Tilling Towards Cleaner Soil: Green Drinks August Forum

23 Aug

Tilling Towards Cleaner Soil: Green Drinks August Forum

23-08-2016 18:30 - 21:00
XNODE@JingAn, Shanghai

Rapid industrialization has positively impacted many people, but it has also severely effected the environment in a negative way. A study released in 2013 by the Environmental Protection Ministry suggests that almost 20% of China's arable land is polluted with chemicals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic. A major contributing factor to this is wastewater, which contains mining sludge, toxic solvents and metals that drains into the soil and irrigation systems.

Unfortunately, contaminated agricultural soil produces contaminated crops. In 2013, a test in Guangzhou revealed that nearly 50% of the rice tested was tainted with cadmium, which increases chances of kidney failure and cancer. The rice came from Hunan, a top producer of rice in China, but also home to major mining operations.

Although the government is working hard to ensure contaminated food items do not enter the market, soil contamination continues to be an issue we face that takes decades to recover from. Fortunately, there has been an increasing amount of technological advancements available to speed up this process.

Some questions we would be looking to answer through this forum are:

What are the sources of soil pollution, how severe is the issue and who is responsible?
What actions have the government taken to improve the situation? Why is this problem so hard to overcome?
What can we do to help prevent the situation from worsening?
What are some available technologies globally and locally to improve soil conditions?
Are there organic and natural methods to recover the soil to their original, natural state?

Note: There will be an entrance fee of ¥30 for all registered guests, that includes juice and beer. ¥50 for non-registered guests. Free entrance for students and interns, with PRIOR REGISTRATION (else ¥30).

Event Itinerary

18.30 – 19.15: Registration and networking
19.15 – 20.00: Speaker Presentations
20.00 – 20.30: Q&A session open to the audience
20:30 – 21:00: Drinks and networking

Speakers

Veronica Yow, Manager Sustainable Markets and Finance team, RARE
Subject: A large number of research showed that organic agriculture can improve soil physiochemical properties, soil environment, nutrient cycle, and increases soil fertility. Rare and its partners help communities adopt organic farming practices with technical support and local pride.
Background: Veronica Yow is a Manager in the Sustainable Markets and Finance team at RARE. Prior to that, Veronica was a Chartered Accountant in Australia. She subsequently joined PwC Egypt's Corporate Responsibility team supporting young entrepreneurs to build sustainable green startups. Veronica also worked for a mobile technology for development startup in Uganda and holds an MS in Sustainability Management from American University in Washington DC. RARE's goal is to increase the income of farmers, health of consumers, and the sustainability of agriculture in China. RARE is an environmental conservation NGO which inspires change so people and nature thrive.

Ting Chen, Communications Director, Shanghai Roots & Shoots
Subject: Planting trees in desertified and degraded area not only sequester carbon from the air, but also a good approach to restored the disturbed ecosystem. Shanghai Roots & Shoots started the Million Tree Project about 10 years ago and now what they have observed in Inner Mongolia is encouraging.
Background: Ting Chen used to be the director of Million Tree Project, overseeing the program’s implementation in Inner Mongolia. Graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, she is also keen on environmental topics. She used to be a volunteer of Shanghai Roots & Shoots and later became a full time staff, in order to get more invovled in the environmental education. In the past five years, she has been travelling between Shanghai and Inner Mongolia for many times and has gained lots of field experience there.

Lie Ma, President, Greenment Environment
Subject: Soil contamination and remediation in China
Background: Ma Lie is Founder and President of Greenment Environment with nearly 25 years experience in environmental engineering and management consulting. Prior to the establishment of Greenment Environment, Mr. Ma had worked as Vice President/China Country Manager for CH2M and Director of Corporate Risk Management for ERM China. As a pioneer in the field contaminated land management in China, Mr. Ma has been involved in many of major remediation projects in China. Mr. Ma is a member of contaminated site management expert panel of Shanghai Government. Ma Lie obtained BS degree in Environmental Engineer from Tongji University and MBA degree from CEIBS.