Minutes of the 6 Conference of EAP-ILTER
21-23 March, 2006
Kyoto, Japan
The 6th Conference of East Asia and Pacific Regional Network of ILTER (EAP-ILTER) took place in Kyoto, Japan on 21-23 March, 2006. The meeting was co-organized by Japanese Ecosystem Research Network (JERN) and the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Japan. It brought together more than 50 representatives and scholars from the official and candidate members of EAP. Drs. Hen Biau-king and Holly Kaufman from ILTER were also invited to attend this meeting.
Toshitaka Hidaka, president of RIHN and Tohru Nakashizuka from JERN opened the meeting by extending a warm welcome to the participants on behalf of the organizer. Their speeches were followed by the progress reports of Hen Biau-king, Zhao Shidong and Holly Kaufman on ILTER, EAP-LTER and the strategic planning process of ILTER respectively. Later, representatives from each member network shared the progress and challenges on LTER with the participants. The afternoon session was divided into several groups, including cross-site studies on ecosystem functions and biodiversity, education program and technical workshop in EAP. A poster session was also held during the day, in which 24 posters were presented.
The second day focused on the presentation of information management and business meeting of the regional network，particularly on the work plan, the next conference and strategic planning process. It was finally agreed that:
1. The EAP-ILTER has made much progress over the past two years, known as a most active and fruitful one among ILTER regional networks. But more efforts, including cross-site joint study, need to be done for it to meet the goal and vision of ILTER.
2. Network information management system (IMS) is integral to the development of LTER networks and plays a crucial role to enhance the data sharing and collaborative research in the region. In such context, the development of a regional IMS is given top priority for EAP-ILTER in the near future.
3. The strategic planning process for ILTER Network is being implemented under the leadership of Dr. Kaufman, which will benefit the whole ILTER community. Therefore, all the members of EAP-ILTER should be actively involved in the process.
Decisions were also made on the following issues:
1. The 7th Conference of EAP-ILTER will take place in Bangkok, Thailand in November, 2008, including a field visit to the experimental site near Chiang Mai. Thailand LTER program, the organizer of the meeting, will cover the local accommodation and transportation costs during the meeting, but not the international travel fares for the participants.
2. As part of the Second International Workshop on Information Management System for Ecological Networks, another training workshop will be hosted by CERN in August, 2006 in Beijing, China for the Chinese researchers and information managers to learn how to use EML tools, with the facilitators from TERN and US LTER.
3. In order to promote the information management in our region, The Working Group of Information Management of ILTER-EAP will be formulated. Dr. Chau-Chin Lin will serve as the Chair of this working group, and its members will come from all of the member networks. Therefore, the chair of each network should recommend one or two scientist or information management expert as the member of the working group and send their C.V. with the related information for communication to Dr. Lin before April 10, 2006.
4. The Third International Workshop on Information Management System for Ecological Networks will be held by KLTER in Seoul or Jeju Island, Korea in 2007, which will focus on the collaborative research and the development of a regional IMS.
A field visit was arranged to Kiryu Experimental Watershed and Lake Biwa Museum after the meeting.
The conference came to a successful conclusion.
Appendix 3: Group Photos