China News Agency, Hohhot, December 31st: Why does China's governance of the Kubuqi Desert impress the world?
——Interview with Gai Zhiyi, an economist and deputy director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Committee of the CPPCC Inner Mongolia
China News Agency reporter Li Aiping
Economist Gai Zhiyi has spent a lot of energy studying the Kubuqi Desert in his academic career, and he can easily learn the history and current situation of the Kubuqi Desert.
Even when the Kubuqi Desert New Energy Base Project officially started construction in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia a few days ago, he would share it with reporters as soon as possible.
According to official media reports, this is the world's largest wind power photovoltaic base project developed and constructed in desert, Gobi, and desert areas, and it is also China's first 10-million-kilowatt new energy large base project to start construction.
Gai Zhiyi mentioned in an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "Dongxiwen" that the governance of the Kubuqi Desert is amazed and impressed by the world time and time again.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Agency reporter: Please tell us about the general situation of the Kubuqi Desert.
Gai Zhiyi:
The Kubuqi Desert is located in the north of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on the south bank of the Yellow River, surrounded by the Yellow River on the west, north, and east sides.
It starts from the opposite bank of Bayangol in the west and reaches the opposite bank of Tuoketuo in the east.
Like a yellow dragon, the Kubuqi Desert lies in the northern part of the Ordos Plateau and on the south bank of the Yellow River, across parts of Hangjin Banner, Dalat Banner and Jungar Banner. It is about 360 kilometers long from east to west and 40 kilometers wide from north to south. And lattice sand dunes are the main ones.
With a total area of about 18,600 square kilometers, it is the seventh largest desert in China and the closest desert to Beijing. The straight-line distance is only more than 800 kilometers. It is called "a basin of sand hanging over the capital".
Kubuqi Desert.
Photo by Liu Zhaoming
China News Agency reporter: What are the main achievements in Kubuqi Desert governance in recent years?
Gai Zhiyi: You
don’t need to go back too many years, just take the past ten years as an example to see the world influence of the Kubuqi Desert.
In June 2012, the ecological civilization of the Kubuqi Desert was listed as an important achievement of the United Nations "Rio+20" summit and promoted to the world.
On September 23, 2013, at the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, "China's Kubuqi Desertification Control Case" was selected as the official promotional video, and presented to more than 3,000 representatives from more than 190 countries Loop.
On April 22, 2014, on the 45th "Earth Day", the Kubuqi Desert Ecological Governance Zone was established by the United Nations Environment Program as the "Ecological Economy Demonstration Zone" of the global desert, and it was regarded as the world's first ecological desertification area. The research object of the system.
The Dalat photovoltaic base is located in the middle of the Kubuqi Desert.
Photo by Liu Wenhua
In July 2015, the 5th Kubuqi International Desert Forum was held with the theme of "Desert Ecological Civilization, Building the Silk Road Together".
The conference reached 14 consensus points and provided intellectual support for the two outcome documents adopted, the Vision and Cooperation Framework for the Construction of Ecological Civilization after 2015 and the Kubuqi Action Plan for Global Desertification Control.
At the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris on December 1, 2015, the "China Kubuqi Ecological Wealth Creation Model and Achievement Report" contained several sets of figures: ecological wealth worth more than 460 billion yuan, more than 100,000 local farmers and herdsmen People have benefited from it, and a large part of them have been lifted out of poverty and become rich, creating employment opportunities for more than 1 million people (times).
The United Nations Environment Program released the "China's Kubuqi Desert Ecological Wealth Creation Model and Achievement Report" to the world at the Paris Climate Conference, affirming that the "Kubqi Desert Ecological Wealth Creation Model" has embarked on a comprehensive desert management based on China and benefiting the world the way.
In 2017, the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was held in Ordos. Kubuqi, as a successful practice of China's desertification prevention and control, was written into the declaration jointly drafted by representatives of more than 190 countries, becoming a global desertification combating model.
In 2017, the 13th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was held in Ordos.
Photo by Liu Wenhua
In 2018, the Central Propaganda Department took the management of the Kubuqi Desert as a major example of ecological civilization construction. The central and local mainstream media conducted intensive reports, presenting the miracle of the Kubuqi Desert turning into an oasis to the whole country and the world.
Officials believe that "the governance of the Kubuqi Desert provides Chinese experience for the international community to manage the environment and ecology and implement the 2030 Agenda."
In fact, the achievements of Kubuqi desert governance have contributed to the world the Chinese experience and wisdom of desert governance, ecological restoration, economic prosperity, and become a veritable Chinese ecological brand.
The Kubuqi desert management experience has not only been successfully implemented in major sandy areas such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hebei, and Jilin in China, but has also been widely spread to African desert countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Ghana, as well as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, etc. Asian countries such as Tanzania and Mongolia have shown the international characteristics of the "Kubqi Model".
China News Agency reporter: What do you think is the main reason why the Kubuqi Desert has attracted worldwide attention?
Gai Zhiyi:
The most important thing is that the outside world has indeed felt the changes visible to the naked eye.
The overall governance of the Kubuqi Desert has created a miracle of turning a desert into an oasis, and the biodiversity has been significantly restored.
The desert has grown from barren grass and birds to more than 530 species. Wild animals and plants that have been extinct for many years, such as swans, hares, and Populus euphratica, have appeared. .
In the past, the Kubuqi Desert pushed tens of meters to the bank of the Yellow River every year, inputting 160 million tons of sediment, but now the input of sediment has decreased by 80%.
After more than 30 years of arduous sand control, millions of acres of centimeter-thick soil have appeared in the Kubuqi Desert, and a large-scale desert land has been improved, which has initially met the conditions for agricultural cultivation.
At present, the control rate of the Kubuqi Desert has reached 25%, and the production and living conditions of farmers and herdsmen have been greatly improved.
Meteorological data show that the annual average number of strong wind days and the frequency of dusty weather in Ordos City have decreased significantly, the intensity has gradually weakened, and the ecological environment has improved significantly.
The vegetation in the Kubuqi Desert is increasing, the desert control area is more than 6,000 square kilometers, and the green area is more than 3,200 square kilometers.
People plant trees in the Kubuqi Desert.
Photo by Li Yongsheng
China News Agency reporter: Why do you say that the "Kubqi model" provides a very convincing example of Chinese-style modernization?
Gai Zhiyi:
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have successfully promoted and expanded Chinese-style modernization, and in the past ten years, the "Kubqi Model" has become a "Chinese sample" for global desertification control, providing a "worldwide example" for combating desertification. China Plan” and “Chinese Wisdom”.
This provides a very convincing example for the Chinese-style modernization model.
First of all, the "Kubqi Model" is the result of the three-dimensional joint efforts of the central government, local governments and enterprises.
Shi Zhengfu, a well-known economist and professor at Fudan University, believes that in China, apart from the central government and competitive enterprises, there is another economic entity, namely the competitive local government system.
In this three-dimensional market system, the organic combination of the strategic leadership of the central government, the development driving force of local governments, and the innovation vitality of enterprises makes the equilibrium investment rate of enterprises higher than that of the conventional market economy, providing investment impetus for extraordinary growth.
Second, the "Kubqi Model" is the result of China's policy continuity and long-term efforts.
In Ordos City, from the 1970s of "forestry and animal husbandry, diversified management", the 80s of "three kinds of five small" construction, the vegetation construction in the 1990s is the largest basic construction, and the grazing prohibition since the new century, Rest grazing, zoned rotational grazing, and the construction of a national ecological civilization demonstration area since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have produced the Kubuqi model over the years, which is very different from most policies in Western countries that can only produce short-term effects.
Thirdly, the "Kubqi Model" is the result of the active participation of farmers and herdsmen driven by grassroots organizations.
In Hangjin Banner, Inner Mongolia, Ao Tegenghua, leader of the Mongolian Female Migrant Workers Union, is known as the "Desert Rose". She is the leader of Daotu Gacha. She actively responded to the call and planted trees in the Kubuqi Desert to green the desert area. At the same time, through the guidance of the government and the leadership of the local sand industry, Ao Tegenghua and the migrant worker team she formed extended the governance model of the Kubuqi Desert to Xinjiang, Tibet and other places.
Ao Te Genghua was interviewed by the media as the torchbearer of the Beijing Winter Paralympics.
Photo by Sun Huijun
Under the leadership of grassroots organizations, the farmers and herdsmen around Kubuqi participated in sand control in seven new identities: "sand land owner, industrial shareholder, tourism small boss, migrant labor union leader, industrial worker, ecological worker, and new-style farmers and herdsmen" .
Actively explore a variety of long-term mechanisms such as "enterprises build bases, bases connect farmers, business-to-associations, associations connect farmers", "enterprises build bases, farmers land shares".
In short, the "Kubqi Model" interprets the Chinese-style modernization path, breaks the sole interpretation and discourse power of the West on modernization, and provides another vivid example. This is a very valuable thing.
(use up)
Respondent profile:
Gai Zhiyi, member of the CPPCC Inner Mongolia, deputy director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Committee of the CPPCC Inner Mongolia, second-level professor, doctoral supervisor of agricultural economic management.
He used to be the deputy dean of the School of Economics and Management of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, the director of the Institute of Higher Education, and the dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
In 2018, he served as a member of the CPPCC Inner Mongolia, and in 2019 as the deputy director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Committee of the CPPCC Inner Mongolia.
In 2022, he was elected as the vice president of the China Mongolian Society.
Published more than 300 papers in journals such as "Agricultural Economic Issues", "Economic Aspects" and "Rural Economics".
Published more than 10 monographs including "Research on the Sustainable Development of Grassland Ecological Economic System", "Modern Enlightenment of the Disappearance of Civilization", "The Road to a Rich Country and a Strong Region--Research on the Realization of a Comprehensive Well-off Society in Inner Mongolia", "Grassland Ecological Environment Protection from the Perspective of System".
The monograph "Policy Adjustment in Pastoral Areas - Taking Inner Mongolia as an Example" won the first prize of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.