WASER

As 2019 comes to an end, the Officers and Council Members of WASER would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support for the Association and wish all members a happy and prosperous New Year for 2020.

2019 has been a busy year for WASER, the various activities of the Association during the last year are summarized as follows:

1. WASER sponsored the 14th International Symposium on River Sedimentation (14th ISRS) held in Chengdu, China from September 16-19, 2019. More than 400 participants from over 25 countries and regions attended the Symposium. The President of WASER Prof. Zhaoyin Wang and the Secretary General of WASER Prof. Guangquan Liu delivered speeches on behalf of WASER and IRTCES, respectively, in the Opening Ceremony. Prof. Zhaoyin Wang chaired the Closing Ceremony, and Prof. Guangquan Liu announced that the venue of the 15th ISRS in 2020 would be Florence, Italy.

2. The Sixth Council Meeting of WASER was held in Chengdu, China on September 16, 2019. The Council Meeting was attended by 15 members, representing both the Fifth Council and the newly elected Sixth Council, as well as several observers. The meeting received the result of the poll for the election of members of the WASER Council for 2019-2022, and noted additional Council members, including the Co-opted Members and the Ex-officio Members. The meeting also formally noted the award of the International Qian Ning Prize for 2019 and the 2019 Awards for Distinguished Contributions to Sediment Research, representing the best papers published in the International Journal of Sediment Research (IJSR) between 2016 and 2018. Issues related to the future development of the Association, changes to the statutes, recruiting of members, revised membership dues, the IJSR impact factor and the co-sponsoring of international conferences were also discussed.

3. The Sixth WASER Assembly was held during the 14th International Symposium on River Sedimentation (14th ISRS) in Chengdu, China on September 19, 2019. The Executive Secretary General, Prof. Cheng Liu chaired the Assembly. The President, Prof. Zhaoyin Wang delivered a speech. Awards including the International Qian Ning Prize for 2019 and the 2019 Distinguished Contributions to Sediment Research Awards, awarded for the best papers published in IJSR during the period 2016-2018, were announced at the Assembly.

3. WASER co-organized the International Workshop on RESCON 2 and Numerical Modelling for Assessment of Sediment Management Alternatives held on September 17 in Chengdu, China. Over 40 participants from USA, UK, Japan, Portugal and China attended the workshop. Speeches and lectures were delivered by Prof. Cheng Liu, IRTCES; Dr. Pravin Karki, Global Lead hydropower & Dams, World Bank; Prof. Gregory L. Morris, Independent Consultant, World Bank; Dr. Nikolaos Efthymiou, Independent Consultant, World Bank; and Prof. Helmut Habersack, UNESCO Chair in Integrated River Research and Engineering, BOKU.

4. Due to a significant increase in the quantity and quality of manuscript submissions, the International Journal of Sediment Research changed from being a quarterly journal to a bimonthly journal in 2019. The 2019 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) were released by Clarivate Analytics in June. The International Journal of Sediment Research Journal Impact Factor for 2018 is 1.970.

5. WASER Co-organized a Session on ‘Sediment Transport and Geo-hazard Mitigation’ during the International Conference on Silk-roads Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development which was held on May 11-12, 2019 in Beijing, China, to promote international cooperation and collaboration on hazard mitigation and sustainable development in countries along the Silk Roads. Experts from Canada, Italy, United Kingdom and China attended the session and shared their views and research progress related to the session theme.

6. WASER Presidents contributed to UNESCO publications on river control strategies and global hotspots of contemporary erosion and sediment flux. The UNESCO-ISI publication entitled “Controlling the Yellow River: 2000 years of debate on control strategies” authored by Prof. Zhaoyin Wang and Prof. Cheng Liu is available online in the UNESCO Digital Library (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/). This new ISI publication reviews 2000 years of debate on the relative merits of two very different strategies for controlling the Yellow River, i.e. the “wide river and depositing sediment” strategy and the “narrow river and scouring sediment” strategy. Lessons learned from the past can not only help to clarify the historical origins of the modern Yellow River control strategy, but also shed light on the future management of the Yellow River and other river systems around the world. The UNESCO-ISI publication entitled “Erosion and sediment problems: global hotspots” co-authored by Prof. Valentin Golosov and Prof. Desmond E. Walling is available online in the UNESCO Digital Library (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/). This ISI publication provides a global perspective on contemporary erosion rates and sediment fluxes and the impact of global change, with particular emphasis on the problems posed by erosion and sediment transport for the sustainable management of the Earth system and for society more generally.

(by Cheng Liu)