Consortium Partners
This consortium, made up of 7 technically-relevant and renowned agencies with extensive backgrounds in biological and environmental sciences, ecological economics and political economy, also has extensive track records rich in national, regional and global experience.
CHINESE ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (CAAS), the 9,000 strong national research hub of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), covers all aspects of agricultural research. It comprises 39 research institutes, a graduate school and a scientific press. Twenty-five of its institutes deal with agricultural resources and the environment, 16 on plant research and 10 on animal husbandry, 8 on economics and five on agricultural engineering & new technology. CAAS has many researchers, academicians and professors.
In response to governmental requests to remedy serious ecosystem degradation related to the over-use of agricultural inputs, CAAS has established an Agricultural Tridimensional Pollution (ATriP) Centre. The ATriP Centre’s research is undertaking an examination of the soil as the interface and control system that can help to prevent or attenuate the transfer of harmful substances into plants, water and the atmosphere. Apart from better farming practices, potential agricultural pollution control mechanisms include economic incentives, awareness education, institutional capacity building and policy framework conditions. These are being studied to generate comprehensive recommendations
To fulfil its mission, the ATriP Center recruits human resource from within CAAS, namely the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, key laboratories of the MoA (e.g. Remote Sensing & GIS and Microbiological Collection of China), the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, and the Institute of Agricultural Economy and Development. In view of its research focus on agricultural ecosystems and its function as an integrator of multidisciplinary research, the ATriP Center has been selected to represent CAAS as the consortium leader in the context of the situation analysis.
CAAS’ research experience:
- Control of Agricultural Tridimensional Pollution in Rural China 2006-2008 (National Science Foundation)
- Influence of Climatic Change on Agriculture 2005-2008. This project includes the construction of a mesh climate database in China for developing an agricultural disaster early-warning system (2nd program stage in cooperation with UKCIP, the Hadley Center and DFID China)
- FACE Tests (Free-Air Concentration Enrichment) on Wheat & Soybean 2007-2009 (Sino-UK cooperation)
- Comprehensive Control of Exotic Organisms & Biodiversity Protection 2007-2009 (Sino-USA cooperation)
- Development of Sustainable Land Use and Management Strategies for Controlling Soil
- Erosion and Improving Soil and Water Quality 2005-2008 (in cooperation with IAEA)
- The Performance and Impact of China Poverty Alleviation Policy 2005-2006 (MoF, China and World Bank)
- Sustainable Development of Poverty Areas in Rural China 2003-2005 (UNDP and ADB)
- Sustainable Resource Use in Rural China: Institutions, Policies and Markets 2002-2004 (MOST, P.R.C. and Royal Science Academy, the Netherlands)
- Impact of Irrigation Management Transfer on Efficiency and Income Distribution 2001-2004 (NSFC), etc.
NINGXIA DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION (NDRC), a comprehensive agency under the jurisdiction of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Government formulates the annual plan for environmentally and socially sustainable development strategies for the whole region. Its functions also include monitoring the poverty situation in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, coordinating and organizing regional eco-environment construction and poverty alleviation work and facilitating national and international cooperation initiatives.
NDRC’s project experience:
- Reforestation project, Three-North Forest Shelterbelt Program, natural forest conservation, wetland protection and nature reserve project 2000-2010 (National Development and Reform Commission, State Forestry Bureau)
- Replacing cropland with pasture - Grain for Green, 2004-ongoing (National Development and Reform Commission, Ningxia Agricultural and Stockbreeding Bureau)
- Soil and Water Conservation, Irrigation with Yellow River Water, Drinking Water Security 1998-ongoing (National DRC, Ningxia Water Resource Bureau)
- International cooperation project on eco-forest planting and poverty alleviation 1996-2006, supported by Global Environmental Facility, WWF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Food Programme etc.
NINGXIA CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION (NCEPA), a leading NGO, cooperates with NDRC on poverty alleviation in coordination with other NGOs. NCEPA has connections to all segments of society that support and coordinate poverty alleviation activities to meet development targets, including lessening the income gap between the well-developed urban society in the coastal regions and the poverty-stricken rural society prevailing in large parts of the Western Chinese hinterland.
NCEPA also has extensive and long-term experience in training civil society and officials on poverty alleviation and development in poor regions. It has participated in and partially executed large projects on poverty alleviation, including the Special Agricultural Development Project (1983-1994), the Goat Raising Project for improving the living standards of a targeted 100,000 rural households (2000-2005), the Thousand Villages Poverty Alleviation Project (1998-2004), the Grass Cultivar Project (2002-ongoing), and a international project on sustainable agriculture (1996-2006), coordinated by the National Development and Reform Commission and supported by WFP, FAO, World Bank, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
In response to the migration situation in rural China, many projects have a strong gender component through cooperation with Ningxia Women’s Federation, e.g. by providing small loans to over 100,000 women in the Ningnan mountains. Examples of the ecosystem-oriented approach of NCEPA’s work are the returning of land from farming to forestry and grassland and the rearing of small-tailed Han sheep as yard livestock to generate income. It has also promoted the planting of potatoes on terraced fields with partial tree cover. Non-faming enterprises in the villages have also been encouraged and supported. In 2007 NCEPA was entrusted with the administration of public funds, a landmark in the history of government-supported poverty alleviation projects.
CAB INTERNATIONAL (CABI), a not-for-profit organization established in 1910, is owned by 45 member countries. CABI seeks to improve livelihoods and health by preserving and using biodiversity, promoting sustainable agriculture, encouraging the responsible use of natural resources, and reducing the existing gaps in access to scientific and technical knowledge. For two decades, CABI has worked in partnership with China on building the capacity of the country’s agricultural and related institutions. This mutually beneficial partnership led to China becoming a CABI Member Country in 1995. Currently China is undertaking a comprehensive review of CABI to advance this relationship further. CABI’s knowledge of China and its strategic presence there (including having a Beijing office and Chinese-speaking staff) will be a key advantage in underpinning the strength of this consortium.
The focus, experience and competencies of CABI can be summarized as follows:
- Local knowledge delivery - enhancing local access to and management of agriculture, health and the environment information by integrating international and indigenous information sources, linking national information networks, and establishing sustainable rural demand for access to information sources
- Global information access - improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of information access to global scientific literature in agriculture, health and the environment by information management systems that utilize public-private partnerships and ICTs
- Bio-intensive agriculture - introduction of bio-intensive approaches to crop production and natural resource management, including farm-level conservation of beneficial organisms, the establishment of commercial enterprises to promote biologically-based technologies, and the use of methods for evaluating the impact of environmental change and technology on sustainable agriculture
- Smallholder commodity support - improving livelihoods of smallholder commodity producers along the production-supply chain continuum through cost-effective, environmentally-sound production methods that give access to specialty markets, with positive effects on environmental conservation and community development
- Invasive species management - reducing, on a global scale, the threats posed by invasive alien species to environmental conservation and agricultural sustainability through projects that focus on invasive-species ecology & prevention, as well as by means of information dissemination and biologically-based management
- Microbial genetic resources - improving national and institutional capacity in in-situ and ex-situ conservation of microbial genetic resources for agriculture and natural resource management; supporting national diagnostic services and bio-industries to secure for developing countries the full IPR benefits of utilising and sharing indigenous micro-biodiversity
UNEP-WORLD CONSERVATION MONITORING CENTRE (WCMC): The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme, the world's foremost intergovernmental organization, and WCMC 2000, a UK-based charity.
Host of the Technical Support Unit for the Condition and Trends Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and a co-author of the MA reports: Current State and Trends, Ecosystems & Human Well-being: Synthesis, Ecosystems & Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis.
UNEP-WCMC will, together with UNEP, be leading the production of a technical manual to provide detailed guidance on conducting assessments of ecosystem services in relation to human well-being.
Authors of a Reference Manual for UNEP-ETB on ‘Guidance on incorporating biodiversity in agriculture trade policy assessments’, based on the MA conceptual framework and including economic valuation.
Authors of the ‘Marine and Coastal Ecosystems and Human Well-being’ synthesis report based on the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
Co-author of the current WRI-led project to produce a ‘Guide to Mainstreaming Ecosystem Services in Development Decisions’.
Authors of a report to DFID, ‘Biodiversity and Poverty Reduction: The importance of biodiversity for ecosystem services’.
Co-authors of UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook, including assessment of ecosystem services and contributions to scenarios.
Reviewers of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), including coverage of biodiversity and ecosystem services. UNEP-WCMC has worked with the World Resources Institute (WRI) on integrating models of land use change, hydrology and oceanography for the International Coral Reef Action Network Mesoamerican Reef Alliance (ICRAN-MAR) initiative.
WALKER INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE SYSTEMS RESEARCH of the University of Reading (WI) delivers world-leading research at the frontiers of climate system science. It draws together a number of internationally-renowned climate system research groups and centres with expertise across a wide range of core disciplines that are central to climate system science. One of these research groups is the Crops and Climate Group, which was formed in 2004 to consolidate the novel research at the interface of Agriculture and Meteorology being done at the University. WI is an interdisciplinary research group that includes crop scientists, physicists and climate scientists from across the University, including those from the internationally-renowned Departments of Agriculture and Meteorology at Reading.
WI’s achievements include the development of a new combined weather and crop forecasting methodology. WI now has the capability to provide country- and region-level forecasts of the impacts of climate variability and change on crops. The tools it has developed open up a new range of opportunities for improved assessments of the impacts of climate variability and change on food production. Members of the Crops and Climate Group work closely with staff from the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research of the UK Met Office, and from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts. WI organised the Royal Society Discussion Meeting ‘Food Crops in a Changing Climate’ in April 2005.
NATURAL CAPITAL PROJECT (NCP), an international partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy, seeks a future in which conservation is mainstreamed - that is, a future in which conservation is economically attractive and commonplace throughout the world. Its unique partnership, comprising two of the world’s leading conservation organizations and one of the world’s finest research universities, develops novel tools that are applicable anywhere, but are tailored to individual locations, for assessing ecosystem services and informing decisions. The NCP seeks to develop and deploy better-integrated approaches to resource use that emphasize a broader consideration of both the economic and social context of conservation decisions. By demonstrating the power of this approach, providing the tools needed to replicate it elsewhere, and communicating effectively to governments, the private sector and the public, the project aims to improve ecosystem management practices worldwide.
