On
July 27, 2023, with the Governing Board Meeting of International Research and
Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES), four distinguished scientists
were invited to give lectures on “sustainable erosion control and sediment management
in a change climate”: Prof. Helmut Habersack, the President of the World Association
for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER) and Professor at the University
of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna; Prof. Cui Peng, Academician
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Researcher at the Institute of
Mountain Hazards and Environment of the CAS and the Ministry of Water Resources
of China; Prof. Shahbaz Khan, Representative of UNESCO in China and Director of
the Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia; Prof. Miodrag Zlatic, the former
President of World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWAC) and Professor
at the University of Belgrade, Serbia.
Prof. Helmut
Habersack gave a presentation on the World's large river initiative. He provided
an overview of the initiative’s background, five major activities, and how it
integrates with the International Plan of Action. Using the Danube, Niger and
Mekong rivers as examples, he shared research findings on hydrology, sediment
transport and morphology, ecology and water quality, and explained their
socio-economic impacts.
Academician Cui
Peng gave a presentation on Flash flood and debris flow early warning and risk
forecasting. He introduced the great hazards of flash floods and debris flow
disasters and analyzed their process and mechanism. He also shared practical
examples of the data support, parameter setting, algorithm efficiency,
multi-scale forecasting and warning systems used for early warning and risk
forecasting.
Prof. Shahbaz Khan
presented with the topic of “Open science and open data for a water secure
world”. He outlined the water-related objectives of the United Nations 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development, as well as the priority areas of the ninth phase
of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme. Prof. Shahbaz Khan
analyzed the gaps in the fields of science, technology, knowledge and data. He
also elaborated the new technologies including artificial intelligence. He
emphasized the importance and implementation of open science and open data.
Prof. Miodrag
Zlatic gave a presentation on the Importance of disaster risk reduction and
sustainable land management on the survival of soil and water resources. He
introduced the significance of soil and water resources and provided insight
into how disaster risk can be reduced and sustainable land management can be
developed based on successful experiences of organization such as UNESCO, FAO, Global
Environment Fund (GEF) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
(SIDA).
This meeting was
hosted by the IRTCES, and more than 50 researchers, postgraduates and
international students in related fields attended the meeting. In-depth
discussions between the presenters and participants were developed on the
issues of soil and water resources management, early warning and prediction of
water hazards, etc.
