LEGATO Conference Hanoi, Vietnam 8 -- April 2013

Rice is among the main crops for many countries and an indispensible source of food for a large percentage of mankind. However, given the rapidly growing human population, in particular in Southeast Asia, there is a clear need for increase of crop productivity. One of the possible solutions to achieve that is the implementation of ecological engineering – an emerging discipline, concerned with design, monitoring and construction of ecosystems.

Started in 2011, the multinational project LEGATO is seeking solutions to decrease the risks arising from multiple aspects of global change by advancing long-term sustainable development in intensively used agricultural ecosystems. The project, funded by the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) within the research program 'Sustainable Land Management' unites 21 research institutions from Germany, Vietnam, The Philippines, Malaysia, UK, Bulgaria and Spain and runs from March 2011 until February 2016.

The LEGATO project is happy to announce its 3rd Conference which will be held from 8-11 April, 2013 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The conference is jointly organized by the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi and the Center for Policy Studies and Analysis, Hanoi. The conference agenda includes several workshops planned to discuss the results of the project, as well as to set new research plans for the future. Among the hot topics of the different working groups will be modelling predator‐pest interactions and their impact on ecosystem services for rice production. LEGATO members will also benefit from guest speakers Andi Trisyono and Kukiat Soitong, who will be sharing experience from Indonesia and Thailand on fighting one of the biggest pests on rice crops, the brown plant hopper.

Attention will be paid to valuation of the dependence of ecosystem functions and the services they generate in agricultural systems in Vietnam and the Philippines. Members will discuss the ecological, cultural and economic dimensions of the project on a regional level.

As Vietnam is one of the countries at which the project is aimed, project members will have the opportunity to visit the irrigated fields in the Sapa and Vinh Phuc regions and conduct some field experiments. Conference guests will have the opportunity to get a firsthand experience of the objectives, implementation and results of the project in practice.

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