Themes of the Symposium

Global change, geological processes, and human health

GeoHealth Surveys in China: Strategy, Practice and Future Directions

This session examines GeoHealth surveys in China across strategy, practice and future directions, in the context of the Healthy China initiative and the need to link geological knowledge with public health and agriculture. Drawing on geoscience, public health and agriculture, it explores how geological environments and the distribution and bioavailability of essential and potentially harmful elements relate to human health. It highlights advances in concepts, methods, pilots and technical standards, and national and thematic surveys of longevity regions, endemic-disease areas, specialty agricultural and medicinal-material producing areas, mineral medicines and mining-affected settings, covering geochemical elements, natural radioactivity, geomagnetic fields and negative air ions. Emerging directions include biomineralisation and stone formation, mineral medicines, global change, geoarchaeology, nutritional provenance, elevated geochemical backgrounds, and organic–inorganic processes that control mobility, exposure and health risks. The session aims to foster interdisciplinary research and international collaboration in GeoHealth.

Environment-Related Endemic Diseases — Exposure, Mechanisms, and Prevention

This session addresses endemic diseases whose geographical distribution is governed by environmental geochemical and ecological determinants. Core topics include endemic fluorosis (water-, coal-, and brick-tea-borne), endemic arsenism, iodine deficiency disorders, Keshan disease, and Kashin-Beck disease. A leading focus is drinking-water fluoride exposure—its skeletal and non-skeletal health effects and the biochemical and molecular pathways through which fluoride exerts toxicity. The session adopts a multidisciplinary scope spanning: (1) environmental surveillance and quantitative exposure assessment; (2) biomarker discovery using elemental and omics technologies, including single-particle ICP-MS and protein-corona proteomics; (3) toxicological and molecular mechanisms such as oxidative stress, apoptosis, and dysregulated signaling pathways; (4) epidemiological characterization and disease burden estimation; and (5) evidence-based intervention and source-control strategies. It bridges field investigation, advanced analytical detection, and translational research linking environmental exposure to human phenotype.

Geogenic trace elements in soil: beneficial and harmful effects for environment and health

Parent rock is the fundamental source of trace elements in soil. Those elements, including Cd, As, and Se, may lead to beneficial or harmful effects for environment and human health. The topics of this secession include: 1) differences of element concentrations in original parent rocks and their behaviors during weathering, 2) high background concentration values caused by the geological factors, such as those in carbonate and black shale regions, 3) trace element effects and transport pathways for environment and human health in the high geological background areas, 4) monitoring and modeling of the spatial distribution and temporal changes of the elements related to the geogenic sources, and 5) differentiation of the background or natural source from human contribution. Those topics can improve our understanding about the linkage of geology to the environment and human health.

Biogeochemical behavior of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) , health risks and pollution control (IMGA Working Group on PTEs and Health)

Biogeochemical transfer, migration, cycling and their environmental impacts and associated health risks to ecosystems and humans of potentially toxic elements in the earth surface affected by different anthropogenic activities and weathering processes; identification and tracking of the sources and the key processes of the potentially toxic elements and their potential health risks by using metal isotopes, multivariate analysis, as well as modelling frameworks; and strategies for pollution control, mitigation, and risk management. This session is convened by International Medical Geology Association (IMGA) Working Group on Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) and Health.

Regional Environmental Risk Evolution and Response

This session focuses on the dynamic evolution, spatial-temporal fluctuation, and targeted governance of regional environmental risks under the framework of sustainable development. Against the backdrop of intensified human activities and regional climate change, environmental risks such as pollutant emission fluctuations, ecological degradation, and cross-regional environmental pollution present new variable and complex characteristics. Centering on sustainable governance, this session systematically explores how regional environmental risks evolve under the dual influence of natural environmental changes and anthropogenic interference, as well as scientific and practical response strategies. The session covers multi-dimensional regional environmental risk studies, including the temporal and spatial evolution laws of environmental risks in typical regions, the driving mechanisms of risk fluctuation, and the differential risk characteristics of urban agglomerations and peripheral areas. This session is expected to fill the research gap in dynamic environmental risk research from a sustainable perspective.

Emerging Contaminants: Challenges and Health Risks

Emerging Contaminants: From Source to Health Effects

Environmental pollution poses significant challenges to ecosystem integrity and human health. Understanding the sources, environmental occurrence, transport, transformation, and biological effects of pollutants is essential for assessing environmental risks and developing effective mitigation strategies. This session aims to bring together researchers from environmental chemistry, analytical science, toxicology, and public health to explore the entire lifecycle of environmental pollutants, from their origins and environmental fate to ecological and human health impacts. Topics of interest include emerging contaminants, advanced analytical techniques, environmental monitoring, pollutant transformation and exposure pathways, toxicity mechanisms, and environmental and human health risk assessment. Particular emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary approaches and innovative methodologies that advance our understanding of pollutant behavior and support evidence-based pollution control and environmental health protection.

TBD

Geochemical Mapping and Environmental Assessment

Ecological Restoration of Mountains, Rivers, Forests, Farmlands, Lakes, and Grasslands, and Coordinated Development toward Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality

New Technologies and Methods for Environmental and Health Analysis

This session focuses on new technologies and methods for environmental and health analysis, covering the precise identification of elemental and organic species, non-target screening, on-site rapid detection, intelligent sensing, and health risk assessment. It provides a platform to exchange full-chain innovations across sampling, sample pre-treatment, analytical determination, and data interpretation, advancing methodological progress in support of ecological and environmental protection and public health.

Water Ecology and Human Health

This thematic session addresses the interdisciplinary frontier of water ecosystem health and human health risks, focusing on the coupling mechanisms, assessment methods, and management pathways linking ecological responses and health effects under changing water environments. Topics include: water ecosystem health assessment and biological integrity diagnosis; transport, transformation, and ecotoxicological effects of emerging contaminants, heavy metals, and pathogenic microorganisms across the water–sediment–biota continuum; drinking water safety and human health risk assessment; ecological restoration of rivers, lakes, and wetlands and biodiversity conservation; impacts of urbanization, agricultural non-point sources, and climate change on water ecological health; and early warning and smart management of water ecological health based on multi-source monitoring, model simulation, and artificial intelligence.

Marine Geo-environment and Health

TBD

Hainan Health Island: progress and future

The African Dual Burden: Integrating Geochemistry, Toxicity, and Nutrition to Combat Disease in Ghana and in Africa as a Whole

This session will explore the most pressing GeoHealth challenge in Africa—the devastating dual burden of geogenic/anthropogenic metal toxicity and essential micronutrient deficiency—using Ghana as a critical case study. Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM), Chemically-Induced Agricultural Practice and informal e-waste recycling have fundamentally altered the geochemical landscape, leading to widespread contamination of air, water, soil, and food with high levels of arsenic, mercury, and lead. Simultaneously, geological deficiencies and/or competitive inhibition by toxic metals may contribute to inadequate intake or absorption of essential micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Mg).

TBD

Hybrid Webinar on Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation

14:00-14:05 Opening remarks, session introduction and Geo-Empower/ISEH context 5 min
14:05-14:20 Presentation 1: Geospatial intelligence for epidemic surveillance and response — WHO/OCHA 15 min
14:20-14:35 Presentation 2: Geospatial applications for maternal and reproductive healthcare — UNFPA/UNICEF 15 min
14:35-14:50 Presentation 3: Geospatial targeting for immunization and community outreach — UNICEF 15 min
14:50-15:05 Presentation 4: Urbanization, climate change, human health and UN-IGIF — UNSD/UN-GGIM 15 min
15:05-15:10 Audience questions and transition to panel 5 min
15:10-15:25 Moderated panel discussion: From geospatial evidence to frontline and national action 15 min
15:25–15:30 Conclusions and potential follow-up

Graduate Student Forum