The US Federation of Earth System Information Partners has brought together groups from a wide diversity of backgrounds including government agencies and laboratories, Universities, not-for profits and commercial entities to meet their shared goals of improving the distribution and sharing of environmental information and services. The joint workshop, held in Beijing Normal University, Oct 23-25, 2006, brought together leading members of the US Earth Science Information Partnership who met with Chinese colleagues and discussed the possibilities for and benefits of the creation of a comparable Chinese entity. The honorary Chair of the workshop was Minister Guanhua Xu, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and the co-chairs were Prof. John Townshend, Chair of this Department and Prof. Peijun Shi, Vice President of Beijing Normal University. Dr. Shunlin Liang of this Department was also in the Organizing Committee and participated in this event.

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