Source: School of Environmental Science and Engineering
Written by: School of Environmental Science and Engineering
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On November 23-25, 2014, “The 7th Sino-French Workshop on Soil Pollution and Remediation: Ecosystem Services Provided by Contaminated Land” was held in Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). The workshop was co-hosted by School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Sun Yat-sen University, French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and University of Lorraine. More than 30 experts and scholars from South China Institute of Environmental Sciences of Ministry of Environmental Protection, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and South China Agricultural University attended the workshop. The meeting aimed to promote Sino-French academic exchanges in the field of soil pollution remediation, and organize the ceremony to inaugurate the Sino-French Joint Lab of Soil Environment.

 

A scene of the 7th Sino-French Workshop on Soil Pollution and Remediation
 

On November 24, the opening ceremony was held in Swasey Hall of Sun Yat-sen University. Vice President Xiping Zhu of Sun Yat-sen University, Mr. Christophe Bonté from the French Consulate General in Guangzhou, Dr. Guy Richard from INRA, and Prof. Jean-Louis Morel from University of Lorraine made opening speeches.

 

Unveiling ceremony of the Sino-French Joint Lab of Soil Environment
 

At the witness of SYSU Vice President Xiping Zhu, Mr. Shanling Zhang from Ministry of Environmental Protection, Mr. Qifeng Xia from Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology and Mr. Christophe Bonté, Prof. Rongliang Qiu from Sun Yat-sen University, Dr. Guy Richard, Prof. Jean-Louis Morel and Prof. Christophe Schwartz from LSE lab of University of Lorraine signed SYSU-INRA-LU-LSE quartet cooperation agreement. The plaque of the Sino-French Joint Lab of Soil Environment was unveiled after the signing ceremony. Subsequently, Prof. Rongliang Qiu and Dr. Guy Richard introduced the overview of bilateral cooperation. The attending scholars had heated discussion on heavy metal pollution of soil, organic pollutant of soil, solid waste, greenhouse gases and site remediation.

 

Field trip to the heavy metal pollution remediation base in Qingyuan
 

On November 25, the Chinese and French scholars held a round-table conference on deepening cooperation and development of the joint lab. The representatives from the two sides reached consensuses on personnel training, research activity, experimental platform, and international exchange. During the workshop, the attending scholars also had a field trip to the heavy metal pollution remediation base in Qingyuan city, Guangdong province.

This workshop was supported by French Consulate General in Guangzhou, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Department of Education of Guangdong Province, and Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology. It was reported that the first Sino-French workshop was successfully held in 2003 in Sun Yat-sen University. Both sides made great progress in the joint application of international projects, co-published papers, joint training of graduate students, cooperation of research base, and co-hosted international conferences. The cooperation memorandum of Sino-French Joint Laboratory of Soil Environment was signed in 2011 in Paris, and the joint lab was finally set up during this workshop.