On May 20-22, Advanced Seminar on 40-year History and Future Prospects for Ecology in China was held at Institute of Eco-Chongming. This Seminar was organized by Sino-Ecologists Association Overseas (Sino-Eco), co-organized by Ecological Society of China, and co-hosted by Institute of Eco-Chongming (IEC), State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (East China Normal University), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences at East China Normal University. More than 160 experts and scholars in the field of ecology from all over the world attended the Seminar.
At the opening ceremony of the Seminar which took place on the morning of May 21, Zhenrong Sun, Vice President of East China Normal University gave a speech. “Disciplinary development of Ecology in higher education plays an important part in the construction of ecological civilization in China. The discipline of Environmental Science and Ecology at East China Normal University has been ranked in the top 1% globally according to the latest Essential Science Indicators (ESI) of Clarivate Analytics and has developed disciplinary characteristics in which ecology and environment are integrated. IEC’s mission is to establish scientific, technological, and policy pillars to support sustainable development of Chongming to be a world-class ecological island and to establish an international research center for ecology and Earth system sciences. To accelerate the development of IEC and carry out ECNU’s “Ecology plus” action plan, ECNU has strengthened comprehensive and in-depth cooperation with Chongming District by starting its construction of Chongming Campus to provide further support for the development of Chongming Island into a world-class ecological island,” said Zhenrong Sun, Vice President of ECNU.
Speech given by Zhenrong Sun, Vice President of East China Normal University
Afterwards, Charlie Huang, staff scientist at California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sacramento, CA and President of Sino-Eco, gave a speech at the ceremony. As the year of 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Eco, Charlie Huang expressed his thanks to founders of Sino-Eco and former presidents. “In the past three decades, both ecologists in China and overseas ecologists have made significant contributions to promote the development of ecology in China, the sustainable development of China, and the construction of ecological civilization, to nurture ecologists of the next generation, and to facilitate international academic exchanges,” remarked Charlie Huang.
Speech given by Charlie Huang
Staff scientist at California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sacramento, CA and President of Sino-Eco
Chendong Tang, director of Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Birds National Nature Reserve and deputy director of Shanghai Landscaping & City Appearance Administrative Bureau, gave the keynote address in which he presented phenological changes at Dongtan Birds National Nature Reserve with an excerpt from the documentary Wild China, and introduced a series of works and efforts made by Dongtan Birds National Nature Reserve to protect the ecological environment. According to Chendong Tang, Dongtan Birds National Nature Reserve has firmly seized opportunities to deal with invasion of alien species, to constantly improve scientific management of the ecosystem, and to restore degraded wetlands in a scientific way in recent years, with aims to create harmony between human society and nature and contribute to the development of Chongming Island into a world-class ecological island.
keynote address given by Chendong Tang
Director of Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Birds National Nature Reserve and deputy director of Shanghai Landscaping & City Appearance Administrative Bureau
The opening ceremony was hosted by Jianwu Tang, director of Institute of Eco-Chongming and Co-chair of the Seminar organizing committee.
Jianwu Tang
Director of Institute of Eco-Chongming & Co-chair of the Seminar organizing committee
The Seminar brought together many renowned scholars in the field of ecology. They all gathered on Chongming Island, reviewing the history of ecology in China and discussing current issues in the field of ecology and future prospects for ecology in China.
Experts in the field of ecology attending the Seminar
Each presentation made at the Seminar has been recorded, and will be edited and published by Higher Education Press in the monograph titled 40-year History and Future Prospects for Ecology in China.
Participants of the Seminar