Professor German Kust from Russian Academy of Sciences Visits XIEG

From February 26 to March 2, Professor German Kust from the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was invited to visit the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  

During his visit, XIEG organized the Tianshan Academic Forum, and held a workshop related to the relevant research in Central Asia.  

At the Tianshan Academic Forum, Professor German Kust delivered a presentation titled “Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) – a modern methodology and approach to gain effective results in sustainable land management and climate change adaptation”. His presentation detailed the LDN definition, approaches to land degradation assessment, LDN indicators as well as existing problems and key challenges. He used various indicators, for example, land use/land cover change, soil water retention, soil carbon balance, soil erosion, drought index, and explained their assessment results.  

At the workshop related to the relevant scientific research in Central Asia, XIEG researchers and Professor German Kust shared their achievements, and exchanged views on desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD), assessment approaches, and assessment results serving for decision-making. 

During his stay, Professor German Kust communicated with several research groups, and exchanged views on desertification causes and risks, approaches and models for land degradation assessment, global oasification, remote sensing, land management, and grassland degradation. Collaboration on joint research and co-publishing in future was also discussed. 

Professor German Kust’s visit laid a foundation for collaboration between the two institutes. He also visited the Document and Information Center, Turpan Botanical Garden and several laboratories at XIEG. 

Communication with the Desert Research Group 

Communication with the Surface-groundwater Resource Management Research Group  

Communication with the Precise Digital Modeling Research Group 

Communication with the Ecosystem Monitoring in Central Asia Research Group