Agriculture, Food Security & Rural Revitalization~
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Three Zones Environmental Guidelines
China’s New ‘Three Zones’ for Environmental Protection Guidelines (UPDATED) Further information on the China’s Guidelines on region-specific environmental management has been provided on March 18, 2024 by Ying Xue from the China Ecological Civilization newsletter on Substack. The newsletter reports that the guidelines, titled “关于加强生态环境分区管控的意见” Guidelines on Strengthening Ecological Environment Zoning Management and Control, provide for three categories of zones. Continue reading
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China ecological monitoring
China to establish modern ecological environment monitoring system by 2035 China will exert great efforts to establish a modern ecological environment monitoring system by 2035 for building “Beautiful China,” according to a document released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) in Beijing on Friday. Beautiful China Currently, three monitoring indicators for evaluating “Beautiful Continue reading
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Push to globalize China’s seed industry
Beijing’s pledge to keep China’s “rice bowl” firmly in the hands of its people has been backed with numerous actions, including the protection of arable land, expansion of farming acreage and more widespread use of technology. The South China Morning Post points out that seed industry is deemed to be “strategic and fundamental”, and the Continue reading
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Taoist Ecological Thought and Permaculture
Taoist Ecological Thought and the West’s Concept of Permaculture:Interview with former Belgian Ambassador to China Patrick Nijs is a former Belgian ambassador to China, and lifetime honorary ambassador and co-founder of the EU-China Joint Innovation Center in Brussels. He has been a witness to China’s reform and opening up since 1997, when he first came Continue reading
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Why food security is a top priority for China
China’s leaders and policymakers regard food security as a “top national priority” (国之大者). At the recent Central Rural Work Conference in Beijing, China, held on December 18-19, 2023, and convened by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the challenges and current situation of the “three rurals” (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers) was discussed, with special attention paid to the Continue reading
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Food security China’s first priority
It’s a tradition now in China: The government’s first policy statement of the year focuses on agriculture and rural development. For 2024, the “No. 1 central document” prioritizes food security and preventing a large-scale return to poverty. For the first time, the document mentions a project called “Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation.” As commentators Zheng Linyi and Continue reading
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Nature conservation – China’s approach
Ecological redlines – China is undergoing a great experiment — tightly controlled and driven by big data — that it hop es will offer an alternative way of protecting the planet. In an effort that often goes unnoticed, China’s leadership is pushing further to build what Jessica Gordon of the University of California, Berkeley’s Center Continue reading
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China enhances agricultural sustainability
China enhances agricultural sustainability and farm incomes while maintaining national crop production on existing croplands though crop switching The Green Revolution of the 1960s brought unprecedented increases in global food supply to meet a rapidly rising demand. However, the promotion of relatively few high-yielding crops and the accompanying input-intensive practices — such as fertilizers, pesticides, Continue reading
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China targets 25% wastewater reuse by 2025
China’s water-scarce cities to reach 25% wastewater reuse by 2025. During the past decades of rapid development in wastewater treatment, China has accomplished the transition of wastewater treatment from underdevelopment to an industrial powerhouse. China accounts for 21% of the world’s population but only has 6% of the world’s freshwater resource, and it also has Continue reading
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How China ensures food security
How is China ensuring food security for 1.4 billion people? Although pandemics, extreme weather events, and geopolitical conflicts have led to disruptions in food supply chains and rising international food prices, there is no shortage of food for the world’s population. However, hunger continues to affect millions of people. According to the latest State of Food Continue reading
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Nigeria benefits from Chinese solar
Off-grid solar systems present a valuable alternative for Nigerians affected by frequent blackouts. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa – 224 million people, placing it sixth in the world, just behind Indonesia and Pakistan, and more than the combined populations of Germany, France and the UK. Most Nigerians living in cities experience frequent power Continue reading
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Growing rice in the Dubai desert?
Chinese scientists successfully grow rice in Dubai desert. Rice is a food staple of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yet the country is almost wholly reliant on food imports and food security is a national priority. In 2018, the UAE launched its National Food Security Strategy to increaseproduction by 30-40% in 10 years. The UAE’s Continue reading
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China approves GM corn and soybean
China’s Food Security: Commercial use of genetically modified corn and soybeans approved. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has approved genetically modified (GM) varieties of corn and soybean for commercial use after years of trials and public controversy over the technology’s safety. The shift Continue reading
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Africa adopts Chinese hybrid rice
The water-saving and drought-resistant rice developed by the Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center has passed various approvals in several African countries, such as Uganda in the second half of last year, according to a researcher at the center. Kenya and other African countries are part of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Continue reading
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Chinese diaspora paved way for BRI
The biggest international trading venture in world history is 10 years old. But there’s an extraordinary tale behind the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI. And that’s the story of the exceptional Chinese Diaspora experience, which laid the foundations for the infrastructure project’s success. This Chinese macro-migration endeavor, individual by individual, long predates the remarkable Continue reading
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A New History of the Chinese Zodiac
“My work has taught me that without humans, animals continue to thrive, but without animals, humans can barely move forward.” Professor Yuan Jing, Institute of Archaeology, CASS. When archaeologists unearthed homo erectus remains — the famous “Peking Man” — from a cave in what is now suburban Beijing in the 1920s, it made headlines around Continue reading
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Abundant harvest of giant rice
The abundant harvest of giant rice in Guanxi region could play a key role in ensuring China’s food security. Chinese scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the genetics of rice breeding that could lead to a healthier, higher-yield hybrid variety of the grain. Japonica and Indica rice are two widely grown varieties in China, each Continue reading
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China backs African modernization
China will allocate more resources for Africa’s industrialisation and agricultural modernization – as well as train thousands of African students in vocational skills, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised African leaders during his visit to South Africa for the BRICS Summit. Meeting African leaders for the China-Africa Leaders’ Roundtable Dialogue at the end of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, Xi Continue reading
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Climate change & China’s croplands
China experienced both extreme heat and “devastating” floods this summer, which had an impact” on food supplies and rice crops. This Carbon Brief article on how climate change is affecting China’s cropland, looks at arable land policies and potential impacts of climate on food security. Official Chinese data shows that at least 1.9m hectares (19,000km2) or 8% of Continue reading
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Ageing population & farming in China
Beijing to strengthen food security to satisfy domestic demand and withstand potential US maritime blockade. RIA Novosti news agency (RT ) reports that in a bid to secure a domestic food supply and cut down reliance on foreign imports, China is expanding its farmlands. As explained by the newspaper the China Daily, “the rapidly ageing rural population Continue reading
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China’s ancient rice technology
Modern agricultural equipment is helping the ancient farming method of rice ratooning make a comeback in east China. New China TV Ratoon rice technology: A green and resource-efficient way for rice production Ratoon rice refers to the production of a second rice crop from the stubble after the harvest of the main crop, is considered Continue reading
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China’s Village Science program
China’s agricultural scientists protect ecology and improve farmers’ income While Lake Erhai has received much attention for its ecological preservation, the Lake basin has also suffered from high pollution, high deposits of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil, and low agricultural yields. In the past, the protection efforts for the Erhai Lake were not coordinated Continue reading
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BRI – Protecting cultural heritage
Protecting cultural heritage, promoting mutual learning among civilizations To protect cultural heritage and pass it down through generations is a shared responsibility of mankind. So far, the number of world heritage sites in China has grown to 56, including the Great Wall and the Summer Palace in Beijing, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, northwest China’s Continue reading
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China protects ancient trees
Science-based measures implemented to protect old, valuable trees in China. Cover photo: Tanzhe Temple, located in Mentougou District, Beijing, is the oldest Buddhist temple in Beijing. There is a tall and lush ginkgo tree （银杏树) in the temple yard, which is estimated to be more than 1,300 years old, and was named ‘Emperor Tree’ by Continue reading
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Reduce agricultural seed imports: China
Experts urge China to diversify its seed imports amid rising geopolitical tensions and climate disasters Looking to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers for critical foodstuffs, China is growing more innovative and bold. An article in the South China Morning Post recently looked at the importance of seeds and agritech advancements. China is the world’s Continue reading
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Protecting grasslands – China leads world
China’s grassland ecological compensation policy improves grassland quality and increases herders’ income The grasslands of China are a vital ecological and social-economic resource, covering 40% of the national area and serving as an ecological barrier in the north and northwest border of China. The grasslands have multiple functions, including adjusting climate, preserving water resources, fixing Continue reading
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China: Protecting grassland biodiversity
Pastures green China boasts some 400 million hectares of grassland, accounting for 42% of China’s total land area, making it the second-largest terrestrial carbon sink after forests in the country.Grasslands are distributed mainly in the temperate regions and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Human activities and climate change have adversely impacted 90% of the country’s grassland areas, Continue reading
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Industrialization of colonial agriculture
The industrialization of agriculture by capitalism and Metabolic Rift. The industrialization of agriculture in the nineteenth century rested upon the long historical emergence of capitalism as a distinct socioeconomic order. An extract from Capitalism and Robbery: The Expropriation of Land, Labor, and Corporeal Life, by John Bellamy Foster et al, Monthly Review, Dec 01, 2019. Continue reading
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Russia’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan
Impact of climate change on farming and rural development for the Russian North In Russia climate change is generally not perceived or discussed only as a risk. On the contrary it is expected to have a positive effect on Russia’s farming sector. International scientists have also found that while climate change threatens to stunt agricultural Continue reading
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Ukrainian agriculture damaged for decades
CONTINUATION OF BLACK SEA GRAIN DEAL IN DOUBT The conflict with Russia is estimated to have caused at least $9 billion in damage to the sector, and agricultural production in Ukraine may not return to pre-conflict levels until 2050. Kiev School of Economics According to an Agricultural Outlook report released this week by the Center Continue reading
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Clean heating in rural China
This year marks the ten-year anniversary of a government campaign to clean up China’s heating systems. Until 2013, rural households in northern China generally burned coal for heat, with each stockpiling hundreds of kilograms in the run-up to winter. Burning coal in small domestic stoves can create ten times as much pollution as doing so in a Continue reading
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China protects special regions
Laws for the ecological protection of special regions In late April 2023 China’s top legislature adopted a law to protect the fragile ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This is the latest of China’s environmental laws for 4 key ecological regions. The first of be enacted was the Yangtze River Protection Law, followed by the Yellow Continue reading
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Green lessons from China’s farmers
UN Food & Agriculture Oranization draws lessons from China’s farmers in green growth transformation China’s experiences of agriculture green growth have generated vital lessons for farmers nationally and globally, reveals a new series of reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Investment Centre. Featuring case studies of farmer empowerment and Continue reading
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Food security: protecting China’s soils
China launches national soil survey to protect arable land Originally Posted August 7, 2022 After rapid development and intensive farming, China is to carry out a new national soil survey to help with its food security and carbon targets. China Dialogue recently published an article by three Chinese scientists. The authors are soil science experts Continue reading
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Agricultural sustainability in China
‘Soil observatories’ helping China create more sustainable agriculture Originally published 2021/05/12 All over the world, agriculture is threatened by degraded soils – and China is no exception. Stripped of carbon from intensive farming, soils erode more easily, host fewer microbes and hold less water and nutrients. Fertilisers and pesticides applied to improve crop yields can leach Continue reading
China Environment News 