Ethnobotany and Plant Germplasm Resources   

　　ANNOUNCEMENT 

　　1. Background 

　　Ethnobotany as a scientific term was firstly introduced into the literature by an American botanist, John Harshbergen in 1896, referring to knowledge of the use of plants revealed through research on American Indians. From this start, the scope of the subject has expanded to cover all aspects of human relationships with plants, in relation to the use of plants as sources of food, fiber, medicines and energy, the roles of plants in religious culture, and the dynamic processes involved in farming, forestry and animal husbandry. Over the last hundred years, ethnobotany has greatly helped the world in development of plantation agriculture in the tropics, drawing on the indigenous knowledge and plant resources of indigenous people, especially in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Ethnobotanical research has greatly aided industry to develop new plant-based products in various sectors, for instance those involved with   herbal medicine, beverage, cosmetics, functional food and others. Ethnobiological evidences show that most of genetic resources and majority of industrial plant-based products were discovered from traditional societies and valuable information on utilization of these plants that were extracted from traditional knowledge of indigenous people in different parts of world, in particular Asia, Latin America and Africa. Historical development of ethnobotany has undoubtedly made great contributions to modern agricultural development and natural-resource based industries worldwide. The objective of this symposium and forum is to provide an opportunity for exchange and the sharing of advances and challenges in ethnobotany and plant germplasm conservation and sustainable use for development from all over China and the wider Asia-Pacific Region. With climate change and an increased frequency of associated natural disaster, concern over loss of genetic resources and declines in indigenous knowledge of plant are becoming more urgent issue for humankind. 

　　Six national symposiums have been held in China since 2002. The 1^st National Symposium on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ehtnobotany and Natural Products Development’ was held in Hangzhou in October 2002; the 2^nd National Symposium on Ethnobotany and 1^st Asia-Pacific Forum on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ethnoboatny and Sustainable Use of Plant Resources’ was held in Xishuangbanna in August 2004;  the 3^rd National Symposium on Ethnobotany and 2^nd Asia-Pacific Forum on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants’ was held in Nanjing in November 2006; the 4^th National Symposium on Ethnobotany and 3^rd Asia-Pacific Forum on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ethnobotany and Agricultural Biodiversity’ was held in Urumqi in August 2008; the 5^th National Symposium on Ethnobotany and 4^th Asia-Pacific Forum on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ethnobotany and Traditional Knowledge Conservation’ was held in Beijing in September 2010; the 6^th National Symposium on Ethnobotany and 5^th Asia-Pacific Forum on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ethnobotany and Ethno-Medicine’ was held in Yinchuan in August 2012. Each of these events was attended by over a hundred ethnobotanists from home and abroad. Following the previous successfully experience, the 7^th National Symposium on Ethnobotany and 6^th Asia-Pacific Forum on Ethnobotany with the theme ‘Ethnobotany and Plant Germplasm Resource’will be held in Guilin, Guangxi, China from 20 to 22 October, 2014. We sincerely welcome your participation in this important event, Key information is provided below: 

　　2. Symposium theme and topics 

　　The theme of this symposium and forum is ‘Ethnobotany and Plant Germplasm Resources’ with 6 symposium sub-topics as below: 

　　1)      Ethnobotany and plant germplasm resource investigation and collection 

　　2)      Plant germplasm resources and national development strategy 

　　3)      Plant germplasm resources and traditional knowledge 

　　4)      Eco civilisation reconstruction and community genetic resource conservation 

　　5)      Utilization of genetic resource and Access to Benefit Sharing (ABS) 

　　6)      New development of ethnobotanical resources and utlization 

　　3. Organizers 

　　Symposium Organizer: 

　　Chinese Association of Ethnobotany (CAE)  

　　Symposium Host Institution: 

　　Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) 

　　Guangxi Institute of Botany (GIB), Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences 

　　Special Sponsored by: 

　　Guilin Esquel Textiles Co., Ltd. 

　　Symposium Co-organizations: 

　　Inner Mongolia Normal University 

　　AGA Asia Green-Culture Association 

　　Huaihua University, Hunan Province 

　　Minzu University of China, Beijing 

　　Ethno-ecology Association, Ecological Society of China 

　　Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences 

　　Xinjiang Association of Botany 

　　School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai  

　　East Asia Office, Bioversity International, Beijing 

　　Key Laboratory, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, CAS  

　　Nanjing Institution for the Comprehensive Utilization of Wild Plants 

　　Xinjiang Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ethno Medicine 

　　Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province & Chinese Academy of Sciences 

　　Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Utilization, Jishou University, Hunan 

　　Symposium Organization Committee 

　　Chair: 

　　        Dr. Li Dezhu, Director, KIB, CAS  

　　        Dr. He Chengxin, Director, GIB   

　　Secretary General: 

　　      Dr. Wang Yuhua, Professor, KIB, CAS 

　　Symposium Academic Committee 

　　Chair: 

　　        Prof. Pei Shengji, Professor, KIB, CAS  

　　Co-Chair: 

　　Prof. Zhang Zongwen, Chief Scientist, East Asia Office, Bioversity International 

　　Prof. Zhang Weiming, Director, Nanjing Institution for the Comprehensive Utilization of Wild Plants 

　　Dr. Qin Luping, President, Shanghai Association of Botany 

　　Prof. Pan Borong, President, Xinjiang Association of Botany 

　　Prof. Xue Dayuan, Professor, Minzu University of China 

　　Dr. Long Chunling, Professor, Minzu University of China 

　　Dr. Ha Shibagen, Director, Ethnobotany Institute, Inner Mongolia Normal University 

　　Prof. Yang Yongping, Vice Director, KIB, CAS 

　　Dr. Huai Huyin, Professor, Yangzhou University, Jiangsu Province  

　　4. Papers, Presentation and the Registration 

　　The symposium proceedings will be printed before the symposium, so the whole paper or the abstract for each presentation is required before the symposium, The deadline is September 20, 2014. To promote the exchange of ethnobotanical research, the symposium would provide display boards for participants to present their research or other relevant achievements. Organizations and individuals interested in the exhibition are encouraged to contact symposium secretariat Mr. Yang Zhiwei by email 

　　Registration: Please fill in and return the registration below to Mr. Yang Zhiwei by September 15, 2014 

　　5. Languages and Fee 

　　Chinese and English.  

　　Registration fee is 900CNY (1USD=6.2CNY) for foreign and domestic participants. The registration fee covers conference documents, meals and a field trip, but excluding hotel room fees. The typical cost of a room in a 4-star hotel is about 60-80USD/day. 

　　6. Dates and venue 

　　Dates: October 20-22, 2014 

　　Venue: Guilin City, Guangxi. Guilin is one the most beautiful cities in China located in a warm and moisture low-land area in Central – south China and has a karst landscape scenic beauty in the Lijiang river area. October is good time to visit with the temperature of about 20℃ and comfortable all the day and nigh. According to a popular Chinese saying, “Guilin’s scenery beats all others in the world.” Its shapely-rising limestone towers and crystal-clear waters are often portrayed in Chinese artworks. It is directly accessible by air from all big cities of China nearby cities such as Seoul, Kuala Lumpur etc. 

　　7. Contact Information:  

　　For more information, please contact: 

　　Mr. Yang Zhiwei 

　　Email: zhiwei@mail.kib.ac.cn, Tel/Fax: 0871-65223236 

　　Address: 132# Lanhei Rd, Panlong, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China