Grassroots Movements
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20LIFE| Monday, March 4, 2019 CHINA DAILY | CHINADAILY.COM.CN/LIFE A densely afforested WanfengGrassroots Lake area, a part of the Xingyi National Geopark in Guizhou province, which movements is working to balance economic development with ecological conservation. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY From greening urban wastelands to fighting the effects of desertification, Guizhou aims to tackle its environmental challenges head on, Chen Meiling and Yang Jun report. iu Guoyi, an 87-year-old finds them in the mountains or buys up on the satellite images, which are man from Guizhou prov- them at a local market. updated once a year. L ince, has voluntarily plant- “Each tree brings hope, and hope “By comparing the results of the ed over 10,000 saplings over makes life meaningful,” he says. previous year, we can figure out the last three decades. When some- Liu is not the only local obsessed whether an area of forest has one told him afforestation was “gov- with planting trees. On Feb 11, the increased or decreased. If some parts ernment business”, he still decided to first workday after the Lunar New shrink, we will check if these changes contribute in his own way. Year holiday, executive and grass- were formally approved or contact After retiring from the Guiyang roots officials from Guizhou spent the police if further action is needed,” branch of Sinohydro Bureau 8 Co Ltd the day planting trees in suburban he says. in 1988, Liu was hired back by the areas — an annual custom that start- “Before the technology was intro- company to oversee the greening of ed in 2015. duced in 2014, we mainly acted on its Guiyang base. After fulfilling his Sun Zhigang, Party chief of the complaints and reports from the duties, he turned his focus to the area province, says the local government public, before sending staff to inves- outside of the base. He often paid for would work to balance economic tigate them by using maps to identify saplings and flowers out of his own development with ecological conser- any reduction in tree cover, which pocket to plant, and when more of vation, on the way to building a more was time-consuming and arduous.” his colleagues joined him, the area of beautiful Guizhou and improving insect pests, assess fire risks and put The province has introduced greenery around the compound dou- people’s livelihoods. measures in place to stop later defor- extensive measures and legislation bled in size. He also began planting The forest cover of Guizhou prov- estation. to protect forests, from banning the saplings on stretches of wasteland in ince extended to 57 percent of the “Improving forestry coverage is felling or damaging of trees and the other areas of the city on Qianchun landmass in 2018, an increase of 10 complicated work that requires joint illegal picking of wild plants, to pro- Road, Changling South Road and percentage points within three effort from different departments,” hibiting picnics and other activities Beijing West Road. years. By 2020, this figure is expected he says. that could cause fires, and outlawing In 2011, Liu discovered a 500-me- to reach 60 percent, officials said at Besides, the karst topography of the removal of rocks, sands or soils ter long strip of riverside wasteland the 2019 forestry work conference Guizhou — which has a high calcium that may damage the vegetation, near Qianchun Road strewn with held in February. carbonate content and soil of poor according to the forestry bureau. garbage and leftover construction Data from the National Forestry nutritional value — is a challenging Basic guidelines for the conserva- waste. Then an idea struck him: and Grassland Administration environment for greening, and once tion and expansion of forestry “This place is near a river, so it’s a showed that forestry coverage in Chi- the original forest is damaged, it include returning farmland to for- suitable spot for a green belt.” na stood at 21.66 percent in 2018. The takes multiple rounds of planting to estry, planting sheltered forests He removed piles of garbage, dug same figure worldwide stands at repair it, according to Li. along the Yangtze and Pearl rivers, holes, planted saplings and watered 30.6 percent, according to a report by Methods such as boosting the bio- and controlling desertification, says plants. He then spruced up the area the Food and Agriculture Organiza- diversity of the surrounding environ- Zhang. with more flowers and grass. The tion of the United Nations. Top: Tea gardens in Meitan county, Guizhou province. Above: Some ment, tightening regulations and A study by the journal Natural number of trees grew to 3,000 “The expansion of forestry will officials of Songtao Miao autonomous county in Tongren, Guizhou employing the latest technology are Sustainability in February found through his efforts, which earned help to improve the ecological envi- province, plant saplings on Feb 11. being used to tackle these difficul- that since 2000 the Earth’s green leaf him an award for being a trustwor- ronment, by preserving the soil and ties. area has increased by 5 percent — an thy and moral citizen in Guizhou in water, creating natural windbreaks, High-resolution satellite images area equivalent to the entire Ama- 2014. stabilizing the sands and purifying tares in 2011 to 2.47 million hectares have to analyze the soil conditions, and mobile internet systems are zon rainforest. In 2015, the 3,000 trees Liu plant- the air,” says Li Tao, 31, an engineer at in 2016. Recovery of the vegetation assess its density and complexity and used to conduct real-time research China contributed to 25 percent of ed needed to be removed during the the forest resources management contributed around 67 percent to the select suitable plants before drawing and monitoring. These tools have the planet’s increase in forest cover, construction of a flyover. After the station in Guiyang. reduction, Zhang Fujie, deputy up a design plan to show contractors significantly helped to prevent illegal despite having only 6.6 percent of developer offered him 30,000 yuan The percentage of days with good director general of the Guizhou for- how to plant the saplings. operations being carried out in for- the world’s vegetation, the report in compensation, Liu decided to air quality in county-level cities and estry bureau, told a news conference “It only succeeds if the survival ests. says. move the trees to surrounding com- above in the province reached 97 per- in February. rate surpasses 80 percent after three Han Dan, deputy director of the munities and forests. cent last year, a fact that local officials However, expanding forest cover years,” he says. “If not, we have to try bureau’s public welfare forest man- Contact the writers at He now plants around 20 saplings believe is linked to wider forest cover. is by no means a simple process. again.” agement center, says key informa- [email protected] every day. He sources the saplings The area of rocky desert land fell To successfully make a barren He adds they also have to prevent tion about forests, wetlands, sands from the local forestry authority, 18.3 percent from 3.02 million hec- mountain green, Li and his team the spread of plant diseases and and residential buildings can show Li Hanyi contributed to this story. Jilin province set to be home to UN health tourism project By XING WEN ($449.1 million) will be used to con- of Statistics, around 249 million ble to develop a model that can also [email protected] struct the 200-hectare town over the people in China reached the age of be used as reference in other parts of course of the next five years. 60 by the end of last year, represent- China. A United Nations’ demonstration Advanced technologies including ing 17.9 percent of the total Chinese Ramiah says the UNDP will help project for sustainable develop- big data, cloud storage and artificial population. with the setup of the project in three ment, as well as health and wellness intelligence will be applied to create “Traditionally, elderly people in main ways. tourism, was launched at the Lian- a smarter environment for custom- China used to rely on their families to “We will look at policies and huashan Ecotourism resort in ers to receive physical examina- take care of them, but now the gray- research on the subject of how to cre- Changchun, Northeast China’s Jilin tions, procure traditional Chinese ing of the population requires better ate the town, how to use technology province, in January. medical treatments and enjoy a pro- health tourism packages and the to make sure that its footprint on the With support from the United fessional nursing service. upgrading of China’s health indus- environment is minimal, and will Nations Development Programme Devanand Ramiah, deputy direct- try,” says Zhang Yi, deputy director- provide younger people with more and the local government, the or of UNDP China, says that the general of the China Center for options to interact with older peo- project aims to develop a sanatori- impact of aging on the economy and International Economic Exchanges. ple.” um-like town which employs envi- society is a big challenge being faced He says that, with its good air qual- Zhang says by cooperating with ronmentally friendly agricultural on a worldwide scale, China includ- ity, over 10,000 hectares of forest, the UNDP, they could learn lessons practices, uses an ecologically sound ed. That’s why the UN has initiated abundant hot springs and other from developed countries that are energy supply system, waste man- the demonstration project in China favorable natural resources, Lian- already facing the aging challenge.