Publish time: Fri Apr 09 00:00:00 CST 2010
The three-day 2010 Water & Future Conference was successfully held at the International Conference Hall of Beijing Arbitration Commission (“BAC”) from Mar. 29 to 31, 2010, and the theme of the Conference is “Water and Action”. The Conference is the 3rd one of its kind after the “Saving Water for Beijing’s Future” Forum in March 2008 and the appreciative inquiry themed “Water and Behavior” in March 2009. The Conference was jointly sponsored by Pepperdine University (USA) and Beijing Water Source Conservation Foundation and got the vigorous support of BAC; Secretary General WANG Hongsong of BAC delivered a welcome speech.
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| The Organizing Committee of the Conference is meeting all participants | Secretary General WANG Hongsong is delivering a speech |
Ms. Audrey Sloofman from the George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management of Pepperdine University presided over the Conference; she expressed her welcome to the participants from all walks and especially expressed her appreciation of the cooperation between BAC and the joint sponsors. Then, Dr. Ann Feyerherm, who is also from Pepperdine University and is responsible for the Campaign, explained the reasons why Pepperdine University chose the water resource conservation in Beijing as the theme for the cooperation.
Secretary General WANG Hongsong expressed her thanks and respect to the participants on behalf of BAC. She denoted in her speech: the theme of the Conference has extraordinary meanings; the spirit and behaviors of so many volunteers who spend their time, energy and money on such a meaningful course are respectable; the Conference not only researches the existing problems, but also works out the solutions for these problems, takes actions and achieves good results, which is rare and commendable; Pepperdine University goes over a long distance to China to sponsor and support the water conservation in China, which is a greatly moving undertaking! BAC is an institution with the sense of social responsibility, it has a good cooperation relationship with Pepperdine University and is willing to contribute its efforts to the water conservation course in China; BAC wishes the Conference a complete success.
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| Partners of the Project Team from Pepperdine University | Conference participants |
The Conference adopted the “2+1” mode for the design of activities and designed five projects related to “Water and Action” in advance; in the first two days, the participants chose the project they are interested in to form the project teams, then made the learning, design, exchange and improvement by means of “action learning”, and finally formed the feasible project implementation plans; on the third day, guests from all walks of society who are concerned about “Water and Action” participated jointly to share the latest development related to water resource in their respective fields. In the Conference, representatives from multiple parties, such as the governments, NGOs, nongovernmental organizations, enterprises and media, got together to put forward their questions and discuss the plans, so as to contribute their ideas to the global water environment issue.
A highlight of the Conference is the concept of “action learning” brought by Pepperdine University; that is, in the process of project design, the group reaches a consensus through open discussion, then examines whether there is any problem in the goal for each step and the setting of points of time as a observer, thus continuously promoting a project from an initial idea to gradually develop into one after another vivid points of time with an attitude of reflective thinking.
In the report stage of the Conference, the representatives from the governments introduced the status quo of the water resource in Beijing and emphasized the great shortage of the water resource. Beijing has suffered great drought for 11 consecutive years since 1999 and has to transfer water from the neighboring provinces and cities, and it extracts 0.5-0.6 billion m3 underground water exceeding the limit every year. The best measure at present is to strengthen the water conservation consciousness of the people. Photographer ZHOU Yu and Ms. WANG Yongchen from the media displayed a series of changes in the rivers of China over the years through photos. The friends from the enterprises and the legal community and the academic circles also made foresighted appeals, calling on the people to “realize the unity of heaven and human beings and learn the logic of the nature”.
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| Group discussion | Complete success |
The Conference proposed six action plans in the last, after the selection of contributors, four of them got the initiation fund and will contribute to the water resource conservation in Beijing. Through diversified communication manners, the participants sufficiently listened to the topics they are interested in, expressed their ideas and exchanged opinions with others. The success of the Conference embodies the concern of all social walks to the environmental protection course, especially to the water resource issue. It is believed that the “future water world” for us to live in will be much more beautiful with the joint efforts of all social walks!