Bogor Hosts Soil, Water Assessment Toll Conference

Bogor, W Java, June 17 (Antara) - The Third Conference and Workshop on Soil and Water Assessment Toll for Southeast and East Asia (SWAT-SEEA) is being held here from June 17-22, 2013. The conference organized by the Indonesian forestry ministry is being participated in by around 250 people consisting of scientists, researchers, academicians and government officials from several countries, the forestry ministry`s director of river basin management evaluation reporting, Ika Widodo Sugiri, said in the opening ceremony of the meeting here on Monday. The conference would discuss issues on land degradation and its impact on water supply. "Drought is a real threat because of land degradation which is out of control. Therefore, land degradation prevention must be prioritized," he said. The conference is being organized to observe the World Day to Combat Desertification 2013 which falls on June 17. Among those participating in the conference are SWAT Chairman Philip Gasman, President of World Association and Water Conservation Society Samran Sombat Panit, and Chairman of the Indonesian Soil and Water Conservation Society Soetikna Wibowo. Countries participating in the meeting include China, Japan, Nepal, the United States and ASEAN member nations such as Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. The conference is supported among other things by USAID, SANREM, NCA&TSU, World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWAC), USDA-ARS, and Texas A&M. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a public domain model jointly developed by USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and Texas AgriLife Research, part of The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS). SWAT is a river basin-scale model to simulate the quality and quantity of surface and ground water and predict the environmental impact of land management practices on different soil patterns and land use patterns. SWAT is widely used in assessing soil erosion prevention and control practices, non-point source pollution control methods and regional management in watersheds.