On 18 September 2022, the 10th Beijing Humboldt Forum on Earth Science and Sustainable Development was co-hosted by the International Collaboration Working Committee of Soil Science Society of China and The Innovation. More than 30 scholars coming from more than 10 countries, including China, Germany, India, Pakistan, Kenya, etc., were invited to this forum. They gave presentations and led roundtable discussions with over 3,200 participants.
Prof. Fang Wang, the chairperson of the forum and the chair of International Collaboration Working Committee of Soil Science Society of China, led the opening session of the forum. She invited Prof. Xiaoyuan Yan, deputy director of the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academician Andreas Schaeffer of the German Academy of Sciences and RWTH Aachen University, to deliver keynote addresses. Both stressed the significance of this forum on sustainable development in light of the worsening effects of global warming and pollution and called on Earth scientists to take the lead in finding solutions to these environmental issues.
The second session was co-chaired by Prof. Jianxu Wang, a researcher at the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Mohammad Saleem Akhtar, a researcher at the PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. During this session, Humboldt Scholars gave presentations on sustainable development from a variety of perspectives and areas of research. These include Prof. Rajib Maity (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur), Prof. Guijin Su (Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Fredrick Kengara (Bomet University College), Prof. Tida Ge (Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University), Prof. Nuo Li (Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Yuyi Yang (Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Naicheng Wu (School of Geography and Tourism Culture, Ningbo University) and Dr. Eduardo Moreno-Jimenez (Arbeitsgruppe ？kologie der Pflanzen, Freie Universit？t Berlin). All of them delivered excellent academic presentations on topics related to renewable energy, sustainable production and use of materials, environmental pollution and remediation, and sustainable soil management.
The third session of the forum consisted of roundtable discussions, which were co-hosted by Prof. Rajib Maity (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur) and Prof. Guijin Su (Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences). The participants of the roundtable discussions included Prof. Pengfei Li (Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Jianxu Wang (Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Sun Xin (Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Ziyang Lou (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Prof. Ping Wang (Beijing Forestry University), Prof. Ying Wu (East China Normal University), Associate Professor Lingqing Wang (Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Dr. Yadong Sun (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany). They actively expressed their views on how to strengthen communication and cooperation among Humboldt scholars and further promote international exchange and cooperation in geosciences and related interdisciplinary fields, with the ultimate goal of contributing to human health and sustainable development.
Overall, this forum provided an open and collaborative platform for scholars from different fields of Earth Sciences and laid a good foundation for further strengthening scientific research cooperation toward sustainable development.
Brief Introduction to Beijing Humboldt Forum
The Beijing-Humboldt Forum (BHF) is an international conference with a non-profit background and deals with the Green Economy and its interaction with cultural heritage. The Beijing-Humboldt Forum was first held in November 2013 as a side event of the EU-China Summit, chaired by Chinese Prime Minister Keqiang Li and the then President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
The BHF is jointly organized by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), with the support of the Austrian and German Embassies in China, the Turkish-German University of Istanbul, Energie AG Data Ltd, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, the Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS), the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Linz Tourism, the Sichuan Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, the University of Münster, and the Nagoya University Japan. Since its inception by UIBE in 2013, the BHF has been committed to providing a unique platform for interdisciplinary dialogue among academics, corporate leaders, and policymakers from China, Germany, and other countries.
Forum on Earth Science and Sustainable Development provides a communication platform where scientists and researchers discuss ecological protection, climate change, environmental remediation, technological innovation, industrial growth, green economy, and other related topics, promoting the international exchange and cooperation of geosciences and related cross disciplines and making contributions to human health and sustainable development.
