15th World Fertilizer Congress

The topic selected for the 15th World Fertilizer Congress, organized in 2010 in Bucharest, Romania, was “Meeting the Fertilizer Demand on a Changing Globe: Biofuels, Climatchange and Contaminants”, with the main objectives to find the rational and efficient way to produce more and better food, fodder, fiber, biofuels, in a environment dominated by global climate changes, as a actual and attractive theme for the scientists from all over the world, working in the area of soil science, agronomy, fertilizer production, marketing, utilization and environmental preservation.
At the closing ceremony of the Bucharest 15th World Fertilizer Congress, Cristian Hera transferred CIEC Presidency to Prof. Ewald SCHNUG, who has been Deputy President of CIEC since 1966 and one of the most efficient members of the CIEC Presidium since his election.
The first action of the new CIEC President was to decorate Prof. Cristian Hera as Honorary President of CIEC. The two allies started a structural adaptation of CIEC to the modern science community and streamlined the portfolio of CIEC with regard to contents to future developments in the field of fertilization. The revitalization of CIEC went along with the election of the CIEC Presidium and appointment of the following scientists as Vice Presidents at the inaugural meeting in May 2011 in Goslar, Germany:
Prof. Zhengyi Hu (GUCAS, Beijing, China)
Prof. Francesco Montemurro (CRA-­‐SSC, Metaponto, Italy) Prof. Gerold Rahmann (Thünen Institut, Trenthorst, Germany) Nils Vagstad (Bioforsk, Aas, Norway)
Prof. Markku Yli-­‐Halla (Helsinki University, Finland)
In addition, Prof. Silvia Haneklaus (Julius-­‐Kühn Institut, Braunschweig, Germany) and Prof. Bettina Eichler-­‐Löbermann (Rostock University, Germany) were elected as secretary general and deputy secretary general, respectively.
The 19th Symposium of CIEC was originally planned to be held in Mexico, but the plan had to be aborted because of unforeseeable financial problems in the host institution. Instead it was held in Goslar and was mainly dedicated to CIEC internal issues. During the 2011 Goslar meeting the issue of CIEC´s statutes was raised again and a new draft prepared by Francesco Montemurro (ITA) was ratified by the participants of the assembly. According to this draft CIEC finally became a think tank with membership on invitation only and without operative financial action. The 2011 Goslar meeting decided also to revise these statutes after another 10 years. Two years later Luit J. De Kok from Groningen (NLD) became the first new member in the CIEC Presidium, with duties in publication and internet presence of CIEC.During the 19th Symposium in Goslar in 2011 a generation shift took place and the Presidium of CIEC was completely re-organized to the structure close to the one it has today: the Vice-Presidents from fertilizer industry near NGO´s  were dismissed, also the  liaison-officer for the fertilizer industry. Fishing for members by a vice-President for membership was no longer on CIEC´s to do list. 
The first sympyoium organized by the new consortium together with Prof. Elio Jeminiz from Santa Clara University, Cuba was dedicated to “Urban Agriculture”. The symposium too place in Cayo Santa Maria(圣玛利亚岛), Cuba in April 2012. Due to rising food demand in the fast growing cities on the one hand side and the decreasing soil fertility and land lost to housing in the surrounding areas on the other hand urban agriculture gained importance. Cuba  is one of the leading countries in urban agriculture It was one more event challenging CIEC´s core mission which is promoting the vital role of knowledge in fertilizers and fertilization for the welfare of mankind: in a country where as a reason of multiple and inhuman trade embargos the knowledge on how to feed people through feeding plants and closing nutrient cycles is a key issue of community survival and humanity. 
In August 2013, CIEC was organizing partner of the prestigious conference series “A Greener Agriculture for a Bluer Baltic Sea – Visions for Nutrient Management” which took place in Helsinki(赫尔辛基), Finland. About 250 participants from politics, science and practical farming presented their analyses, perspectives and future visions for agriculture in the Baltic countries, all of them aiming to reduce nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea. Besides individual measures on farm level and the promotion of innovative ideas, scientists emphasized the need for systematic changes in food production. This includes a more efficient recycling of nutrients, reduction of nutrient losses associated with fertilization, breeding and selection of more nutrient efficient crop varieties and the reduction of meat, egg and dairy consumption.

However, in 2013 there was yet another event of highest significance for the future of CIEC: 20 years after their first contact Lanzhu Ji, together with Yuanling Shi and Jie Li visited Silvia Haneklaus and Ewald Schnug at JKI in Braunschweig in order to evaluate possibilities of co-operation in the field of stabilized nitrogen fertilizers and the possibility of having CIEC activities in China. Two years later a delegation lead by Lanzhu Ji met Ewald Schnug in Germany again. During this meeting the idea of founding a new national Branch of CIEC was born: CIEC-ASIA.


Download attachments: