International Symposium on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management Held in Hong Kong of China

During the period of December 20-24, 2012, the “International Symposium on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management”, sponsored by Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (XIEG) and Hong Kong Baptist University, was held in Hong Kong of China. This symposium has attracted nearly 60 researchers from 6 countries, including China, USA, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Professor CHEN Xi, director of XIEG, Albert Chan, rector of Hong Kong Baptist University, presented welcome address during the ceremony. FU Bojie, academician of Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and LI Bailian, professor of University of California, attended the symposium and conducted special report, respectively.

During the period, researchers conducted discussions on the topics of new technologies and methods for a long-term monitoring to ecosystem, on the response of ecosystem to human activities, and simulation of ecosystem processes.

The symposium has set up a concurrent session of Central Asia, mainly focused on the ecosystem management and research network construction of Central Asia. At the end of the symposium, directors of ten institutes from China, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan agreed and signed a written cooperative agreement on ecosystem monitoring and management. They planed to jointly conduct researches on ecosystem monitoring and management of Central Asia in the future, and to provide research reports of climate change and its counter measures.