The Ministry of Science and Technology sorted out a group of the field observation and research stations for prioritized development recently. Hunan’s Dongting Lake Wetland Ecological System Field Observation Station was on the list. So far, Hunan has 5 national-level field observation stations.

A national field observation and research station is one of China’s scientific and technological innovation bases, and an important part of China’s scientific and technological innovation system. It serves for such sectors as ecology, geoscience, agriculture, environmental science, and materials science, and conducts research based on observation data of long-term field surveys.

The Dongting Lake station, on the basis of the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, focuses on wetland ecosystem observation and research covering the whole Dongting Lake watershed, including eastern, southern, and western Dongting Lake areas. It has collected dozens of years of systematic observation data. Over the past five years, it has undertaken more than 120 research projects, published more than 250 theses, and obtained five ministerial and provincial awards. Its advices on wetland protection and wetland agriculture development in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were adopted by the central government. Its wetland ecological remediation work has been well-known in and out of the province.

The station will roll out a five-year operation plan, to further integrate and share resources, and map out current, and medium and long-term plans oriented to key problems in wetland science. It aims to, after 5 to 10 years, become a first-tier observation station in China, and make breakthroughs in Dongting Lake landscape and watershed management, connections between wetland ecological service function and global climate change, and wetland resource sustainable utilization and ecological management. After one to two decades, it will become an internationally influential observation station, and provide crucial scientific and technological supports to Dongting Lake ecological protection and remediation.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.voc.com.cn