The Ninth Cross-Strait Symposium on Constructed Wetland was held in Shenzhen during December 26 and 31, 2018. 

The Ninth Cross-Strait Symposium on Constructed Wetland was held in Shenzhen during December 26 and 31, 2018. The meeting was jointly organized by Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sun-Yat Sen University in Taiwan, Department of Textile and Environmental Engineering under Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and Taiwan Wetland Society. More than 200 experts and officials attended the symposium.    

For the first time, the symposium was jointly held by relevant units from Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. These included City University of Hong Kong and University of Macau, besides several universities, government divisions and enterprises in Chinese Mainland.    

The opening ceremony was chaired by IHB’s deputy director Prof. HU Wei. IHB’s deputy director Prof. YIN Zhan (presiding) gave a welcome speech. People who addressed at the symposium included Huang Tieqing, deputy director general of the CAS Bureau of Major R&D Program; Yang Lei, director of the Water Resources Center at Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan); WANG Xiaowen, director of the Division Office of CAE Department of Textile and Environmental Engineering.   

The theme of the symposium is “Science and Technology Cooperation of Constructed Wetlands and Urban Agglomeration Construction in Four Regions across the Straits”. Academician HOU Li'an, deputy director of the Department of Environment and Textile Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), chaired the Academician & Expert Forum. CAE academician YANG Zhifeng, CAE academician ZHANG Si, Lin Xingzhu (Taiwan Wetland Society), Professor M Y Lee (University of Macau), and IHB Professor WU Zhenbin gave keynote speeches at the symposium, respectively.    

Their presentations entitled "Estuarine ecological water demand and system restoration under the coordination of land and sea ", "Land-Sea Interaction and Ecological Safety in Dawan District of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau", "Mangrove management with the goal of optimizing ecosystem services", "Investigation on biodiversity and chemical profiling of endophytes from the Macau mangrove", "Research and application of China's constructed wetland – the status of Shenzhen". There were more than 40 conference reports, and more than 50 papers and posters presented at the symposium.   

The discussion session before the closing ceremony was co-chaired by Academician CAO Wenxuan, Academician MAO Zhi, Prof. Yang Lei and Prof. WU Zhenbin. All the attendees discussed on issues related to the prospects and challenges of the constructed wetland technologies. The organizing committee also determined the date and location for the next symposium. Academician YANG Zhifeng gave a closing remark at the end of the meeting.   

During the symposium, attendees investigated the largest vertical flow constructed wetlands in China and the world. 

Since 2008, the Cross-Strait Symposium on Constructed Wetland initiated and organized by Prof. WU Zhenbin and Prof. YANG Lei has been held eight times in Wuhan, Kaohsiung, Haikou, Taipei, Yichang, Hangzhou, Chiayi, Yinchuan, respectively. It has served as an increasingly mature and diversified platform for the cross-strait experts and technical managers through conversation, investigation, staff exchange and other various forms. The experts and representatives communicated with each other, exchanged ideas and promoted friendship, and gained dozens of cross-strait exchange cooperation and fruitful achievement.