Oct. 22, 2015: U.S.-China EcoPartnership for Environmental Sustainability Conference

Rapid growth in human population, changing consumption patterns, and climate change are intensifying pressures on the Earth’s “Critical Zone” (CZ), the thin surface layer from the top of vegetation to the bottom of aquifers, especially in emerging economies such as China.

The 2015 Joint Annual Symposium of the US-China EcoPartnership for Environmental Sustainability (USCEES) and the China-US Joint Research Center for Ecosystem and Environmental Change (JRCEEC) will bring together and leverage the bi-national research communities and strengths of these two organizations, as well as members of the US Critical Zone Observatories (US-CZO) network, to address key aspects of CZ function and the threats to its sustainable use brought on by changing climate, increases in urbanization and population, and increased pressures for resource extraction.

This conference represents an ideal opportunity to address global challenges to critical zone function, and to identify and discuss common questions and supporting measures to facilitate networked critical zone research with specific focus on systems in the US and China.