From September 6 to 8, 2011, the "8th International Conference on Urban Watershed Management&International Workshop on the Water-Food-Energy Security Nexus” was held in Tsinghua University jointly sponsored by Asia Development Bank(ADB), the U.S. Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ASCE / EWRI), the University of Virginia and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The seminar lasted for three days. Nearly a hundred experts, scholars and managers from around the world exchanged their opinions and discussed the city water system of rapid urban areas as well as water security and its relations with food and energy security in the Asia-Pacific.

At 9am on September 6, a brief and grand opening was held in the Conference Hall of the School of Environment, Tsinghua University. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Vice president of ADB, Chen Jining, chairman of the meeting, Executive vice President of Tsinghua University, Anthony N. Tafuri from the Water Environmental Management Office of National Risk Management Research Laboratory in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Shi Yubo, Director of Water Resources Division in Ministry of Water Resources, Professor Michael Bruce Beck from University of Georgia, USA, Professor Daniel Peter Loucks from the American Academy of Engineering at Cornell University, Mike Ports, former President of ASCE / EWRI at the University of Virginia, Shaw L. Yu, Vice Chairman of the meeting, professor at the University of Virginia, Chiang Kai-shek, Vice Chairman of the meeting and professor at the National Taiwan University, Yu Gang, president of School of Environment in Tsinghua University attended the opening ceremony. Du Pengfei, the Executive Chairman of the meeting, hosted the ceremony.

Director Shi Yubo, Director Anthony Taff, Mike Potts and Executive Vice President Chen Jining delivered speeches respectively and affirmed the importance of the meeting. At present, urbanization has occurred in developing countries at a very rapid pace, represented by China, which has led to enormous pressures on water resources, urban environment and the ecosystem. The conference is aimed to provide a platform for national experts, policy-makers and managers to exchange experiences and share information.

At the meeting, Mike Potts, former President of the American Society of Civil Engineers/Environmental and Water Resources Association, presented the Diplomate of water resources engineer recognized by AAWRE to Associate Professor Jia Haifeng of SOE. Since 2004, AAWRE started a global scale rigorous nomination, assessment and certification procedures to issue the qualification certificate to engineering experts who have contributed to the field of water resources and water environment. Till now, a total of 600 experts from 20 countries have obtained the diplomate. It is reported that Professor Jia Haifeng was the first expert to obtain this diplomate in China.

Chen Jining, Executive Vice president and Preuss, Vice president of ADB inaugurated for the newly established Asia-Pacific Water Security Research Center. The Asia-Pacific Water Security Research Center was a joint university research institute as well as an open public research and communication platform initiated and founded by the School of Environment in Tsinghua University andSchool of Civil Engineering jointly supported by ADB and Ministry of Finance. It is aimed at improving researchcapability onof the school and the country at large on water environment and water resources. Chen Jining was appointed as director of the center.

Ursula

Chen Jining

Ursula Preuss, Vice President of ADB, made the opening keynote speech. She pointed out that ADB is committed to improving water use efficiency. Currently, many Asian countries, including China, are facing water shortage threats. Water stress has led to lack of irrigation water, leading to food production cuts and the rise in food prices. The increase in energy demand will increase demand for water. Therefore, water security, food security and energy security are closely related. Ursula put forward a number of solutions regarding water security, food security and energy security and urged the parties present to cooperate and share information.

The International Conference on Urban Watershed Management aimed to provide national experts and policy makers with a platform to exchange practical experiences of watershed management. The 1st Conference was held at the University of Virginia in 1997. The 2nd was held at the University of Virginia in 1999 as well. The succeeding meetings were held respectively in Taipei China in 2001, Shenzhen in 2004, Chengdu in 2007, Nanchang in 2009, and Auckland, New Zealand in 2010.