A grand challenge facing society is to cope with the increasing threats imposed by both natural and human-induced disasters, such as extreme climate events, resource shortage, energy crisis, environment degradation, damage of the ecological balance and frequently occurred disasters. The disasters arising from floods, droughts, storms, tropical cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, wildfires and other events cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption. To mitigate risks and adapt to environmental changes,
geoscientists are aware of that these problems and promote science for change while improving the socioeconomic prosperity. They seek to determine the impacts of climate change and human activities on water resources, ecosystem services, hazards, livelihoods and welfare, and to develop adaptation pathways toward sustainable development.
The 13th Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) Annual Meeting was held in Beijing, China from July 31st to August 5th 2016. Established in 2003, AOGS aims to promote geosciences and its application for the benefit of humanity, specifically in Asia and Oceania and with an overarching approach to global issues. AOGS holds annual conventions providing a unique opportunity of exchanging scientific knowledge and discussion to address important geo-scientific issues among academia, research institution and public.
Bearing this in mind, the meeting brought together members from AOGS eight sections (Atmospheric Sciences, BioGeosciences, Hyrdological Sciences, Interdisciplinary Geosciences, Ocean Sciences, Planetary Sciences, Solar and Terrestrial Sciences, and Solid Earth Sciences), governments, funding agencies and other stakeholders including media, exhibitors and the general public to develop and study every physical phenomenon on the planet Earth, from the high stratosphere to the Earth’s deep interior.
This year the AOGS Axford Medal was awarded to Prof. GUPTA Harsh (a past AOGS President from 2010 to 2012 and a past IUGG President from 2011 to 2015) for his outstanding achievements in geosciences and his invaluable service in the international and Asian communities and efforts to start up the AOGS activities.
AOGS President Prof. CHAO Benjamin Fong awarded Axford Medal to Prof. GUPTA Harsh (Photo courtesy of AOGS Secretariat)
Distinguished Lectures are considered to be one of the important spotlights of AOGS annual meetings. This year we are grateful to have Prof. QIN Dahe and Prof. GUO Huadong as presenters of the Axford Lectures, and 16 well-known geoscientists as speakers at Section Distinguished Lectures.
AOGS President Prof. Benjamin Fong Chao awarded Axford Lectures to Prof. QIN Dahe (Photo courtesy of AOGS Secretariat)
AOGS President Prof. Benjamin Fong Chao awarded Axford Lectures to Prof. GUO Huadong (Photo courtesy of AOGS Secretariat)
The 13th AOGS Annual Meeting attracted 3053 participants from 48 countries / regions. It was hosted by Chinese National Committee for International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (CNC-IUGG), located at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modelling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Member of the leading Party members' group, Executive Secretary of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) Dr. SHU Wei delivered the welcome address.
Group photo of AOGS and CNC-IUGG leadership in the AOGS Press Conference (Photo courtesy of AOGS Secretariat)
More information please see the AOGS website:
http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2016 / public.asp?page=home.htm
