Yanchi Tan Sheep Huamachi Town Arid Grassland Case on Ecosystem Protection and Sustainable Development (Case 1)

DOI:10.3974/geodc.2021.05.01，CSTR:20146.22.2021.05.01，GCdataPR [2021]01

The case is led by Dr. Zhang Mingxin from Ningxia University，and launched by a team jointly composed of Ningxia University，the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research，Chinese Academy of Sciences，Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Yanchi，Yanchi Tan Sheep Group of Ningxia，Public Affairs Department of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The case has been listed as a case of the "Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability " (Case 1).

Tan sheep is a local sheep breed developed from Mongolian sheep, one of the three major local sheep breeds in China, through long-term natural evolution and artificial breeding. Yanchi Tan sheep have a high adaptability to semi desert and arid ecological and geographical environments. In 2005, "Yanchi Tan Sheep" (Class 29, registration number 3334050) was registered by the national trademark administration as a geographical indication certification trademark to prove the specific quality and geographical range of origin of "Yanchi Tan Sheep". In 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture awarded Yanchi Tan sheep as a geographical indication product for agricultural products; In 2016, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China awarded the Yanchi Tan Sheep National Geographical Indication Protection Product. Huamachi Town of Yanchi Tan sheep in Ningxia is a suitable ecological environment and habitat for Yanchi Tan sheep, and a core protected area for the continuation of Yanchi Tan sheep population. In 2021, it was included in the first case of "Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability ".

Yanchi County in Ningxia is located in the eastern part of Ningxia, at the border of Shaanxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia. Located at longitude 106 ° 33 ′ -107 ° 47 ′ E and latitude 37 ° 04 ′ -38 ° 10 ′ N, it is approximately 110km long from north to south and 66km wide from east to west. The county seat is approximately 131km away from the capital city of Ningxia, Yinchuan City. Yanchi County is under the jurisdiction of Wuzhong City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, with over 20 natural salt lakes distributed, hence the name "Yanchi". Yanchi County is located at an altitude of 1150-1600 meters and belongs to a typical continental arid grassland climate. It has four distinct seasons, with late spring and early autumn, long winter and short summer, sufficient sunlight, and strong evaporation. According to the records of Yanchi Meteorological Station (2011-2020), the average annual temperature in Yanchi is 7.8 ℃, with an extremely high temperature of 38.1 ℃ and an extremely low temperature of -29.6 ℃. The temperature difference between day and night can reach 20 ℃. The annual sunshine hours are 2180-3390 hours. The annual rainfall is generally 200-240mm, mostly concentrated in July, August, and September, accounting for more than 60% of the total annual precipitation. The annual evaporation is 1800-2400mm, which is about 10 times the annual precipitation.

A series of standards have been established for the geographical indication products of Yanchi Tan sheep, from variety identification to table supply. The standardized management of Yanchi Tan sheep is an important guarantee for the protection of Yanchi Tan sheep breeds, ecological and geographical environment, and the health and well-being of herdsmen.

Yanchi Tan Sheep Group of Ningxia is a state-owned sole proprietorship established by the People's Government of Yanchi County in 2017. It is a service enterprise for the people of Yanchi County, integrating the preservation, acquisition, processing, storage, sales, and promotion of Tan sheep meat. At present, the company has a Yanchi Tan sheep slaughtering and processing plant with a slaughter capacity of 300000, and has a stock of 5000 Yanchi Tan sheep ecological ranches. The company's role includes leading the marketing of Tan sheep, combining enterprise and scientific research, establishing a Yanchi Tan sheep species germplasm resource bank, resisting risks, and stabilizing farmer breeding.

As a germplasm resource protection site for protecting the species and genes of Yanchi Tan sheep, Yanchi Tan Sheep Group of Ningxia has established a series of related measures for protecting the excellent quality of Yanchi Tan sheep, established a demonstration farm, and built a monitoring system. Leading farmers in standardized breeding, demonstrating in the aspects of preserving, improving, stabilizing, and increasing efficiency of Tan sheep, ensuring the sustainable and permanent protection of the quality of Tan sheep in Yanchi. In the face of market instability and increased risks for farmers in breeding and sales, the company adopts a subsidy approach to reduce the risks borne by farmers in order to stabilize production. For example, in 2019, the company provided a subsidy of 30 yuan per sheep to households, with a total subsidy of over 6 million yuan.

In 2020, during the COVID-19, the company set up a "point-to-point" transaction service platform in villages and towns, made an appointment to transport sheep, provided mobile sheep purchase services, and provided special service vehicles to assist Tan sheep farmers to trade in Tan sheep, distribute forage in a unified way, and effectively address the needs of farmers for sheep supplement trading, slaughter, and forage distribution, providing irreplaceable support for resisting risks, mitigating disaster losses, and stabilizing farmers' income.

"Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability " is a science and technology support action plan sponsored by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, led by the Chinese Geographical Society, jointly promoted by the United Nations Consultative Information and Communication Technology Special Committee of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, the Institute of Geographic Science and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the World Data Center for Global Change Science Research and other units. Its purpose is to integrate basic sciences such as geography, resources, and ecology, as well as information and communication technologies such as geographic information systems, remote sensing and Earth observation, big data and the Internet of Things, with open science as the basic principle, to promote rural revitalization and regional sustainable development.

DATASET： ZHANG Mingxin, SUN Yongwu*, LI Bo, WU Genghong, BAI Yunjiang, WANG Yingjing, WANG Zhengxing, SHI Ruixiang, YU Xiaohan, LIU Chuang*. Yanchi Tan Sheep Huamachi Town Arid Grassland Case Dataset on Ecosystem Protection and Sustainable Development[J/DB/OL]. Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2021.05.09.V1.

DATAPAPER： Zhang, M. X., Sun, Y. W., Li, B., et al. GIES Case Dataset on Yanchi Tan Sheep Arid Grassland in Huamachi Township, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China[J]. Journal of Global Change Data & Discovery,2021.5(3):249-260. DOI: 10.3974/geodp.2021.03.04.

ZHANG Mingxin, Male, born in May 1980, from Tongxin, Ningxia, with a Ph.D., associate professor, and master's degree supervisor; Mainly engaged in teaching in geographic information systems and research on regional environmental health and sustainable development, and led the completion of one National Natural Science Foundation project; Three projects funded by Ningxia Natural Science Foundation. Mainly responsible for teaching courses such as Professional English, Land Use Planning, and Cartography for undergraduate students majoring in Geographic Information Science, as well as teaching courses such as Geographic Information System Applications for graduate students.Published two academic works as the first author and edited one professional course textbook as the chief editor; Published 20 academic papers in core journals. From 2018 to present, served as the Deputy Secretary General of Ningxia Geographical Society, responsible for the daily business work of Ningxia Geographical Society; Simultaneously serving as the Director of the Youth Professional Committee of Ningxia Geographical Society. During the period from 2020 to 2021, he participated in the "Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and completed the country's first high-quality geographical product habitat protection and sustainable development plan case: Yanchi Tan Sheep Huamachi Town Arid Grassland Case, which was published on the front page of the third issue of the fifth volume of the Journal of Global Change Data&Discovery.