The 6th International Conference on Black Soils Conservation and Utilization and the 7th Workshop of the FAO International Network of Black Soils were held from June 12 to 15 in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province.

Over 300 experts, scholars, and representatives from 20 countries and regions attended the conference, which focused on discussions across four major themes: improving black soil health, boosting productivity, implementing smart agriculture, and building ecological barriers. The events also play a vital role in building a global consensus on black soil conservation and advancing global food and ecological security.

At the opening ceremony, Jiang Ming, director general of the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), highlighted the progress made since CAS launched its strategic priority research program, the "Technological Innovation Engineering for Black Soil Conservation and Utilization," in 2021.

This program has yielded landmark achievements in degradation prevention, fertility enhancement, ecological restoration, smart agriculture, and sustainable utilization, and has created a variety of scalable, reproducible models for black soil conservation and utilization.

The conference also featured academic exchange sessions with international journals to further promote high-level scientific achievements in black soil research worldwide. Supported by Jilin's talent recruitment programs, a job fair was also held, with 12 universities, research institutions, and industry enterprises participating.