The Sino-German Workshop on Sustainable Management of Mollisols in China sponsored by the Sino-German Science Promotion Center was successfully held in Harbin during the period from 26 to 31 July, 2014. The workshop was organized by Prof. Bin Zhang, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Rainer Horn, Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. It was co-organized by the Institute of Fertilizer, Environment and Resources, HeilongJiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The workshop was participated by 40 experts from 28 institutions from China, Germany, Switzerland, UK and USA and by more than 80 postgraduate students and young scientists, who came from participating institutes and other institutions in Harbin. Naize Hu, the Secretary of the CPC Committee of our institute also attended the meeting.
At the opening ceremony, Prof. Bin Zhang first introduced the background of the workshop and Prof. Rainer Horn introduced and invited distinguished guests from invited institutions to give opening addresses. The invited speakers were Dr. Karen Schoch, assistant of German director of Sino-German Center, Prof. Minggang Xu, Deputy Director of IARRP-CAAS, Prof. Jinghua Cao, deputy director of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. De Liu, deputy director of Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Schoch also presented the funding programs from the Sino-German Science Promotion Center and cautiously answered the questions from the audients.
There were four sections during the two-day presentations focused on (1) Malfunctions of Mollisols and strategies for sustainable uses; (2) Physical degradation (soil erosion and compaction) and restoration; (3) Soil organic matter loss and sequestration; and (4) Soil microbial diversity change and promotion of microbial functioning. After the presentations, all participants visited the long-term experiments at the Mollisol Experimental Station of Hailun, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Mollisol Museum at the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the demonstration fields of maize and soybean production and the machinery center at the Construction State Farm and some profiles of typical and degraded Mollisols.
Participants discussed the plans and time schedules in relation to scholar exchange, establishment of a cooperation group and application of cooperation group with the supports from NSFC, DFG and CDZ. The IARRP-CAAS signed several memorandum of understanding to develop close research collaboration with several institutes in Germany and UK. Participants discussed and issued the “Declaration of Harbin---for sustainable management of Mollisols in China during agricultural intensification”.
The “Declaration of Harbin” stressed following important points. Inappropriate land use and management has led to degradation of Mollisols, resulting in severe impacts to the capacity of these soils to produce food and provide a buffer for the environment. Restoring Mollisols to previous functions will not only take time, but requires a much greater fundamental understanding of how these unique soils function in order to select and develop optimal soil and crop management practices. The key to the sustainable intensification of agriculture is the efficient use of renewable and non-renewable resources in a balanced way that considers both biophysical and socio-economic issues at different scales from farm field to landscape. The close cooperation among multi-disciplinary teams from both China and other nations will be beneficial to develop new knowledge and innovative tools that will assure the continued productivity of Mollisols. This collaborative effort is backed up by the agreement between EU and China under Horizon 2020 between the Ministry of Agriculture of China and the Ministry of Agriculture of Germany.
集体照（Gather photo）
