Time
does fly.
The year
of 2018 will be passed and the new year of 2019 is coming up soon. Take this opportunity
of saying goodbye to 2018 and welcoming the prosperous 2019, I would like to
express my heartfelt appreciations to all WASWAC councilors, advisers, Regional
vice-chairmen and all members.
Merry
Christmas and happy new year to you and your family!
During
this year, everything with our association was going smoothly. Under the strong
support from all of you, WASWAC is becoming better and better. Thanks for the
everything you have done for our association, not only including the efforts
you have made for the development of related activities, but also referring to
the contributions for the publication of official journals, for the involvement
of conferences, for the suggestions to the improvement of WASWAC, etc. MANY
THNAKS!
I am
happy to make a brief summary of 2018 and a general plan for 2019 as follows.
1. To hold the Second International Youth Forum
of Soil and Water Conservation in Moscow
The
second International Youth Forum of Soil and Water Conservation (2nd IYFSWC)
with the title of “Climate Change Impacts on Sediment Dynamics: Measurement,
Modelling and Management” was held in Moscow successfully during August 26-31.
- 137
participants from 14 countries including China, Iran,
Morocco, Russia, Austria, Egypt, Italy, Nigeria, Serbia, Belgium, Germany,
Japan, Poland and Ukraine have attended this forum.
- 10 young
persons from 5 countries including China, Russia, Serbia, Iran, and Morocco won
the Outstanding Youth Paper Award (DATUM).
- 6 outstanding
scholars including Prof. Jean Poesen, Dr Peter Strauss, Prof. Helmut Habersack,
Prof. Valentin Golosov, Prof. Lei Tingwu, and Prof. Miodrag Zlatic, were
invited to provide all participants a very high-level academic keynote
presentation.
- 2 scientific
tour sites, including an observation site for different types of soil erosion
(sheet, rill, ephemeral gully etc.) in the cultivated lands in the Central
Russia and an artificial waterway linking Moscow to the Volga River to supply water
to Moscow.
2. To hold the Global Soil Erosion Research Forum
The
Global Soil Erosion Research Forum, initiated by World Association of Soil and
Water Conservation (WASWAC), Desert Net International (DNI), and Chinese
Society of Soil and Water Conservation, was held in Yangling, Shaanxi, China,
from September 12th to 14th, 2018. There were 274 delegates from 10 countries
over the world to attend the Forum. The Presentations were focused on 3 themes
1) New challenges and potential opportunities in soil erosion research 2)
Theories and applications of soil conservation and ecological restoration 3)
Soil erosion risks and countermeasures in the Pan-Third-Pole region. Thorough
exchanges and discussions the framework for cross-country collaboration and
joint research projects of soil erosion and conservation were proposed.
In the
closing ceremony of this forum, the State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and
Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau was certified as the Soil Erosion Research and
Training Base of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation. After
this Forum, some participants visited the relevant experimental facilities and
bases around Yangling. Such visits were very helpful for the visitors to
understand what research progress have been achieved by the Institute of Soil
and Water Conservation of CAS&MWR, in soil and water conservation,
ecological restoration, dryland agriculture and water saving.
3. To publish the official journal quarterly
International
Soil and Water Conservation Research (ISWCR), the official journal of WASWAC,
was regularly published in 2018. 4 issues including 36 papers were presented to
all readers of related topics. As one of the open-access journals, ISWCR has
attracted more and more attentions across the world, 189 manuscripts have been
received this year. The mock impact factor is increased to 2.039 (1.647 in
2017), the CiteScore (SCOPUS) has been reached to 3.58 (1.98 in 2017), both
indices have been becoming important than ever before. We hope that all our
members could submit the fresh research fruit to our journal, to help us make
it inclusive by SCI as soon as possible.
4. To develop international cooperation and communications
A number of mutual visits have been used to strengthen or
to establish the connections with related scientific bodies in 2018.
- At the invitation
of European Society of Soil Conservation (ESSC) and Joint Research Centre
(JRC), a delegation with the head of Prof. Li Rui Italy on 4-13 of June, 2018.
- A Czech
delegation included with Professor Borivoj Sarapatka from Palacky University,
Professor Miroslav Dumbrovsky from Brno University of Technology and Professor
Jana Podhrazska from Mendel University visited the secretariat of WASWAC for
technical exchange and future collaboration during September 17 to 18, 2018.
- On November 5,
2018, a Thailand delegation grouped by the Thailand Land Development Department
and Naresunan University visited WASWAC to exchange and discuss related
research and international exchange work on soil and water conservation.
- President Li Rui
attended the Ceremony of World Soil Day 2018 and the symposium of “Healthy
Soils: key solution for SDGs” in Thailand.
- President Li Rui
visited Dr Samran Sombatpanit , the WASWAC Advisor and formal President, and
Councilors Dr Chinapatana Sukvibool and Dr Wanwisa.Pansak during his visit in
Thailand in December 2018.
5. To organize a council meeting during the 2nd IYFSWC in
Moscow
A short
meeting attended by the councilors who participants the 2nd IYFSWC
in Moscow was held in the morning of August 31.
6. To develop the routine works of Secretariat
The
routine works of the secretariat of our association was going smoothly. Total
18 new members from Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Russia, Mongolia, and
South Africa have been registered; Hot News was edited and sent to all our
members; Project “Global soil erosion evaluation” was in progress; and to
provide necessary help for the related training workshop held in Beijing in
November, etc.
In
the year of 2019, we will be very pleased to continue our efforts to WASWAC
progress. We will organize the 4th WASWAC World Conference on November 5th-9th,
2019 in New Delhi, India. During this important conference, the new WASWAC
Council for the term of 2020-2022 will be elected, the organizer for the 5th
WASWAC World Conference will be confirmed, the winners for the awards will be
evaluated, the proposed book of “Degradation of Soil and Water Resources: A
Global Issue” will be published, etc. There will be a long way to go, it is not
just for WASWAC, it also refers to the global soil and water conservation.
Hence, I cordially hope that all our councilors and members could provide
support as usual to help us make our association brighter, to make the
strategies to decrease soil erosion more effective, and to make the ecological
environment more suitable for human’s life.
Finally,
with the arrival of 2019, wish all of you and all your families a very merry
Christmas and a happy New Year.
All
the best,
Prof. Li Rui
President of WASWAC
Pay your
attention to our association, and to be involved in our activities in 2019:
To participate
the 4th WASWAC World Conference in November 5th – 9th
To recommend the
candidates to win our awards
To apply for as
the organizer to hold our 5th WASWAC World Conference
To vote for the
new Councilors serving for the next term (2020-2022)
To make
contributions to the proposed book of “Degradation of Soil and Water Resources:
A Global Issue”
