The 2023 Conference on GIES of the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain was Held in Feng County

Zhu, Y. Q.^1,2  Li, L. M.¹  Chi, X. X.³

1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;

2. Geographical Society of China, Beijing 100101, China;

3. Fengxian Data Center, Jiangsu Province, Fengxian 221700, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2023.02.12

CSTR: https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.14.2023.02.12

The 2023 Conference of GIES for Ancient Yellow River Floodplain Area was held from 2^nd to 4^th, June 2023 in Feng county, Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province, China. The conference was co-sponsored by the Big Data Working Committee of the Geographical Society of China (GSC) and the Peoples Government of Feng county, Jiangsu province. The honored guests attending this conference are as follows: Prof. GONG Ke, Advisor of Innovation China Initiative launched by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)- Professional Science & Technology Service Team of GIES (hereafter “Innovation China -GIES”), Chairman of the Consultative Committee on Information Communication of CAST, Chairman of the China Committee of the World Engineering Organization Alliance, Executive Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Science Committee of Nankai University, and Fellow of the International Science Council; Dr. HE Changchui, Advisor of Innovation China -GIES, former Deputy Director General of FAO, and Academician of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences; Prof. ZHANG Guoyou, vice President and Secretary General of GSC; Prof. LIU Chuang, PI of Innovation China-GIES and Director of the World Data Center on Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository (GCdataPR); ZHONG Weihua, Deputy Mayor of Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province; Prof. WANG Zhenbo, Leader of Planning Group of Innovation China-GIES and Director of Department of International Cooperation of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereafter“IGSNRR”); ZHOU Lei, Member of the Standing Committee of Yucheng City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Deputy Mayor of Yucheng city, Shandong province; SHAO Yonghong, Deputy Chief of Zhenba county, Hanzhong city, Shanxi province; MAO Xiaoquan, Deputy Secretary of the Feng county Committee of CPC and the Chief of Feng county, Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province; and LU Fei, Deputy Secretary of the Feng county Committee of CPC. Approximately 200 participants, including experts from Innovation China-GIES, government officials, representatives from universities, institutes, and enterprises, took part in the conference.

On June 2nd, conference participants visited the Xu Zhou Under-City Ruins Museum, where they systematically learned about the historical culture of Xu Zhou. They experienced the unique phenomenon of ancient Xuzhou city repeatedly flooding and rebuilding since its inception, presenting a spectacle of “city under city, streets under streets, wells under wells”. Subsequently, unveiling ceremonies for three GIES cases were held in Fanlou town, Liangzhai town, and Dashahe town in Feng county, namely, “Ancient Yellow River Flooding Area of Feng county’s Burdock”, “Ancient Yellow River Flooding Area of Feng county’s Pears”, and “Ancient Yellow River Course (Dashahe) of Feng county’s Apples”. ZHANG Guoyou, LIU Chuang, LU Fei, and the experts of the GIES case jointly unveiled the three cases. Following this, conference participants conducted field visits to the farmlands, thoroughly inspecting the development of Feng county’s distinctive agricultural industries.

On June 3rd, the opening ceremony was hosted by WANG Zhenbo. ZHANG Guoyou delivered a speech on behalf of the organizers, emphasizing the focus of the event on the unique geographical unit of the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain Area. The objectives of the event were to explore the natural geographical features, historical and cultural context of the region, and their relationship with GIES products. He expressed confidence that with the support of Xuzhou city, the Feng county government, numerous experts, public participation, and corporate efforts, the conference would achieve the expected results, injecting greater impetus into the economic and social development of Feng county. ZHANG Guoyou hoped that this event would serve as a model for the high-quality development of the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain Area and contribute to regional economic and social development. ZHONG Weihua and MAO Xiaoquan also spoke at the conference, expressing warm congratulations and welcome to the convening of the conference. They stated that Feng county would take this opportunity to further improve policies supporting the development of characteristic agriculture, actively nurture new industries and business models, build well-known agricultural brands, and vigorously promote GIES products from the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain area, such as Feng county’s burdock, Feng county’s apples, and Feng county’s pears, bring these high-quality geographical products into the scientific community. This effort aimed to enhance the brand awareness and competitiveness of Feng county’s agricultural products, promote the high-quality development of agriculture, and boost farmers income.

LIU Chuang delivered a keynote speach on “GIES Multi-partnership Cooperation Mechanism and Action Roadmap for the 2021-2030”. She provided a detailed introduction to the “2021-2030 Ten-Year Action Plan of Innovation China-GIES”, emphasizing the core idea of SDGs. The plan focused on “proposing solutions for challenges”. The implementation of the Action Plan started with cases at the county level and administrative units below the county level (including towns and villages), using a bottom-up approach with “good practices” as typical cases to promote regional development. A combination of “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches was used to promote the overall development of the region. LIU Chuang pointed out that the core issues addressed by the action plan were how technology could identify environment protection and how to help transform them into sustainable development, and contribute to common prosperity. In response, the action plan proposed the “7654321” solution, integrating the efforts of the seven sectors (production, education, research, government, youth, public, media), to link the six aspects (variety, quality, appearance, brand, behavior, taste), to link the five sectors (science, technology, engineering, management, culture), to promote the four flows (information flow, logistics flow, human flow, capital flow) and to facilitate the transformation of the “two mountains” through a three-stage process (individual cases, case clusters, case collections). This approach aimed to support the beneficiaries in the market economy, including the “guardians” of the "green mountains and clear waters" and the producers of GIES products, while allowing researchers to identify scientific problems, propose solutions, and benefit from public-interest scientific research.

During the conference, the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) and the Feng county Public Data Center in Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province, signed an intention agreement to establish the “World Data Center for Global Change Science—Subcenter for the Protection and Sustainable Development Applications of High-Quality Geographical Product Habitats”. The objective of this collaboration is to achieve coordinated development of regional ecological environment protection and socio-economic progress through the widespread application of scientific data. The partnership aims to drive data-driven initiatives that contribute to the conservation of habitats for GIES products.

Additionally, the IGSNRR entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with the China University Ecological Civilization Education Alliance. The agreement ou­tlines collaborative efforts in the areas of GIES products, and ecological civilization research and education. Both parties are committed to working together to promote scientific communication and media outreach, thereby expanding social impact.

Subsequently, ZHANG Guoyou presented letters of appointment to the advisors and experts of the GIES Team, officially announcing the establishment of the GIES Team- Enterprise Group. He issued certificates to the members of this newly formed group. Professor HAN Maoli from Peking University and Professor MA Xiaodong from Jiangsu Normal University delivered keynote speeches on “Historical Major Changes in the Yellow River Course and the Yellow River Floodplain Area” and “Research on Models and Paths for Building a Sustainable Development Demonstration Zone in Xuzhou”, respectively. These presentations focused on the past, present, and future of the ancient Yellow River floodplain Area.

On June 4th, focusing on the theme of “Research on the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain Area”, engineers SUN Tao from the Institute of Chinese Historical Geography at Fudan University, Senior Engineer ZHANG Xiangping at the Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Science Research under the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, Associate Professor YE Yu from the Faculty of Geography Science at Beijing Normal University, and Professor LIU Jie from Shandong Heze University made professional presentations. SUN Tao talked about research and information extraction on ancient channels of the Yellow River in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and GIS data representation. ZHANG Xiangping presented an analysis of the impact of the 1938 breach on the Huayuankou section of the Yellow River on the regional ecological environment. YE Yu explored the spatiotemporal patterns of rural settlements in the Yellow River Delta and their response to Yellow River channel changes since 1855. LIU Jie presented a research report on comprehensive development strategies for the Yellow River Ancient Channels in Heze, Shandong. Additionally, on the theme of “Intellectual Property Protection of GIES Products and Regional High-Quality Development”, Professor GU Xin from the Intellectual Property Development Research Centre of the National Intellectual Property Administration, Professor ZHU Yunqiang from IGSNRR/CAS, Associate Professor ZHANG Mingxin from Ningxia University, and Professor MO Xingguo from IGSNRR/CAS gave presentations.

GU Xin discussed intellectual property protection and the use of geographical indications in China, while ZHU Yunqiang presented an investigation and evaluation of the genuine geographical features and ecological civilization models of Beautiful China. ZHANG Mingxin’s report focused on the case study of tan sheep on habitat protection and sustainable development of arid grassland in Huamachi town of Yanchi, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, and MO Xingguo discussed a case study of Lipu Taro-Rice Rotation Permanent Farmland Ecosystem Protection and Sustainable Development, Guangxi.

During the closing ceremony, LIU Chuang gave a summary of the conference. She expressed that the theme of the conference, “Science and Technology Supporting Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability (GIES) Ancient Yellow River Floodplain Area”, facilitated in-depth discussions on utilizing technological means to drive rural revitalization and sustainable development in the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain area. She noted that Feng county’s Ancient Yellow River floodplain Area had suffered historical hardships from the Yellow River breaching and flooding. After liberation, the Yellow River no longer flooded, and the people of Feng county worked hard to transform the land, which had been severely affected by the Yellow River floods, into the original production area for GIES products such as apples, pears, and burdock. They also transformed areas such as the Ancient Yellow River Channel and Dashahe into beautiful parks through a series of management activities such as flood control, sand control, saline-alkali control, and locust control. In conclusion, LIU Chuang announced that after careful discussions among the experts, the conference unanimously approved the proposal proposed by Peking University’s Professor HAN Maoli and entrusted Professor SONG Xainfang from the IGSNRR/CAS to lead the initiation of a proposal to relevant national authorities for the “Establishment of a Natural and Cultural World Heritage Site in the Ancient Yellow River Floodplain”.