In order to cooperate with the implementation of the national "The Belt and Road" initiative, promote the development of scientific and technological capabilities in developing countries especially “the B&R” countries and improve the training quality of postgraduate courses in environmental science and technology in “the B&R” countries, the B&R Training Course of Sustainable Development and Environmental Health host by the Institute of Urban Environment (IUE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was held in Xiamen from November 30th to December 5th. The training course invited professors of IUE-CAS, Professor Jose Lobo of Arizona State University and Mr. Ivan Ho Bee of Malaysian Biotechnology Industry Group to give both online and offline lessons. Professor Tao LIN presided over the opening ceremony.

Academician Yong-guan ZHU delivered a speech at the opening ceremony with a warm welcome to the participants. He hoped the training course would bring benefits in sustainable urban development although most of participants cannot actually meet with each other in Xiamen. The current pandemic is a demonstration that people need to work together to fight against any uncertainties in the future. The training course would be a platform not only for prompting friendship and collaboration, but also for sharing expertise and experience in developing sustainable cities. China is experiencing the rapid urbanization. During these years, IUE has learnt lessons from China and many developed countries and it is a pleasure to share the knowledge and experience through the training course. In order to build a bright future, it is important to cooperate, learn with each other and become collaborative partners. Academician Yong-guan ZHU finally wished the training a great success and hoped everyone could meet in person in Xiamen after the pandemic.

The training course included 16 presentations, such as Urban ecosystem and sustainable development, Achievements and challenges of China's Urbanization - from the perspective of material metabolism, Urban Health and Well-being in the Complexity Era, The Belt and Road Alliance of Urban Environmental Health, Evaluation of spatial accessibility from urban community to public service based on multiscale and multisource data, Theory and practice of ecological infrastructure construction based on land senses ecology, Theoretical frameworks for understanding cities and history of urbanization, Technology and demonstration of low carbon city construction and energy planning, etc. Participants from more than 10 countries in Asia and Africa joined the training course with nearly 1700 views on the live platform.

The training course relied on IUE-CAS with its research and development technologies, pilot demonstration projects, scientific and technological achievements and successful experience in urbanization and sustainable development, environmental health and other fields. It strengthened regional cooperation, enhanced the exchanges between China and “the Belt and Road” (B&R) countries in the field of urban development and environmental health and learnt about the technical needs of “B&R” countries for sustainable urban development, urban environmental health, and population health risk management. It is also beneficial to promote the application and promotion of China's new theories and advanced technologies in “B&R” countries, and further expand and strengthen scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation between CAS and “B&R” countries, as well as expand the influence and appeal of CAS in the “B&R” countries scientific and technological community and urban development decision makers.