The 16th DSAO Conference was successfully held in Bangkok

The 16th CODATA DSAO Conference was successfully held in Bangkok during Jan.12-13, 2006. There are 31 participants from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, India and Indonesia who have made the 17 presentations. The 16th DSAO Conference focuses on the following three topics: 1. Data activities reports from member countries, 2. Natural disasters and Biodiversity, 3. Proposal of the construction of the Asian-Oceanic avian influenza comprehensive information system.

At the meeting, Prof. Morakot Tanticharoen from Thailand expressed the warm welcome to all participants. Then Prof Yan Baoping briefly introduced the recent data activities in China, especially the SDB of CAS, and Prof Shuichi Iwata briefly introduced the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of CODATA, he also talked about the missions and roles of DSAO, and the participants from Korea, Thailand, India and Indonesia also introduced data activities in their country respectively.

Furthermore, the participants exchanged the experience and updated achievements of the research of natural disaster and avian influenza, especially emphasized the importance and necessary of the data sharing and application in these areas.

Finally, all the participants reached an agreement to apply a task group in CODATA which focuses on the data sharing and application of avian influenza research among Asian-Oceanic countries and regions.