INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF WORLD ASSOCIATION OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

GLOBAL CHANGE-CHALLENGES FOR SOIL MANAGEMENT

FROM DEGRADATION - THROUGH SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION  

TO SUSTAINABLE SOIL MANAGEMENT -

May 27- 30, 2009

Tara Mountain/Serbia

Initiated by:

• World Association of Soil and Water Conservation - WASWC
• Faculty of Forestry, Belgrade University, Serbia

Organized jointly with:

• World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research - (WASER)
• European Society of Soil Conservation (ESSC)

Convened in line with the objectives of:

• International Sediment Initiative (ISI – UNESCO)

Background

Soil, like air and water, is essential to support life on earth. Over 90 % of all human food and livestock feed are produced from the land and from on soils which vary in quality and extent. Of the earth’s 13 million hectares of ice free-land surface, only 3 % is covered with highly productive soils, just 6% with moderate productive, and 13 % with slightly productive soils. The remaining 78% of the land has limitations that inhibit the sustainable cultivation of its soils and sometimes even limit grazing. However, it is in such marginal lands that most land and soil degradation occurs (Hurni et al, 1996).  It is from this context that we launch this International Conference of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC) with the hope that, together, our Association will discover new and better ways of counteracting the effects of land degradation and building more secure and self-sustainable patterns of agricultural land husbandry.

Conference topics:

Topic 1: Global Change and Soil Degradation; Topic 2: Water Management; Topic 3: Soil Erosion, Sediment Transport and Sedimentation Processes; Topic 4: Erosion and Torrent Control in Environmental Change; Topic 5: Desertification; Topic 6: Socio – Economic, Legal and Institutional Aspects of Soil and Water Conservation; Topic 7: Implementing Global/Regional Projects; Topic 8: Work of Younger Scholars;

Venue – Tara Mt

The Tara National Park, in the territory of Bajina Basta on Mount Tara, Western Serbia, is 180 km from Belgrade. This is an area of great scenic beauty and scientific significance for Nature Conservation. Indeed, the Tara National Park has been nominated by the Serbia and Montenegro Commission for UNESCO as a MOB Biosphere Reserve, possibly, through transboundary cooperation, managed jointly with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Important deadlines

• Abstract and registration submission: 25^th November 2008
• Abstract acceptance: 20^th December, 2008
• Full paper submission: 20^th February, 2009

Contacts to Conference Organizers:

Prof. Dr. Miodrag Zlatic - E-mail: miodrag.zla@sbb.rs; mizlatic@yahoo.com