From 10 to 13 February 2015 the First Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Conference, and the Fifth PEEX Meeting, was convened in Helsinki, Finland. The event was hosted by the University of Helsinki, with 12 organizations including CAS Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), the Institute for Scientific Research of Aerospace Monitoring, Russia, International Eurasian Academy of Sciences (IEAS), Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS), and Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) as co-hosts. Attended by more than 170 experts from 15 countries including Finland, Russia, China, the United States, Italy, Germany and Norway, the conference aims to build a wider platform for scientists of all countries to carry out cooperative research on regional and global climate change, especially on the sustainable development in the Pan-Eurasian region, so as to make greater contributions to the study of earth system science.
A 5-person Chinese delegation headed by Prof. GUO Huadong, Director-General of RADI, also one of the core members of PEEX, participated in the meeting, at which Prof. Guo delivered a keynote report entitled “Earth Observation for the Environmental Studies on the Silk Road Economic Belt”. Centering on the common problems to be solved in the studies of PEEX and the Silk Road Economic Belt (the “Belt” for short), he stressed the importance of carrying out environmental studies for the Belt, introduced space technology applications in monitoring the earth’s ecological system, land, snow cover, natural & cultural heritage, global environmental change, etc., analyzed from a space-time perspective the potential development opportunities between the Belt and European countries, and proposed that China should strengthen cooperation with Russia and Europe in this area so as to better serve the PEEX program and the development of the Belt.
Through discussions by the Chinese, Finnish and Russian sides, the three core members of PEEX, it was decided that the Second PEEX Science Conference / the Sixth PEEX Meeting be hosted by RADI and held in Beijing from 18 to 20 May 2016.
At the conference Valery G. Bondur, on behalf of the IEAS Presidium, awarded the IEAS Gold Medal to Prof. Guo Huadong in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements and significant contributions to the PEEX program.
Established according to a joint initiative of several Finnish, Russian and Chinese research institutions, PEEX is a multidisciplinary research program aiming at studying the major scientific problems faced by the people of the Pan-Eurasian region in seeking sustainable development. Its main vision is to overcome global challenges confronted by the human society in the context of global climate change and economic globalization, thoroughly study the problems of climate change, air quality, bio-diversity, food and energy security, etc., and better understand, through integrated multidisciplinary research, the importance of the region in the study of earth system science.
