of all continents, including: Argelia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chekia, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Mozambique, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA, and Venezuela, etc.
In any case, the number of participants and represented countries was much higher than in other conferences organized separately by the different Organizations sponsoring CONSOWA in the last two years, where the number of foreign participants and represented countries did not exceed in most of the cases 50 and 12 respectively.
It is worth to mention that in CONSOWA we had a large participation of young researchers, including PhD students (30% of the total number of participants), thanks to the very reduced registration fees for them, and thanks to the high number of scholarships, covering registration fees and in some case lodging, with funds provided by IUSS, EGU, ESSC and UdL.
The program of the Conference included 19 invited keynote plenary lectures, 87 oral presentations in 13 sessions, and 104 poster presentations in three daily sessions. Besides there were programmed two discussion sessions, with the following objectives:
1. Discussion Session 1: Analysis and recommendations to change present limitations for the Study and research of soil and water degradation processes and in the application of prevention and remediation practices.
2. Discussion Session 2 (Activity dedicated to the International Decade of Soils (2015-2024) proclaimed by IUSS): Analysis and setting the challenges and required achievements in the next decade, to prevent and counteract the previewed effects of global changes on soil and water degradation processes, and effects on food and water supply for the increasing World population, on the environmental degradation and on natural disasters.
Additionally, there were programmed 7 field trips, one pre-conference, one post-conference and five during the conference, to visit and observe different systems and practices of land use and management, and of soil and water degradation processes and effects, both under dry-land and irrigated conditions.
The dominant topics of the oral and poster presentations were related to: surface erosion (16%), soil quality (SOM and biological aspects) (13%), water management (12%) (10% dryland, 2 % irrigated), carbon sequestration (10%), climate changes (10%), soil tillage (8%), soil contamination (6%). It is worth to mention the reduced number of papers on topics like sedimentation effects (5%), social economic factors (4%), crop production effects (4%), mass erosion (2%), desertification (2%), salinization and codification (2%), soil compaction (2%), wind erosion (1.5%), flooding effects (1.5%).
About 60% of the papers were based on empirical approaches and empirical models, more than in actual field or laboratory data and research. In any case, there is observed a decrease, in relation to previous conferences in the past, in the presentation of papers dedicated to surface soil erosion, and to soil tillage and desertification, and an increase in aspects more related to the hydrological, chemical and biological aspects and factors of soil degradation. In general, with some very valuable exceptions, the empirical approaches, the reduced field work, the focus in isolated aspects of soil and water conservation not forming part of a wider project, and the scarce interdisciplinary work, were the predominant characteristic of the research results presented in CONSOWA.
The discussion sessions started with a short presentation of the members of each panel, about the particular points of view in relation to the topic of each session, followed by open participation of the attendants, with comments and questions based on them and on the main points contained in a basic draft paper. The content of the draft paper, previously distributed to all participants, was based on contributions of selected leading specialists on different aspects of soil and water conservation at worldwide level. They were: J. Dumansky (Canada); S. El-Swaify (USA); J. L. Rubio (Spain); W. Blum (Austria); C. Dazzi (Italy); G. Farias (Brazil); A. Cerda (Spain); Li Rui (China); I. Pla (Spain). The members of the panels were: Discussion Session 1: Carmelo Dazzi, Samir El-Swaify, Jose L. Rubio, and Craig Benson
Moderator: Ildefonso Pla Sentis
Discussion Session 2: Winfried Blum, Mark Nearing, Li Rui, Gonçalo Farias
Moderator: Ildefonso Pla Sentis
As the time allocated for those discussion sessions during the Conference was limited, there was decided to ask all participants to submit or to send by email their comments or ideas during or after (with a time limit) CONSOWA. All contributions will be taken into account by a selected editorial committee, as a basis, together with the draft paper and the talks of the panel members, to write a final document, which will be published and submitted to all potentially interested Institutions and Organizations at different levels.
The field trips, both the pre-conference (surroundings of Barcelona), post-conference (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura Canary Islands), and the five ones during the Conference, were carefully organized, with selection of places to be visited where there could be seen different land use and management systems and practices related with soil and water conservation aspects. The visited places included areas with semiarid to arid climate, but also with sub-humid climates, used for forestry, different cropping systems and for husbandry, both under dry-land and irrigated conditions. Among the visited places, and the main aspects that could be observed in the field trips were:
1. Agricultural use of lands in peril-urban areas
2. Land and soil reclamation and use for organic and bio-dynamic agriculture, in areas previously used for mining and quarry extractions
1. Rain water harvesting, and soil water conservation practices, for agricultural production UN arid climates
2. Effects of changing from dry-land to irrigated conditions, on soil and water management and on soil conservation practices and structures
3. Changes in land use and management and on soil and water conservation practices, determined by economical and marketing pressures
4. Effects of present and historical land use and management on surface erosion and in mass erosion, as a source of sediments affecting the storage capacity of dams. Practices and structures to control them
5. Land, soil and water use and management, with high technological level, under very intensive irrigated highly productive agriculture (mainly fruit production), in soils of "inherent" very low quality
6. "Terroirs", where the combination of soils, climate, variety and age of the vines, and management permits the production of very high quality wines.
Besides, in all field trips there were included visits to places with extraordinary landscapes and with high historical and archeological value. One of the most relevant programmed activity of the Conference, was the ceremony of concession to Dr. Rattan Lal of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the UdL, upon proposal of the Departments of Soils and Environmental Sciences and of Crop and Forest Science of the Agricultural and Forestry Schools of UdL. Prof. Dr. Rattan Lal, besides being at present the President of the IUSS, the main World Organization in Soil Science, is one of the main World recognized researcher in Soil and Water Conservation and related effects on agricultural food production and on the environment. He has been a pioneer in the studies of the relations of C sequestration in soils and vegetation with climate change. He is probably the soil and water conservation researcher that has more publications in these topics, which are the most consulted and cited by other people doing research in this area.
During the conference, there were programmed and held board meetings of several of the Organizations sponsoring CONSOWA. One of the main points discussed, both in the individual board meetings on Monday 12 June, and afterwards in the joint board meeting on Friday 16 June, was the convenience and possibilities to organize similar joint conferences like CONSOWA in the future, In general, both the different members of the Organizations participating on those meetings, and many other opinions of participants, directly during the Conference and in mails received afterwards, coincide in that based on the generally accepted success of this first experience of CONSOWA, it would be worth to continue it in the future. Based on that generalized feeling, we made a proposal to the joint board meeting, which would be called "Lleida Declaration", as follows:
LLEIDA DECLARATION
The Joint Board Meeting of the International Organizations participating in the 1st CONSOWA Conference held on Lleida
(Spain) 12-16 June 2017, based on the positive experience of this first Joint Conference, have decided:
1. To repeat in the future this kind of Joint Conferences, which will be called CONSOWA with consecutive numbers (2nd CONSOWA, 3rd CONSOWA, etc.).
2. These Joint Conferences would be held every 2-4 years, in a country selected during the previous CONSOWA.
3. This would not prevent that the individual organizations have conferences, workshops, etc. in specific topics, in between those CONSOWA Conferences, inviting to them all the other organizations.
4. To facilitate the organization of those Joint Conferences, the Organizations here represented decide to create a Confederation of them, with a Coordinating Committee formed by the Presidents of the different Organizations, chaired by one of them in a rotatory basis.
5. The final objective, to be further analyzed by the Confederation, would be to become in the future a unique Organization on Soil and Water Conservation, with different chapters, corresponding to different aspects of the general topic, including the different objectives and activities of the present separate organizations, if possible.
6. To this declaration and agreements, other organizations dealing with the general objective of soil and water conservation, not represented here, may request to be included at any time, if they wish to do so.
Lleida, 16 June 2017
After an exchange of ideas and comments about the general proposals contained in this declaration, it was agreed that based on the success of this 1st joint conference CONSOWA, it would be worth to repeat it in the future, with the same name (CONSOWA) or other if there is proposed a more convenient alternative. It was also agreed, that in order to avoid that the organization of future CONSOWAS would depend only on individual initiatives like this one, it would be convenient to create a kind of structure, to assure the continuous exchange and collaboration among organizations. Although it was generally considered as desirable to have in the future a unique strong organization, it was also realized that due to the very different structures and rules of the present organizations, it will take some time to reach that final objective. That is what, in the meantime there is proposed to create a kind of confederation of the organizations agreeing to be members of such confederation, chaired by the President of one of the organizations, in a rotatory basis.
As not all the Organizations sponsoring CONSOWA 2017, were represented in the joint board meeting, and the scarce number of board members of the represented Organizations being present, it was decided to take a time for considering the different proposals in each board, before it is reached a final decision. As President of ISCO and of the first CONSOWA I would be ready to act as a liaison of the different Organizations to prepare the final proposal agreed by all of them. The next proposed joint meeting of WASWAC and ISCO in India in 2019, which also could be sponsored by the other organizations participating in the 1st CONSOWA if the organizers ask for it, could be a good occasion to reach a final decision about the proposed joint Organization.
