From October 17 to 20, the 3rd International Symposium on land reclamation and ecological restoration was successfully held in Xuzhou in the form of "Online + offline". The seminar closely focused on the theme of "building mining areas as beautiful homes", hosted by China Coal Society and China University of Mining and Technology.

The conference was presided over by Hu Zhenqi, chairman of the professional committee of land reclamation and ecological restoration of China Coal Society and professor of China University of mining and technology. More than 400 Chinese and foreign experts from more than 10 countries and regions such as the United States, Britain, Russia, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, Greece, Iran, India, Spain, Peru and Poland attended the forum.

The opening ceremony

Professor Hu Zhenqi presided over the conference

The conference held 12 invited reports. Academician Peng Suping gave a report entitled "Key technologies and comprehensive application mode of ecological restoration in coal mining areas of the Yellow River Basin". Professor Robert G. darmody gave a report entitled "Reclamation Science in the USA: past and future", and Academician Yuan Liang gave a report entitled "Resource utilization and ecological restoration of abandoned mines". Professor Jeff Skousen gave a report entitled "Origin of passive treatment systems – early discoveries and development". Academician Wang Yunmin gave a report entitled "Environmental geotechnical problems and ecological restoration technology of metal mines". Academician Wu Qiang gave a report entitled "Mine environmental problems". Academician Wang Shuangming gave a report entitled “Coal mining and ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin “. Academician Xue Yong gave a report entitled "Remote sensing monitoring of air pollution in mining urban clusters". Professor Anna krzyszowska waitkus gave a report entitled "Sustainable reclamation practices for large surface coal mines (semi environment, USA)", and Professor Jim Harris gave a report entitled "Ecological restoration: the importance of soil, time and scale". Professor Bian Zhengfu made a report entitled "the role of mine ecological restoration in regional transition development after resources completed", and Professor yoginder P. Chugh and Brenda K. schladweiler made a report entitled "Comprehensive and concurrent reclamation practices for mine closure for sustainable and responsible mining". All the reports has won unanimous praise and warm response from scholars at home and abroad.

There were five sub venues in the conference, and 49 reports were made on the themes of "mine ecosystem and biodiversity", "monitoring and evaluation of land ecological environment in mining area", "ecological restoration of mining subsidence and open-pit mine", "supervision and evaluation of reclaimed land quality" and "cases of mine land reclamation and ecological restoration".

Many foreign experts overcame the difficulty of jet lag, insisted on attending meetings and communicate with Chinese scholars and students online. Some also spoke highly of the meeting through email.

The conference held a forum for future scholars (postgraduates) at the same time, which received positive responses from more than 200 postgraduates from more than 20 universities across the country, and received 86 abstracts and full texts. The conference organized special albums in four magazines: International Journal of Coal Science & technology, Journal of Engineering Science, Coal Science and Technology and China Coal to report the research results of participating scholars.