Topic Release

Ecosystem Restoration &

Human Health

Circular Economy

Green City

Climate Change

Jointly hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and Tongji University, ISECS has been successfully held for nine sessions since 2011, with the support of the Agricultural Bank of China.

Beijing Green future environment foundation and Xinhua News Agency. The conference links global academia, enterprises, international organizations and NGOs to promote innovation and environmental protection with youth. 

Registration time: 

6 April 2021 to 20 May, 2021 (for competitor)

20 May 2021 to 6 June 2021 (for observer)

Scan for the observer registration

Human Health

We are now facing more and more challenges linked to ecosystem degradation caused by poverty, climate change, unsustainable use of ecosystem services by human beings. This in turn has been influencing human health in numerous ways. Some existing health threats will intensify and new health threats will emerge. 

Questions:

Ø What is the nexus between ecological restoration and human health?

Ø What kind of behavioral changes are needed to achieve health benefits from ecological restoration?

Ø What measures can be put in place to encourage long-term investments in ecological restoration-related infrastructure projects?

Ø What key indicators can be assessed when addressing the interlinkages ecological restoration and human health?

Ø How do we prepare for uncertainty caused by pandemics such COVID-19 on the human health when planning ecological restoration projects at the local, regional and global scale? 

**Your proposed solution should focus on the issue but not limited to the sample questions. **

Circular Economy

Circular economy would be a key contributor to decarbonization, aiming to keep the resources, and in many cases emissions in the economic value chain loop. We would like to zoom in to look at a product’s economic value chain and challenge the students to come up with ways to improve the circularity of a commercial product, from different steps of its value chain.

Questions:

Ø What are the challenges of circular economy?

Ø Can the principles of circular economy lead the future towards ecosystem restoration?

Ø What practicable circular economy models are available for the restoration ecosystems at various national, regional and global scales?

Ø What synergies exist between ecosystem restoration approaches and circular economy models?

Ø How do we prepare for uncertainty caused by pandemics such COVID-19 on the economy when planning ecological restoration projects at the local, regional and global scale?

**Your proposed solution should focus on the issue but not limited to the sample questions. **

Green City

One of the most pressing social challenges is the ongoing global process of urbanization, resulting in the degradation of urban ecosystem services and the loss of certain benefits to residents generated by urban nature. 

Questions:

Ø What qualifies as a green city and what measures can be put in place to make a city one?

Ø To what extent can investments in green cities bring benefits to society and human wellbeing?

Ø To what extent can investments in green cities contribute to maintenance of biodiversity, and development of more resilient urban areas?

Ø How far should a city's zero-carbon policy cast its net to achieve green city status?

Ø How do we prepare for uncertainty caused by pandemics such COVID-19 on green cities when planning ecological restoration projects at the local, regional and global scale?

**Your proposed solution should focus on the issue but not limited to the sample questions. **

Climate Change

There is an increasing consensus that there is a change in the global climate and that these potential changes in climate are likely to have important regional consequences for biota and ecosystems. A key attribute of ecosystems required to ensure resilience and adaptability is that of genetic diversity among and within species.

Questions:

Ø What is the relationship between climate change and ecosystem restoration?

Ø What are some of the ecological strategies for mitigating climate change?

Ø What are the existing ecosystem restoration methods?

Ø What comparable factors need to be considered in new ecological restoration methods?

Ø How do we prepare for uncertainty caused by pandemics such COVID-19 on climate change when planning ecological restoration projects at the local, regional and global scale?

**Your proposed solution should focus on the issue but not limited to the sample questions. **

Guidlines

About the schedule

The registration for competition will be closed on 12:00PM 20 May 2021 (GMT+8). Topics and competing teams will be announced on ISCES website. Registered teams should carry out sufficient preliminary research preparations, including but not limited to field research, field investigation, model building, etc.

On the afternoon of 6 June 2021 (GMT+8), each team will have maximum 15 minutes to present, including no more than 7 minutes of showing the presentation video(the language of the speech is English and the work document shall be within 100MB) and 5-8 minutes of interaction with judges, guests and online observers.（The work document shall be within 100MB）

All teams need to login the registration system (https://isces.tongji.edu.cn/)and confirm their participation between 12:00PM 24 May to 12:00PM 26 May (GMT+8), and send their solution presentation before 12:00PM 1 June 2021 (GMT+8). The organizing committee will select and inform the finalist for competition through email before 8:00PM 3 June 2021 (GMT+8). 

Participating teams will be divided into 4 parallel sessions (topics). The presentation of each team will be randomly drawn. Each parallel session will set up a number of judges to score the reports of each team and the performance of Q&A session. The judging committee will be announced online in advance. 

All registered team members and observers have the right to vote for the most popular team during the competition. The competition follows the one-person-one-vote principle, that is, each person can vote for only one team.

PRIZE!

(1) First Prize (champion team)

(2) Second Prize

(3) Third Prize for EACH parallel session respectively

The team awards will be selected based on the judges’ scores. Among them, the champion team will receive a reward of 10,000 RMB in cash, the second prize team will receive a reward of 6,000 RMB, and the third prize team will receive a reward of 4,000 RMB.

For details, please visit the official website：

https://unep-iesd.tongji.edu.cn/iesden/wboutwthewwonference/list.htm