This interdisciplinary environmental and climate Conference was arranged in cooperation with and supported by the Research Council of Norway.
Around 80 persons, out which around 20 Chinese living and working in Norway, attended the Conference. The participants represented the authorities, the Research Council and major research institutions within the environmental and climate field. In addition to the natural sciences the Conference had a broad representation from relevant institutions within social sciences and humanities.
More pictures you find here (courtesy Christian Wilhelm Mohr)
You all contributed through your talks, engagement and participation in the discussions to make the Conference very successful. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for constructive contributions during this event. Special thanks go to the persons Chairing and Reporting from the various parts and session in the program.
The scientific platform for the Conference was the 15 CHINOR-projects presented and discussed in three parallel sessions: Climate modeling, effects and remote sensing; Sources of Greenhouse gasses; Environmental issues. Important research findings and their relevance were presented, as well as the quality and strength of the bilateral cooperation. Experiences and recommendations for future cooperation were highlighted. This part of the program was enveloped by key-note lectures and talks about other major Sino - Norwegian research projects and their experiences from working in China.
The Program and Presentations you find here.
Some findings
The strong engagement by the Norwegian scientists underlined the importance to strengthen the research cooperation within environmental fields of great importance for both China and Norway, as well as globally, where we together have significant insight and expertise.
The Conference demonstrated that valuable contacts have been established with important partners in China. It was also emphasized that the CHINOR research projects had generated new issues needing further investigation and knowledge diffusion, particularly regarding follow-ups towards governance issues, enhancing relevance and facilitating impact of research findings. Cooperation with Chinese scientists offers many advatages, such as the opportunity to study unprecedented environmental changes as well as entry to large resources and data-bases for renewed insight in complex matters. However, in China access to and sharing of data might be a sensitive issue. The Conference also pointed out the need for merging or establishing closer contacts between several of the research groups to work together on larger interdisciplinary projects in order to build on a broader platform of expertise and knowledge. In addition it was also strongly recommended to build on already strong institutional contacts in China, and to utilize the increasing number of Chinese scientists working in Norway as door openers to new contacts in China.
In general the importance of continued and strengthened cooperation was emphasized and that dedicated funds for Sino-Norwegian are necessary in order to make sufficient progress, particularly keeping in mind the cultural differences and that patience and physical presence is needed in order to find the right people, build trust and relationships. Thus longer project periods (5 years) and more continuity in thematic issues was recommended.
Based on the output and reports from the Conference, advices and recommendations about future priorities and profiles of the Sino Norwegian cooperation will be presented in a report to the Research Council.