Tag: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Posted on in China Daily, Wild animal poaching
Mandatory Irish road sign for wild animals.
Mandatory Irish road sign for wild animals. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Wildlife - Animal - Dall Sheep in Denali Natio...
Wildlife – Animal – Dall Sheep in Denali National Park (Photo credit: blmiers2)

Animal rights campaigners are calling on the Chinese people to lose their taste for wild animal meat, as the government carries out a major crackdown on poaching nationwide. CHINA DAILY reports

Wild Animals Warning sign on National Highwaya
Wild Animals Warning sign on National Highwaya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Thursday, the China Wildlife Conservation Association signed a public appeal urging people to refuse to put wild animal meat on dining tables, saying the increasing consumption is at the root of poaching and illegal trading.

According to a 1999 survey of 20,000 people by the State Forestry Administration and China Wildlife Conservation Association, nearly half of 1,381 restaurants across the country had wild animal meat on the menu, and 46 percent of respondents said they had eaten wild game.

The four-month poll was carried out in 21 large and medium-size cities, where people generally have more money to spend on such delicacies.

“Although years have passed, such strong demand for eating wild animals has not changed or faded in China,” said Zhao Shengli, deputy secretary-general of the association. “In fact, even more people, especially rich people, have started to eat them in recent years.”

The group’s appeal to the public comes after China Central Television reported that restaurants in hilly Zixi county, Jiangxi province, had State-protected wild animals on their menus, including macaques, badger pigs, Chinese bamboo rats and wild geese.

Footage from CCTV on Tuesday showed monkeys were killed illegally on mountains and sold at farmers markets, or gruesomely slaughtered and served in several restaurants.

Monkey meat can sell for 560 yuan ($90) per kg, while monkey brain can fetch 1,600 yuan per kg, according to the report.

On Wednesday, two men were detained, and authorities said more arrests were possible as the investigation continues. Four officials, including the county’s forestry bureau chief, have been sacked.

On the same day, authorities in Guangdong province said more than 1,300 restaurants and hotels and 102 people involved in poaching, transporting and trading migrant birds and other wild animals have been punished.

A series of strict campaigns against poaching and trading in endangered wild animals will be launched across the country in the coming days, Yan Xun, chief engineer of the department of wildlife conservation and nature reserve management of the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying by CCTV on Thursday.

China is abundant in wildlife. More than 10 percent of the world’s wild vertebrate species – more than 6,000 species – are found in China, according to the State Forestry Administration.

“But people in some parts of China maintain the centuries-old custom of eating exotic wildlife as a delicacy, which is a major reason for the severely declining number of wild animals now,” said Feng Zuojian, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Refusing to eat wild animals is one of the signs of civilization. In many foreign countries, especially in Europe, there are no restaurants that serve wild animals,” he said.

Under the Chinese Criminal Law, those who illegally catch or kill endangered wildlife species can be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Animal rights campaigners are urging authorities to tighten supervision – and make punishments stronger – to eliminate poaching and illegal sales of wild animals.

jinzhu@chinadaily.com.cn

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Posted on in China, LearnFromNature blog, Yangtze porpoises

CHINA WILDLIFE: Hopefully we are learning!? Scientists’ bid to save Yangtze porpoises….

Map of conservation efforts of the baiji (Lipo...
Map of conservation efforts of the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) along the Yangtze (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: On the Yangtze River in China, just b...
English: On the Yangtze River in China, just before sunset. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CHINESE scientists began a survey of the dwindling population of an endangered porpoise in the country’s longest river yesterday, as the animal edges towards extinction from man-made threats. Shanghai Daily reports.

COMMENT: The finless purpose has been featured at LearnFromNature before – plus the Yangtze river dolphin being declared extinct – should be a clear warning signal that something needs to change, and promptly!   

 

Finless Porpoise at Miyajima Aquarium, Japan.
Finless Porpoise at Miyajima Aquarium, Japan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Researchers will spend more than a month tracking the finless porpoise – known as the “river pig” in Chinese – in the Yangtze River, China‘s longest waterway at more than 6,000 kilometers, organizers said.

It marks the most comprehensive survey of the species, found only in China, since 2006 when a similar expedition found just 1,800. The current number could be far lower, the scientists said.

“Our expectation is maybe only 1,000 of them are left, but we have to see how it turns out from the survey,” said Wang Ding, a research professor at the Institute of Hydrobiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“People have started to think of the finless porpoise as the symbol of the Yangtze River which also indicates the current status of the river,” said Wang, who is leading the expedition.

The 2006 expedition declared another species, a freshwater dolphin called the Baiji, to be extinct.

The finless porpoise has been hurt by human intrusion and environmental degradation, said global conservation organization WWF.

Deaths of the creature have been caused by boat strikes and fishing gear accidents as well as degradation of rivers – and food sources – due to pollution and drought blamed on climate change.

To save the porpoise, immediate action was needed to keep the Yangtze River and its lakes healthy, said Lei Gang, director of WWF China’s freshwater program.

“This means better laws and enforcement. We need to see harmful fishing practices stop, sand-dredging better controlled and new reserves developed,” Lei said

The WWF has said the porpoise could become extinct in 15 years if no action is taken.

Waterways in China have become heavily contaminated with toxic waste from factories and farms – pollution blamed on more than three decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of environmental protection laws.

Hydropower projects on the Yangtze have also been blamed for upsetting the delicate ecological balance in the river.

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Posted on in Science

CHINA : Making science cool

From BEIJING REVIEW:
Fewer children pursuing the sciences trigger concerns
By Wang Hairong
 

EXPERIMENTING: Children conduct a chemical experiment in Beijing to mark this year’s Science Awareness Day on September 15 (LUO WEI)

Children are naturally curious about the world around them. The curiosity has motivated many future scientists to decide upon their career choice.

“Half a century ago, when asked what they wanted to do in the future, many Chinese children would have answered that they would like to be scientists,” said Shi Changshu, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) who received China‘s top science and technology award in 2010.

Unfortunately, it seems no longer the case in China today. Fewer children in the country reportedly are aspiring to become scientists when they grow up. Young people generally want to become either officials or entrepreneurs.

Changing dreams

In recent years, many top high school graduates have chosen to study economics and business in university rather than mathematics, physics or chemistry.

In a summer camp hosted by Tsinghua University, one of China’s top universities, for middle school students this year, Yuan Qingling, a second-year student from a senior high school in Hebei Province, told Beijing Youth Daily that she had never thought of becoming a scientist despite winning the top prize in a national physics competition. Yuan’s cousin works in an investment bank and is highly praised by her family, so Yuan said she would like to follow her cousin’s example.

The International Mathematics Olympiads is an annual international mathematical contest for pre-collegiate students. Zhan Wenlong, Vice President of the CAS, once asked five Chinese medalists what they would like to study in university. To Zhan’s surprise, the five teenagers all said that they would like to study business management or finance.

Even for many young children in primary school, science is not a top choice. Two years ago, a journalist from news portal Nddaily.com interviewed first-grade primary students in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province, asking what they would like to be when they grow up.

After a variety of common answers such as painter, teacher or firefighter, the reporter got a shocking reply from a 6-year-old girl.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” the reporter asked.

“I want to be an official,” the girl said.

“What kind of official?” the reporter asked.

“…a corrupt official, because corrupt officials can live an extremely luxurious life,” the girl replied.

After a video clip of the interview was posted online, the girl’s answer sparked a heated discussion among netizens. The girl’s reply, they argued, was a simple reflection of what everyone already believes about government officials.

In September 2011, the China Association for Science and Technology released the results of a survey on career objectives of primary and middle school students.

The survey involving 1,180 primary and middle school students showed that of the nine listed professions, including teacher, civil servant and scientist, the latter ranked seventh, just ahead of farmer. Civil servant ranked first.

Han Qide, chairman of the association, said that children’s diversified choices reflect reality, but also found the results to be worrisome.

The survey’s administer, Wang Tingda, is a researcher with the CAS. He said that a country’s national prestige is ultimately measured by its strength in science and technology.

The scientist Shi warned that too few people in China are devoted to basic research. He said that although one may toil for years without making a significant breakthrough in basic research, it lays the foundation for future achievements.

Shi added that a society in which people are eager for quick success cannot be really innovative. “To build a strong country, more creative work is necessary,” he said.
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Posted on in Farming

King of fungi : Threat to truffles leaves a bad taste

Black truffles
Image via Wikipedia

Truffles are called the “king of fungi” for good reason. Aficionados pay a king’s ransom for these underground mushrooms that resemble stones in appearance.

Specialty markets in Europe open in December or January, when the truffles are mature. Thousands of fans and sellers gather to trade, with prices averaging $2,000 to $3,000 a kilogram.

These gourmets may be at risk of indigestion if they knew that on the other side of the world, in China, truffles sell for less than $100 a kilo and markets open five months earlier.

Chinese farmers are satisfied with the relatively pitiful sums, a fortune when set against their usually low income. But growing demand brings its own pitfalls. Few farmers realize that overeager truffle hunting is pushing the fungi to the brink of extinction.

The truffles that Pang sells are black balls with a rough surface, no bigger than a ping-pong ball. The scent is slight but distinctive. “I think it is much like the smell of brown sugar,” she said.

Pang, 42, would give only her family name as she worked at one of the biggest mushroom markets in Nanhua county, Chuxiong autonomous prefecture, in northwest Yunnan province.

She has sold truffles since 2006, she said, and the price the past two or three years has averaged 400 to 500 yuan a kg. “The price peaked at 600 yuan per kg last December and we had started to collect truffles from local farmers in July or August,” she said.

“The mature ones collected in December and January have a stronger fragrance and sold at higher prices. But the premature ones also sold well, and cheaper.”

Statistics from the county’s commercial department show that 709 tons of truffles were traded last year, producing revenue of more than 11 billion yuan ($1.72 billion). Nanhua has three major mushroom markets with hundreds of sellers. Everyone sells at least four or five kinds of mushrooms but only one in five sells the underground variety, truffles.

Pang said she sold about 20 kg every day last month, at 300 yuan a kg. “It will be priced higher in December,” she said cheerfully. “It is the most profitable mushroom of all.”

When told that mature truffles sell in Europe for what amounts to tens of thousands of yuan, she couldn’t hide her surprise. But a few minutes later, she seemed indifferent. “We can’t control things that far away. After all, earning this much is enough.”

 

 

Threat to truffles leaves a bad taste

This man, who would not give his name, is a reseller. He collects truffles from those who take them from the ground and sells them at a mushroom market of Nanhua county. Truffles are not yet mature in October. [Photo by Yang Wanli/China Daily]

 

 

Taste tests

“That is the attitude of most local farmers, which has become the biggest problem for us to protect truffles,” Liu Peigui said. “If they continue to hunt truffles before the mature season, it will lead to extinction in the next three or five years.”

Liu is a researcher at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has devoted nearly 30 years to studying wild mushrooms. He said China has more than 1,000 edible macro-fungi and 80 percent of them grow in Yunnan province.

“Truffles have the highest economic value among those 800 kinds. People in Western countries deny the quality of truffles in China, but our research found that the similarity of their fragrances is 95 percent.” In blind tastings, he said, “Some even say Chinese truffles are better.”

They were good enough to spark a boom in mushroom trade with European countries about eight years ago, two years after the truffle trade emerged in Yunnan. Farmers realized the potential, but went after the profits through what Liu calls irrational hunting.

Source : http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-11/03/content_14026963.htm

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Posted on in Sustainability

Sustainability update : Eco-cities are the key to the future

Tianjin Economic and Technological Development...
Image via Wikipedia

From China Daily 

Ecological city planning and construction will play a crucial role in energy saving andemission reduction as well as low-carbon industry, as half of the global population live in citiesthat use 70 percent of the world’s energy.

That was the message at the opening ceremony of the Second China (Binhai Tianjin)International Eco-City Forum and Expo on Friday.

“The eco-city must be the direction of urban development for the future. The world’s cities, acritical symbol of modern civilizations, hold half of the world’s population. These residentialhotspots consume 70 percent of the world’s energy, produce 75 percent of waste and emit 80percent of the carbon dioxide”, said Ablet Abdureshit, vice-chairman of the Chinese People’sPolitical Consultative Conference, who announced the opening of the grand event.

The carbon dioxide emissions of 287 small cities in China accounts for 72.6 percent of thenation’s total. The top 100 cities ranked by GDP are responsible for 51.7 percent of thoseemissions, according to Niu Wenyuan, chief scientist and leader of the sustainable developmentstrategy research group under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Eco-cities will be a huge breakthrough in energy conservation, emissions reduction, and the low-carbon industry. Cities can be the pioneers in abandoning obsolete developmental strategiesand the “high input, high consumption, and high pollution” model, he said.

Eero Kalervo Paloheimo, an internationally known ecologist, said China can become a leader ineco-city development.

“All the different branches of industry need renewal. New kinds of traffic, energy production andrecycling technologies are needed. The long period of industrialization in the West has createddependence, which is not easy to resolve. It is apparently easier for China to make deep,general and radical changes to the structures of production,” he said.

“China and Singapore had decided to build the Sino-Singaporean eco-city in Tianjin, the first ofits kind in the world. Now, not only the planning, but also the construction is under way. For aWesterner, it’s amazing.”

Paloheimo expressed his faith in the Tianjin Binhai New Area.

“I have no doubt that the project, as an eco-city standard-setter, is a great step toward a newera. It will absolutely be a tourist attraction for designers from Europe and the United States“.

Zong Guoying, head of the Tianjin Binhai New Area, said: “The Second China (Binhai Tianjin)International Eco-City Forum and Expo will lead in-depth and profound discussions based on hotsubjects, including the development of eco-cities, global cooperation, ecological finance policies,and low-carbon development and standardization, to explore innovative approaches andstrategies to build eco-cities”.

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