2016-11-214: 51:22 source: China land and resources newspaper authors: Qiao Siwei, Liao Rong, Zhang.

-Interview with Peter feinberg, Co-Chairman of the Global Land Program (GLP)

65438+1From October 24th to 27th, the Third Open Science Conference of Global Land Program was held in Beijing National Convention Center, with the theme of "Land System Science: Understanding Scientific Facts and Seeking Solutions" to discuss the frontier issues of land science. During the meeting, the reporter interviewed Peter feinberg, co-chairman of the Global Land Program (GLP). He said that the first two open science conferences of the Global Land Plan were held in the United States and Europe, and the third was held in Beijing, because China is a country with great influence on the world and faces many challenges in land use. At the same time, many experts and young students are engaged in the research of land system science, and this meeting is of great significance to promote the exchange between China and scholars around the world.

Q: As the co-chairman of GLP, what do you think of GLP as a global planning and land system science?

Peter: The Global Land Plan is an interdisciplinary community about land science and practice, aiming at promoting the development of land system science, encouraging the sharing of knowledge and practical experience, and providing comprehensive solutions for global sustainable development, especially the sustainable use of land.

Land system represents the interaction between human beings and the natural environment, and plays an important role in coping with food security, water resources acquisition, human livelihood, land degradation, biodiversity decline and climate change. Many challenges of global change are closely related to land system, and many sustainable development goals are closely related to the sustainable use of land.

In this case, land system science is more important than ever.

Build a bridge between the world and the region, science and practice.

Q: GLP is one of the core plans of the "Future Earth" proposed by the United Nations. What contribution can GLP make to land policy at the United Nations and regional level?

Peter: The land problem is a specific problem at the regional level, involving every specific land user and his rights. The research results of GLP provide relevant information and suggestions for the rational use of land in this area. At the national, regional, city and county levels, GLP can help decision makers to formulate reasonable multi-level spatial planning on the basis of scientific research and realize the sustainable use of land.

Of course, land use is not just a national problem. The land use of one country will affect other countries, which is also the importance of international cooperation. Many countries can't ensure food security, which leads to poverty, which is also the reason why the United Nations put forward the sustainable development goal. Sustainable development goals involve land use, biodiversity, food security and many other aspects, but the transition from global development goals to implementation level is indeed a challenge. In my opinion, GLP can help countries in need at the implementation level, analyze development opportunities and provide implementation tools to help them achieve the development goals set by the United Nations at an early date. We should build a bridge between the world and the region to help solve the transformation between global sustainable development goals and national policy implementation.

In addition, scientists from different countries also need to exchange, learn and share success or failure cases in different regions, just like our meeting. If one country takes a detour on a certain issue, other countries should avoid such mistakes, and GLP will also promote the establishment of an international cooperation platform.

Q: Besides holding international conferences, what other activities will GLP hold in the future?

Peter: The goal of GLP is to establish an interdisciplinary team. Besides holding international conferences, we have also set up a website where people can find relevant professionals for cooperative research. We will collect papers, understand the current stage of knowledge development, and clarify the vacancy of knowledge points. GLP will also hold small seminars to form a summary of a topic or a short policy statement. In addition, we will organize some practical research activities to guide the formation of successful practical cases, and issue overall guidance documents on this basis. At the same time, we also help researchers seek financial support. In short, our activities are diverse, both academic and practical, and GLP is essentially a bridge between science and practice.

Make policies based on scientific facts.

Q: At present, land system science has developed into a compound science, covering geography, ecology, economics, sociology and other aspects related to land use, and some policy suggestions drawn from different disciplines are conflicting. So, when formulating policies, which aspects will be given priority?

Peter: It is the responsibility of decision makers to decide what is the priority. Decision makers have great discretion when facing different stakeholders in the decision-making process. In my opinion, scientists and policy makers should pay more attention to the long-term vision and make clear what kind of society we want to build in the end, and whether the direction is based on the sustainable development goal. Therefore, the priority factor should be based on long-term vision rather than short-term goals. The role of scientists is to fully show the changes and long-term benefits brought by their policies to decision makers by monitoring the current situation, establishing models and evaluating them. To some extent, scientists can change the priorities of decision makers through scientific facts.

Q: The land scientists of china land science Institution and GLP have done a lot of scientific research and practice. Everyone is concerned about how these research results and practical experience can be used by decision makers, thus promoting the sustainable development of the whole society. What experience do you have in this field?

Peter: This problem actually involves three stakeholders: one is scientists, that is, academia; Second, policy makers; The third is the policy implementer. Their mutual cooperation is a great challenge. GLP is committed to establishing the connection between scientific research and policy making, not only to make them have a dialogue, but also to ensure that scientists have a certain influence on policy making.

Scientists must do long-term and in-depth scientific research and be responsible for the quality of research results. Policymakers should respond to land problems quickly and formulate relevant policies in a short time. Therefore, there is a contradiction between time-consuming scientific research and the policy of pursuing efficiency, which is also a challenge to the cooperation between scientists and decision makers. I believe that the cooperation between scientists and decision makers is an interactive and two-way process. Scientists should use their professional knowledge and experience to answer the questions of decision makers, and at the same time, they should lead and put forward new development problems to make decision makers aware of these problems. It is also flawed that decision makers only refer to scientists' answers to formulate policies, but put forward their own important problems from the perspective of management for scientists to solve together. Of course, scientists should also be an independent academic group, able to conduct independent research and point out possible problems, thus attracting the attention of the whole society, including policy makers. The questions raised by scientists may not be important now, but they may be very important in the future. According to my experience, compared with other countries, China has many successful cases of combining science with policy making.

Building a terrestrial system observation and research network, combining science, practice and policy.

Q: China has a good foundation in the construction of land science and technology platform network. China land science Institution itself is an important platform for land science and technology exchange. Land and resources departments at all levels also have some special land science and technology research and development platforms, as well as many universities and research institutes. In order to better integrate scientific research resources and carry out collaborative innovation, we are also building a network for observation and research of terrestrial systems in China, with objectives and design concepts similar to those of GLP. What good experience can GLP share? Where can we cooperate?

Peter: I'm glad to hear about this plan, which is also very important for the scientific research of the global land system.

China has a long history in land use and rich practical experience in seeking to solve land problems. There have been many successful explorations and cases in China, such as the successful implementation of returning farmland to forests, which is rare in the world. At the same time, China is also facing many challenges, such as the reduction of agricultural land area, land pollution and limited green space enjoyed by people in the process of rapid urbanization.

In my opinion, what the land system science research network can learn from the global land plan is to share different cases from all countries in the world. We can focus on some specific problems and see how one country successfully solved it and why another country failed. For example, the current sustainable urbanization is a great challenge for China. There are similar cases in the world, and China can share their solutions with other countries. GLP can assist exchanges between different countries and find solutions, including how to establish a terrestrial system observation and research network in China.

The land problem involves all aspects, which means that people from different disciplines need to cooperate and learn from each other, but it is very challenging for people from different disciplines to cooperate together. In a word, I think sustainable land use management is to learn how to achieve trade-offs.

The initiative to establish a terrestrial system observation and research network is very important, especially to combine science, practice and policy. As far as land use is concerned, the loss of high-quality land is a disaster. I really hope that I can do my best to help the construction of this network.

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GLP, Peter feinberg is also a sensitive word or an advertising suspect. Will he be killed? ^_^