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	Degraded Lands of China: Problems and Opportunities
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Field Workshop: Degraded Lands and Sustainable Utilization for China Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Guangdong Province, November 10-16, 2003

Introduction

An interdisciplinary group of about 40 Chinese natural resource scientists and Chinese environmental/natural resource NGO representatives from 17 of China's 26 provinces and municipalities, participated in a degraded-lands field workshop in Guangdong Province. Ten faculty and graduate students from the South China Agricultural University (SCAU) in Guangzhou participated. The workshop, the first of its kind, was sponsored jointly by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and SCAU and supported by The International Foundation (U.S.), and the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (China). The objectives of the field workshop were (a) to strengthen communications between environmental non-governmental organizations and the renewable natural resource science community in assessing degraded land problems, (b) to high-light degraded-land problems in South China, (c) to identify causes of land degradation, (d) to illustrate various sustainable solutions to improve degraded lands, (e) to assess any adverse, unexpected effects from implementing solutions and, (f) to improve the NGOs' abilities to work closely with local people and scientists.

Field sites visited

During five days in the field, the workshop participants visited the following sites:

• Dinghushan, a Man and the Biosphere Reserve (MAB), one of the last mountainous remnants of South China's native tropical, broad-leaf monsoon forest about 4.5 square miles in size;
• Heshan Ecological Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to see stereoagriculture (agriculture that varies with topographic position) and tropical forest research;
• Demonstration site for litchi-green food production in the 1300 square miles of litchi/longan orchards in western Guangdong;
• Sub-tropical orchard near Huazhou; intercropping of a wide variety of fruits and some vegetables on deeply weathered soils;
• Fast-growing eucalyptus tree plantation for paper production; cloned species to cover about 10 square miles near Huazhou;
• Rubber-tree demonstration site near Huazhou;
• Tangerine production on deeply weathered granite where chickens are used for pest control; near Huazhou;
• Chinese traditional medicine factory in Huazhou using tangerines as a base for medicine production;
• Xiaoliang Soil and Water Experimental and Extension Station near Maoming; multiple demonstrations of restoration on severely damaged land;
• Restoration of extensive oil-shale tailings at a mining site near Maoming;
• Qi'ao Island mangrove and egret habitat restoration near Zhuhai; mangrove restoration in the Pearl River from 75 acres to two square miles;
• Banzhangshan forest-park site in an abandoned rock quarry using fast-growing tree species in Zhuhai;
• Zhuhai Agricultural Science and Research Center; cloning of flowers; tea cultivation demonstration; new vegetable crops; animal raising, and agriculrural education and training;
• Xili litchi orchard in Shenzhen; production agriculture and tourism;
• Guanming State dairy farm in Shenzhen; large milk producer for Hong Kong.

Meeting objectives

1. The workshop was successful in strengthening communications between NGOs and natural-resource scientists (ecologists, foresters, biologists, etc.). The workshop was the first time environmental NGOs had participated directly with the renewable resources science community in the field in Guangdong.
2. The week-long, South China field trip introduced the environmental NGOs to a wide range of degraded land issues, some with which they were familiar and some not. Some of the NGOs were from arid/semi-arid parts of China, so the tropics and the land problems were new to them. Nevertheless, the NGOs recognized that a need exists for scientists and non-scientists to work together whether in the tropics or elsewhere in finding solutions. The boat trip through the restored mangrove brought this message home clearly.
3. Lectures presented at each field site were by experts familiar with the site and its history, and time was allowed for questions and answers. Afterwards, participants had time to investigate the sites themselves. Some discussions were conducted later using a portable microphone while traveling by bus, allowing many participants to express their views on the causes of the problems they had seen in the field and what should be done about them.
4. Many environmental NGOs from non-tropical parts of China understood the new techniques they saw in the field that were intended to improve degraded lands. This was borne out by their comments that a particular technique would not work in their home area because of certain constraints such as insufficient water, steep slopes, etc. NGO participants from South China provinces other than Guangdong recognized how such techniques could be applied to their own home areas as well.
5. Many NGO participants did not seem to grasp the importance of trying to anticipate unwanted secondary impacts that may arise from implementing a particular land improvement solution. Additional field experience with scientists will be of help.
6. We will not know for about six months whether the environmental NGOs after returning home decided to conduct similar field workshops in their home areas. Many said that they intended to do so, and though encouraging, is not a guarantee.

General observations during travel in Guangdong Province

General observations of Guangdong Province during the fieldtrip include: broad evidence of rapid economic development; expanded tourist activities within natural reserves and state farms; improved highways with growing automobile and increased truck traffic and traffic jams; numerous, large, active and abandoned quarries in the granite hillsides; numerous brick factories in urban and rural areas; rapid expansion of fruit production throughout the province; continued use of medical wastes as fertilizer in some litchi/longan orchards (a wide-spread practice the Chinese government wishes to end in five years); continued expansion of tree plantings with non-native species of eucalyptus, casuarina, and pine; and the extensive use of firewood in the countryside.

A significant increase in the amount of a green vegetative cover exists today in Guangdong than about ten years ago. Nevertheless, it seems largely the result of a normal "agricultural production" and "reforestation" approach rather than an "agroecological" approach.

Some effects of tourism development on natural reserves and research organizations

Evidence of increased tourism exists in natural reserves and state farms. Because the government has withdrawn support from many previously state-run operations, tourism activities probably are helping to offset the operations' reduced incomes. For example, the Dinghushan MAB reserve is under pressure from the local government to continue to open new areas of the reserve to money-making tourism activities. Here, an artificial lake was constructed for house-boat use and for general boating. In addition, an island within the lake was developed for tourist lodgings and souvenir shops were built around a newly completed plaza with giant replicas of ancient Chinese vessels and people. In one state farm for litchi production, life-size dinosaurs stand between the litchi trees; tourists ride tandem bicycles around man-made lakes and fishing ponds that are in turn surrounded by picnic areas. In another state dairy farm, the original excellent work on sustainable agriculture is lost amid such things as pony rides, grass-skiing slopes and fields, and the sale of milk-filled baby bottles for feeding tied up, three-month old calves. Yet, tourism at the Qi'ao Island mangroves clearly is helping in mangrove restoration. Here, restoration income from mangrove boat tours and bird (egret) watching is playing a positive role in providing funds to expand the mangroves.

Some evaluation comments from Chinese workshop participants

		Participants of the November 2003 China NGO Field Environmental Workshop on opening day at the South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou,PRC.

• I liked the workshop because the workshop was not organized by the government.
• I wish that more meetings of this kind would be held in China.
• It was good to learn of some success stories in ecological recovery.
• Workshops of a similar kind would be useful in many parts of China.
• Thank you very much for your excellent workshop and field sites.
• The field workshop was a wonderful experience.
• I was able to meet other scholars and experts and I learned a lot from them.
• If we want to introduce non-native species into China, we should be cautious.

On the last afternoon, we provided a time for anyone who wished to make a final statement about the workshop, degraded land issues, or whatever they felt was important. The following are representative of the participants' comments:

• Set up an information exchange network or web site for NGOs and scientists.
• Bring disciplines together more often.
• NGO/scientist meeting strengthened both.
• Repairing degraded lands is complicated and should be interdisciplinary.
• Poverty causes the most severe degraded land problems.
• Make sure that the poorest people get government assistance to repair the land.
• Stop land degradation before it begins.
• Make land "ownership" clear otherwise the result will be damaged land.
• Watch for potentially harmful legislation.
• Keep the focus on improving degraded lands.
• Increase the use of native plant species.
• Nature reserves are fine but how can people make money from them?
• Trees aren't the only solution.
• We need solutions to the wide-spread, abandoned quarry problem too.

Workshop participants' comments indicate that they believed that it was valuable to bring environmental NGOs and natural resource scientists together to increase the knowledge of both groups and to help close a communication gap between the groups. The workshop leaders encouraged the environmental NGOs to hold similar workshops in their home areas to help strengthen their arguments for requested government action on environmental issues. It seems clear that most environmental NGOs, though probably under funded, are striving to accomplish important conservation goals.

Follow-up activities

I informed the invited workshop participants on the workshop's closing day that in six months on May 16, 2004, FAS/SCAU will send each of them a questionnaire asking what accomplishments each has made to develop new activities to improve communications between environmental NGOs and their local scientific community. The focus will be on activities related to improving degraded lands and the sustainable use of the land. Data gathered will be used to help FAS/SCAU evaluate whether or not any long-term benefits had been derived from the environmental NGO workshop. In addition, FAS/SCAU will look for any additional unexpected benefits resulting from the workshop. The information gathered will be assessed and sent to the two institutions that provided workshop funding.