From September 23-27, the 16th International Phytotechnology Conference (PHYTOTECH 2019), sponsored by Zhejiang University, was successfully held in Changsha, Hunan Province. The theme of this conference is Environmental Remediation and Food Safety. A total of 400 delegates from nearly 40 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France and Italy, attended the conference.

The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Professor Xiao’e Yang, the chair of PHYTOTECH 2019. Dr. David Tsao, President of the International Phytotechnology Society, and Chen Hong, Secretary of the Party committee of Hunan Agricultural University attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

The conference has 13 sessions, with a total of 240 abstracts of papers, 170 oral reports, 70 poster presentations and one field research. Experts and scholars discussed about the plant extraction and restoration, plant stabilization and restoration, soil organic pollutants and salinization plant restoration, mine restoration and ecological restoration, industrial and urban pollution site restoration, wetland plants and wastewater treatment, air pollution and plant restoration, environmental and ecological health diagnosis and assessment of heavy metal contaminated soil, etc.

The conference has provided a good communication platform for researchers, engineers and the government. It also further enhanced international cooperation and exchange, promoted the research and application of plant technology in the field of environmental protection, and helped the vigorous development of world plant technology in environmental restoration.