In December 23, 2021, the meeting for launching the key regional-level project -“The Research on the Technology for Monitoring, Evaluating and Pre-warning of Biodiversity in Inner Mongolia”& the meeting for the progress of the project was held in Hohhot City. Present at the meeting online or offline were the leaders concerned from the Science and Technology Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gao Guanglai, vice president of IMU, deputy director of the Office of Science and Technology of IMU and over 50 key members of 9 companies and institutions that are to carry out the project. The meeting was chaired by Liu Qifeng, deputy director of the Office of Science and Technology of IMU.

Meeting

Biodiversity is the basis on which human beings survive and that safeguards the development of eco-civilization and sustainable development of society. Xi jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote speech at the leaders’ summit of CBD COP 15. In his speech, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee called on the whole world  to ”join together to build a community of the earth for a shared future with eco-civilization philosophy and for the future of coming generations. ” Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is the very important shield for eco-security in northern China. It has diversified categories of eco-systems like forest, grassland, desert, wetland and water, which have rich and unique biodiversity and form the basis for regional ecological security and high-quality development. The protection of biodiversity is the basis on which we make lush mountains and clean water and follow the development path prioritizing ecological protection. For this purpose, the Science and Technology Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region funds the key scientific project titled “The Research on the Technology for Monitoring, Evaluating and Pre-warning of Biodiversity in Inner Mongolia” (Grant number: 2021ZD0011). The project is headed by IMU and co-implemented by Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Xi’an University of Technology, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Inner Mongolia Environment-Monitoring Station and Inner Mongolia Forest and Grassland Monitoring and Planning Academy.

Meeting

At the meeting, Han Yong, a director from the Science and Technology Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, addressed the meeting. He introduced the strategy of “Beijing-Inner Mongolia Cooperation” which will promote the development of Inner Mongolia via science and technology, social necessity and significance of the launch of the project. He hoped that the project team would make meaningful and practical achievements, centering on the building of the shield for the ecological security of the country and satisfaction of needs on the green development of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Five experts including Ma Keping, research fellow with the Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhang Shuli, engineer-in-chief of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region formed the expert team of the project. Prof. Li Yonghong who is in charge of the project, introduced the outlines of the general schemes for the design and implementation of the project. The leaders of five research groups of the project introduced the implementation plans of their researches and progress that they have made in their researches in 2021. The expert team approved the implementation plans and gave some advice on the efficient implementation of the research plans.

The project is intended for the fact that the basic information of biodiversity of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is incomplete and there is no system for monitoring and evaluation of biodiversity and risk pre-warning, and especially intended for the scientific and technological needs of such departments and agencies as the Department of Ecology and Environment of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in aspects of protection and monitoring of biodiversity. The project team puts its emphasis on the research of the system for the biodiversity survey and evaluation and formation of a database for biodiversity in Inner Mongolia. The team studies the factors influencing the pattern and change of key biodiversity-rich areas and proposes measures and suggestions in protecting and monitoring biodiversity. Moreover, with the integration of monitoring technologies in the space, air and on the ground, the project teams will study the index system for the evaluation and pre-warning of biodiversity and set up a biodiversity database to support the scientific monitoring of biodiversity. The implementation of the project will improve the scientific formulation and implementation of protection strategy and action plan of biodiversity in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, improve the targeted protection and scientific monitoring of biodiversity and provide the key scientific and technological support for the formulation of the significant ecological security shield in northern China and green and stable development of Inner Mongolia.