The Third Digital Belt and Road Conference was organized in Tengchong in southwest China’s Yunnan Province from Dec. 5 to 7, 2018. Under the auspices of the Digital Belt and Road Program (DBAR), the conference was jointly organized by the Tengchong Government and CAS Program of Big Earth Data Science Engineering. It was attended by representatives from more than 40 countries (such as China, Russia, UK, France, Italy, Finland, US, Japan, Thailand, Laos, Pakistan, Zambia, Morocco and Kenya) and more than 300 scholars and experts from international organizations and programs (such as UNEP, GEO, CODATA, ISDE, HIST, IRDR and PEEX).

On November16-25, 2018, the HIST Delegation headed by Prof.WANG Xinyuan, Deputy Director of the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the Auspices of UNESCO which is hosted by the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), visited Pakistan and implemented a China-Pakistan joint field investigation in the northern archaeological zone of Pakistan. This activity is supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences: Project of “Digital Belt and Road” with the topic of “Conservation and Development of Cultural and Natural Heritage along the Belt and Road”. The goal of this investigation is to enhance the bilateral cooperation of space technologies on archaeology and protection of cultural heritage sites through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

From Oct. 15 to 19, 2018, the Workshop on Earth Observation Data for Urban Planning, Agriculture and Disaster Monitoring in Mekong Basin was held in Vientiane, capital of Laos. It was attended by more than 20 participants from National University of Laos (NUL).

Prof. JIA Li, head of AIRCAS Water Circle Division, and Dr. ZHENG Chaolei were invited to co-host a special session and delivered reports at the 12th International Conference of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment held in Alexandria, Egypt, from Oct. 25 to 29, 2018.

The International Center of Excellence of the Digital Belt and Road Program (DBAR) at Columbia (ICoE-Columbia), South Carolina, the US inaugurated on the 14th of November 2018. This is DBAR’s first such center in North America and the sixth one across the world including centers in Bangkok, El Jadida, Lusaka, Moscow and Helsinki.

A delegation led by President of the US National Academy of Sciences Marcia McNutt visited AIRCAS on the morning of Nov 2, 2018.They were greeted by Prof. GUO Huadong, Big Earth Data Science Engineering Project (CASEarth) and presented the program’s contribution to ensure the actual use of Big Earth Data in support of the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as articulated in the 2030 Agenda document.