"There is still a long way to go to turn China from a big country in ecological resources into a leading power in ecological science." Li Wenhua, the well-known Chinese ecologist, made the above remarks on the occasion of the recently-held 30th anniversary celebration of Ecological Society of China.
Li said that for the last 150 years, ecology has undergone a tortuous process of development, from a never-recognized "ugly duckling" to a "white swan" which attracts wide spread attention.
"Nowadays in China, in the political, business and scientific communities, as well as among the public, ecology has become a term and a research area which receive wide attention. " Qu Jiuhui, Director of Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out.
"Nevertheless, there are also circumstances where ecological terms are abused, ecological connotation is distorted and echo-building is alienated. The development of ecology is still facing great challenges."
Although China has a long history of concern over ecology and has plenty of simple knowledge about ecology, it is only after the founding of new China that a more systematic study on ecology was started, which has put China a total of 80 years behind the international community. Li pointed out that in spite of some interferences, there has been an overall rapid development in China's ecological studies. In this process, the Ecological Society of China has no doubt played an important role in promoting the development of China's ecology.
Li Wenhua said that today ecology has ushered in another spring. "The human-oriented, all-round, balanced and sustainable" scientific outlook on development has provided a policy support for the development of ecology. At the same time, the rapid development of China's economy and the continuous growth of China's national strength have laid a substantial foundation for the development of ecology. The state funding for ecology studies and eco-building is increasing year by year and experimental equipment has constantly been updated, a network of positioning and observational study of ecosystem structure and function has been formed. The Ecological Society of China has become an important force in the field of international ecological study and has become an important scientific support institution for the national eco-building and sustainable development.
"We should develop ecology with Chinese characteristics," Li stressed, "There are natural geographical differences in ecology, at the same time, ecology has its own characteristics due to economic and social development as well as different cultures of different countries. Other countries might not be able to do what we can do in China."
While appealing to the authorities to revise and improve the current system of performance assessment and outcome evaluation in scientific research as soon as possible, Li called on the young ecological workers, under the circumstances in which the macro-environment is yet to be improved, to willingly accept the fact of being left alone and be indifferent to fame and gain, conduct the basic researches in a down-to-earth manner, and in international exchange and cooperation and even in international competition, to be reasonable and restrained, to be neither humble nor arrogant, and to achieve mutual benefit; in scientific research and practice, one should pay attention to grasp the detailed and accurate first hand information and at the same time develop team work to overcome difficulties in concerted efforts; we should neither be complacent nor should we underestimate our own capabilities.
Liu Shirong, Director-General of the Ecological Society of China and Vice-President of Chinese Academy of Forestry Science, said that the Ecological Society of China will further strengthen the cohesive force and solidarity of the Society, enrich and create a more relaxed, free and democratic academic environment, promote a wide rang of academic exchanges and academic debates to better serve the national ecological civilization. |
