The Shenzhen Forum on Environment and Development took place on April 24th 2017, co-organized by SUSTech, the Shenzhen Habitat Environment Committee and the Shenzhen Municipal Water Affairs Bureau. The event was hosted in the Shenzhen Qilin Hill area, which is a symbolic location due to its environmental importance in the region.

Scene from the forum

Among the local government officials and experts present at the forum were:

- Chairman of the Shenzhen Municipal Water Affairs Bureau Zhang Hu

- Chairwoman of the SUSTech University Council Guo Yurong

- Director of the Shenzhen Habitat Environment Committee Liu Chuhan

- Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party Qiu Xuan

- Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Water Affairs Bureau Wang Lixin and Deputy Director Gong Limin

- Director of the Special Office of the Water Specialist Yu Jun

- 18 academicians from the United States Academy of Engineering, the British Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences

- more than 30 large company and major environmental protection business representatives

- SUSTech's Dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering

In total, more than 200 people attended the forum which was presided over by SUSTech's Dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering Zheng Chunmiao.

Professor Zheng Chunmiao

Zhang Hu speech

On behalf of the municipal government, Party secretary Wang Wei welcomed the guests to the forum, saying that environmentally-friendly development is the worldwide trend today. As a national model of ecological construction and development, the city of Shenzhen firmly established a green development concept, claiming that the quality of leadership, the focus on innovation, the environmental protection and the economic development are all equally important for the city's sustainable growth. He went on to say that he hoped the ecological construction specialists, especially the water environment governance, will work together to build a more beautiful and sustainable city.

Guo Yurong's speech

Guo Yurong then took to the stage as one of the organizers of the forum to welcome the leaders, academicians, experts and business representatives who attended. She said SUSTech's School of Environmental Science and Engineering was established two years ago with the goal of bringing together the brightest students to work on national environmental protection projects and lead research. The whole world is facing the common issue of protecting the environment, and they need to face it together to find solutions. She went on to say that she hoped the forum would grow to have an international influence, because such a convergence of scientific research and the building of relationships across different sectors will spark the innovation that is needed for progressing in environmental protection in Shenzhen and the country.

Yu Jun speech

Yu Jun, a representative of the National Science and Technology Division of the Department of Environmental Protection Standards congratulated the forum's organizers, and stated that environmental protection must focus on improving the quality of the environment at the core.

Shenzhen is China's experimenting ground in this sector, and there is a need to strengthen environmental scientific research to lead the way to new reforms. The forum will give the city the necessary tools and means to open new doors in environmental protection, and experts, scholars and government managers will use this platform to work together on practical solutions to the challenges we face.

The "Shenzhen City Environment and Development Alliance" was formed at the forum

The forum was an opportunity to announce the founding of the "Shenzhen Municipal Environment and Development Alliance" group which includes SUSTech, Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other well-known universities, research institutions and environmental companies. The idea is to bring together world experts and leaders in a think-tank which and world-class environmental research center.

(from left to right):

- Professor Mary Anderson of the University of Wisconsin and the American Academy of Engineering,

- Professor Qu Jiuhui of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,

- Professor David Lerner of the University of Sheffield and the Royal Academy of Engineering,

- Dr. Wang Lixin, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Water Affairs Bureau

The forum also held a roundtable discussion on the scientific and technological innovations on the themes of "Water Environment Governance" and "New Opportunities for Global Environmental Protection Industry", which brought up discussions about the scientific frontier and disruptive technologies of environmental governance, the lessons learned from international experience, the "environmental protection opportunities under the development strategy" and the challenges of water and environment development in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay.

Edited by: Jeremy Welburn