April 30, 2010 - World Association of Soil and Water Conservation

*See details in this issue of HOT NEWS. Organizers of these conferences have pledged to follow the Guidelines forSuccessful Meetings (http://waswc.soil.gd.cn/consti-decentra.html) that WASWC had deliberated and achieved in 2008, tofacilitate the attendance of academics and professionals so that the meetings that we recommend are of high quality, worththe expenses they have to pay if they decide to go to attend. If your meeting will meet at least 7 in 10 points (by selfappraisal)in the Guidelines, you may register the event in the LANDCON series and receive certain technical support fromWASWC at no cost. To register, write to Samran Sombatpanit at sombatpanit@yahoo.com.MEETINGS 2010++May 2010Land Quality and Land Use Information in the EU – ConferenceFollowing recent scientific and policy developments, land quality is now regarded as an integrated measure ofdifferent aspects of land ecosystem services. A conference is planned for May 2011 to facilitate the exchange ofinformation and views among stakeholders involved in different aspects of land quality management; be itresearch, policy planning, soil management or conservation. http://landq2011.uni-pannon.hu/May 2-7, 2010The European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2010 will be held in Vienna, Austria, 02 - 07 May. In viewof the congress, we would like to draw your attention to session NH3.10 - an integrated part of the sectionNatural Hazards - entitled: Hydrological, hydraulic, and mechanical effects of plants for slope stability.Deadline for Receipt of Abstracts: 18 January 2010http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/sessionprogrammeMay 2-7, 2010EGU Session on Rainfall simulation as a tool for soil erosion and soil hydrology studies. Convener: Artemi Cerdá, co-Conveners: Peter Fiener, Xinping Wang , Rob Loch , Lee MacDonald , Fred Pierson, EGU 2010.http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/session/2493 (from IUSS Alert 56)May 3-5, 20104 th MEDITERRANEAN MEETING ON NO TILLAGE, Setif, Algeria, May 3-5, 2010* Registration form to complete and mail it with a summary of your contribution to ATU_PAM: atu.pam@gmail.comMay 3-10, 2010EGU – Vienna: The impact of soil degradation on soil functioning.European Geosciences Union General Assembly, 3-10 May 2010 in Vienna, Austria. in the Soil System ScienceDivision: "The impact of soil degradation on soil functioning" Conveners: Erik Cammeraat, Bas van Wesemael &John Quinton. Soils are fundamental to Man's existence on Earth. They are essential for food, fuel and fibreproduction, regulate production of greenhouse gases, and help to protect and regulate water resources. Soilsalso provide a habitat for biota, can safeguard our cultural heritage and archaeology, are the foundation for thebuilt environment and supply us with raw materials for a variety of industries. The need to protect all thesefunctions is now being recognised in political circles: the European Union has drafted a Soil FrameworkDirective, US Senate has adopted a resolution on soil and nine European countries have put in place soilprotection legislation. However, a significant threat to soil and its functionality is soil degradation, whether byerosion, salinity or compaction. Delivering on new soil policies will require us to understand the impact of soildegradation and develop robust methodologies to quantify, monitor and mitigate these impacts on all soilfunctions. This session will assesses the extent of our current understanding of the significance of soildegradation for different soil functions, and examine some of the challenges that lie ahead in delivering soilprotection frameworks. http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2010/session/2497. Abstracts are welcomeand the submission deadline is 18 January 2010. (From IUSS Alerts 57)May 6-7, 2010International workshop on Gender, Economic Integration, and Cross-border Road InfrastructureDevelopment, AIT, Bangkok, ThailandAs Saskia Sassen noted, globalization is a process of differentiation. This workshop discusses how regionaleconomic integration strengthened by cross-border road networks has differentiated effect based on gender,ethnicity and class.Asia has historically experienced high intra-mobility of goods and people, but in the recent years, the quantum ofsuch mobility has increased dramatically. Various factors have contributed to this increase, including economicdisparity within the region; differences in economic/ employment/business opportunities; transportation andcommunication infrastructure development, education opportunities, and a wider network of migrants in majorcities and industrial areas in the region.32