Tag Archives: Shenzhen

Feeding of the 7000 – the International Botanical Congress steps up a gear

So it turns out that the figure of 6000 delegates at the International Botanical Congress was wrong: it’s actually almost 7000! The official figure is 6,953 people from “109 countries and regions” [not quite sure what that means]. There are 3,519 talks scheduled to be given by scientists from 85 countries: botany is such an incredibly international venture! But then you can say that about all of the sciences.

Yesterday the IBC stepped up a gear with some public lectures in the afternoon. I managed to catch the one by Steve Blackmore on why greening of cities is so important, and the role of plants in improving urban living through microclimate modification, food production, aesthetic enhancement, etc. Couldn’t agree more and it’s a recurring theme in the IBC’s exhibition centre. The Chinese take this very seriously and Shenzhen has some lovely planting and green spaces; I hope to post more images about this later in the week but here’s one example I snapped on the way to the venue yesterday morning:

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The other talk I saw was by the venerable Peter Raven, now in his 80s but still going strong and an inspiration to all of us youngsters 🙂 The theme of Peter’s talk was “Saving plants to save ourselves”, and the importance of the plant sciences for sustaining the Earth in the face of exponential population growth:

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Peter introduced the “Shenzhen Declaration” – an open letter or manifesto that challenges international governments to take the plant sciences seriously and provides something of a road map for how that can be done. More on the Declaration in a later post.

At 6pm there was a welcoming reception to which all delegates were invited; simply getting that many people into one of the halls was a triumph of logistics, but they were also fed and able to drink as much as they wanted, all for free. Quite a feat to pull off; this shot was taken fairly early on in the proceedings; there was more than twice that number behind me:

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Some more photos from the venue, starting with part of the main display about Chinese conservation. Not sure that a couple of stuffed pandas sends quite the right message, but who am I to quibble:

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A behind-the-scenes shot of just part of the registration desk area:

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The IBC is the only conference I’ve attended that has a SWAT team with automatic weapons, attack dogs, and riot shields on constant standby. You can just see some of them at the back of this shot, about as close as I dared photograph…..:

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No conference is complete without an irritating robot giving out information in a cutesy, high pitched voice:

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So the main scientific programme starts today; I’ll be going to a couple of the keynote lectures in the morning, then there’s a session after lunch on “Pollination by non-flying mammals” that I’m looking forward to. I’m then speaking at 4pm in the session on “Evolution of floral traits”, discussing some of the work that we have been doing in Tenerife. Wish me luck!

The session I’m talking in ends at 6pm. I’m still jet lagged and have been up since 4am so at that point I’ll be ready for a beer and some food!

Theme music for jetlag: more images from the International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen

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Jetlag 1 It’s 3am here in Shenzhen. I fell asleep at 1030pm, worn out by the heat and activity of the day, but am now wide awake. In my head the tune to Millie Small’s 60s hit “My Boy Lollipop” is going round and round and round, with the “Lollipop, Lollipop” refrain replaced with the words “Body clock, Body clock“. The brain is a strange thing….

At this time in the morning, looking out at a mega hi-rise cityscape of flashing beacons and the constant headlights of moving cars 31 stories below, the Esper Edition of Vangelis’s music from Blade Runner makes a more fitting soundtrack. That and the jasmine green tea I’ve just made should help me sleep. But in the meantime here’s a few more images taken today at the convention centre where the International Botanical Congress is taking place.

This is the hall where the opening ceremony happens, and some people are giving lectures. Just imagine it……:

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The exhibition area is still being constructed but it’s nearly there:

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The future of agriculture? Some people think so….:

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This tells us a lot about the scale of the event; it’s the covered walk way over to the second venue. Yes, they needed a second venue….:

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My view at 7pm last night. Happy memories….:

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6000 scientists can’t be wrong: the International Botanical Congress 2017

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A late afternoon flight from Heathrow got me to Beijing International Airport just in time for me to enjoy a nine hour delay in my connecting flight to Shenzhen in southern China. I finally arrived at my hotel at 2:15am, exhausted and sweaty in the 30 degree night time heat. The one consolation is the the hotel was short of rooms so upgraded me to a suite the size of a small city, with a shower like a tropical rainstorm. Perfect to wash off the dirt of travelling before collapsing into bed.

Why am I here and why is the hotel short of rooms? Because 6000 scientists have descended on Shenzhen for the 19th International Botanical Congress (IBC). The IBC is a six-yearly event that rotates around the world; I attended in 1999 in St Louis and 2005 in Vienna, but missed Melbourne in 2011. At this IBC I’m giving two talks, one at the beginning and one at the end of the conference. More on that later in the week.

Six thousand botanists need a big conference venue and this morning, after a late breakfast, I strolled up to the convention centre where it’s being held. It’s enormous, the scale of the thing is overwhelming. I wandered around whilst they were getting ready for registration opening this afternoon and took some images on my phone.

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There are some fabulous displays of living plants, including this one at the main entrance:

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These are attracting pollinators: in 10 minutes I counted lots of honey bees, one butterfly, at least two species of wasps, and a large carpenter bee (Xylocopa sp.) visiting flowers. I only managed to photograph the first two though:

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On the way back to my hotel I gatecrashed an international turtle expo. Who knew turtles were such a big thing in China….?

OK, that’s all for now: I have to head back to the convention centre to register, so I’ll leave you with the view I’m seeing from where I’m writing this. Shenzhen is quite a place and I’ll write more about it later in the week:

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