Xiamen University teachers praise Changting's soil erosion fight

A group of 13 foreign teachers from Xiamen University recently visited the Changting Science and Education Museum of Soil Erosion Control to study how Changting county in Fujian province has successfully overcome its issue of severe soil erosion.

"At present, the world is facing more and more environmental challenges," said Stephan Steinke, a professor at Xiamen University. "Changting's successful experience in controlling soil erosion shows that we can deal with these challenges and let the environment return to its original state."

Changting used to be one of the areas with the most serious soil erosion in the red soil region of southern China. At that time, there was almost no grass on several mountains and they were full of loose red soil.

In 2000, the comprehensive control of soil and water loss in Changting was listed as a practical project of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and the Fujian Provincial People's Government.

After more than 20 years of hard work by the local government and people, the former barren mountains have been turned into oases, greatly improving local ecological and environmental systems, as well as contributing to the area's rural revitalization efforts.

The Science and Education Museum of Soil Erosion Control details the "Changting experience" with a large number of materials. Official statistics show that from 1999 to 2020, the area of soil erosion in Changting was reduced from 70,440 hectares to 21,000 hectares, while the rate of soil erosion was decreased from 22.74 percent to 6.78 percent, which was lower than the average level of Fujian province.

Pavlo Dral, a chemistry teacher at Xiamen University, said: "Changting's response to soil erosion is good decision-making. This is an example of how a country actually fights against ecological damage to prevent it from falling backwards."

He added that China's experience in environmental protection could also be shared with other countries like Ukraine, his home country, which also faces deforestation issues.

Doctor Sayed Ali Khan, associate researcher at the School of Electronic Science and Engineering at Xiamen University, said that Changting has achieved remarkable results in soil erosion control.

"The most important thing is that the government attaches great importance to it and invests a lot of manpower and material resources to fight this protracted battle," Khan added.

In his opinion, "a good environment will attract more people to live, and a good ecological environment can also drive the development of industry and economy".