BNPE-2017 is the 1st International Conference on Biotechnologies for controlling non-point source pollution and protecting aquatic ecosystem, held by the research group of Interface Process at Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Three Gorges University on behalf of the Soil Science Society of China and the Geographical Society of China.
Due to the rapid increases of population and food demand in recent decades, heavy stress has been put on the agricultural production and great amounts of fertilizers are used every year. Accordingly, the high input of fertilizers has resulted in the surplus of nitrogen and phosphorus in the farm fields. As a consequence, the high-concentration nutrients from agricultural land have increased the contents of nitrogen and phosphorus in surface waters, referring to the non-point source pollutions.
Since the 1980s, fertilizer consumption in China has been growing rapidly and China has become one of the biggest producers and consumers of N and P fertilizers in the world. From the last decade, there has been a growing body of opinion that the non-point source pollution is a particularly serious problem in the management of water quality.
However, significant progress has been made in the biotechnologies of non-point source pollution control and the remediation of natural waters. We therefore aspire to making such a truly interdisciplinary meeting, covering a wide range of topics ranging from fundamentals to treatment biotechnology to remediation of surface waters. By bringing together non-point source pollution researchers from various background, we hope to stimulate discussion, exchange of ideas and networking.