From December 01st-03rd, an online training series on the management of soil pollution was successfully co-organized by the Sino-German Environmental Partnership Project (SGEP) and the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center (FECO) of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

Participants were mainly policymakers and researchers working on soil pollution prevention and control, coming from the Department of Soil Ecology and Environment of MEE, the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, FECO, the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences as well as the Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment.

Dr. Bernd M. Bussian, an environmental consultant who previously worked for the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA), shared knowledge and experience on soil monitoring and surveys in Germany during the first day’s training sessions. The focus during the sessions on day two was on soil pollution source prevention and control in German industrial and mining enterprises, presented by Mr. Bernhard Schenk, an Environmental Engineer with 30 years of experience in the sectors of solid waste management as well as investigation and rehabilitation of contaminated sites. During the third day, Mr. Schenk explained the soil acidification and heavy metal pollution prevention strategy in Germany.

Policies and technologies on soil monitoring and surveys, soil pollution prevention and control have received increasing attention from Chinese policymakers during the last few years. The SGEP project has been supporting MEE on this topic for more than five years. The sharing of German expertise and best practices in this workshop and the active exchange between experts from both sides will continuously contribute to soil pollution prevention and control in China.