In 2013, Jin Zhao investigated the sedimentary profile of the silt dam on the Loess Plateau
"My family lives on a high slope of loess, and the wind blows from the slope, whether it is the northwest wind or the southeast wind, it is my song, my song...". When I was a child, a song "Loess High Slope", which was popular all over the country, gave people a general understanding of the vast and profound appearance of the Loess Plateau. Growing up, we know that the Loess Plateau is an important birthplace of Chinese civilization. After that, the Loess Plateau seems to gradually "disappear" from people's lives, and no one mentions it again. Jin Zhao, a researcher at the Institute of Earth and Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, like many people, once upon a time, the Loess Plateau was an unfamiliar word to him. But unlike many people, his life later had a deep bond with the Loess Plateau. Following his research, journalists have gradually gained a deeper understanding and interest in the birthplace of civilization.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > deep into the hinterland of the Loess Plateau</h1>
Jin Zhao would engage in research on the Loess Plateau, something he had never expected. "When I was a child, I hardly read much, I mixed with a bunch of students with bad grades all day, and I had the idea of dropping out of school after graduating from junior high school." However, due to his young age and nothing to do, the family had to send him to high school. After entering high school, Jin Zhao gradually tasted the joy of reading in the process of groping. After graduating from high school in 1998, he was admitted to Hubei Nationalities College with a higher score. Although the university is average, the family is still very happy, because this is what they did not dare to expect before. After graduating from university, he wanted to obtain a master's degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but he did not go against his wishes and was not admitted. However, he did not give up, and after many turns, he finally successfully entered the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to pursue a doctorate. For this experience, Jin Zhao sighed: "Life is like this, no one can foresee what the future will look like." After nearly 10 years of hard work by universities and graduate students, Jin Zhao finally mastered a more comprehensive professional knowledge in the field of ecological and environmental sciences. So he often jokes with his 10-year-old son: "Your father started working hard from the age of 17 and has been working hard until now; you start working hard from the age of 7, and you must be better than me in the future."
In 2008, Jin Zhao successfully graduated from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After graduating with his ph.D., his supervisor, Researcher Dong Yunshe, wanted to keep him at the Beijing Institute of Geography. However, considering that his wife works in Xi'an, he also submitted resumes to some universities and research units in Xi'an. A very coincidental opportunity, he came to the Institute of Earth Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for an interview, and then decided to engage in postdoctoral research with Academician An Zhisheng. At that time, the Institute of Earth Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was implementing the "three transformations", which provided an opportunity for Jin Zhao to carry out modern ecological environment research. However, all of his research work during his Ph.D. had nothing to do with loess. This made his job face a big problem at the beginning: what exactly to do? In the early exploration, Jin Zhao felt very confused. "It's painful, I don't know what I should do, I can't find a research direction." Mentioning the helpless scene at that time, Jin Zhao still remembers it vividly.
Jin Zhao's research direction is gradually clarified after a long 4-year project experience. At that time, although the research was almost from scratch, the stubbornness of not accepting defeat made Jin Zhao persist. Faced with a dazed situation, he said in a loud voice, "Since you don't know what to do, then what to do." Therefore, in the original "973" project applied by Academician An Zhisheng, he learned more comprehensively about the Quaternary paleoclimate and paleoenvironment through the work of the project secretary. Subsequently, in the key deployment project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences "Evolution and Sustainability of the Modern Ecological Environment of the Loess Plateau" presided over by Academician Zhou Weijian, he once again served as the project secretary, comprehensively and systematically grasping the knowledge of the change and sustainable development of the modern ecological environment of the Loess Plateau and the Yellow River. Through this project, Jin Zhao deeply understood the research work of the natural environment background, natural and human factors, biological and engineering governance of the Loess Plateau, and successfully found the future research direction: evaluating the environmental effects of biological and engineering governance on the Loess Plateau, identifying the impact of natural and human factors, and proposing scientific and reasonable governance measures.
After getting rid of the confusion, Jin Zhao began to continue to exert efforts in the study of the Loess Plateau. In 2017, he visited Pennsylvania State University for a year to enhance understanding of hydrology and key belts on earth. In the same year, he also began to form his own small research team. At present, the team has more than 10 people, mainly engaged in three aspects of research: first, the small watershed return to forest and grassland and environmental effects, mainly for the slope of the farmland return to forests and grasslands project to provide scientific enlightenment; second, the ditch treatment project and environmental effects, mainly for the ditch engineering governance including silt dams, ditch reclamation and other scientific enlightenment; the third is the loess area of the ditch erosion evolution and solid ditch preservation, mainly for the degradation and shrinkage of loess mounds and the protection of the surface of the scientific and technological support.
When he was a child, Jin Zhao, who was born in the hilly area of Xianning, Hubei Province, did not have time to care about how the Loess Plateau, which was "far away in the sky", was formed when he and his friends were playing in the fields. Unexpectedly, many years later, Jin Zhao became an outstanding scholar in the study of biological and engineering governance on the Loess Plateau, and made his own contributions to the green water and green mountains and water and soil conservation management of the Loess Plateau.
In 2016, he led a delegation of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to inspect the Gugou Baoyuan Project in Qingyang City, Gansu Province, and exchanged work experience with the Qingyang Municipal Government.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the future governance of the Loess Plateau</h1>
After 12 years of investigation and research regardless of wind and rain, Jin Zhao has a deep love for the Loess Plateau. He proudly said: "The Loess Plateau is a very special existence in our country. There are also places in the world similar to the Loess Plateau, but the area and scale are relatively small. "However, in the past 500 years, with the accelerated population growth, the demand for land has also increased, and the expansion of cultivated land has directly led to the serious destruction of natural vegetation on the Loess Plateau and the serious problem of soil erosion."
"The state has also put a lot of effort into governing it." Jin Zhao said, "From 1950 to the present, the Loess Plateau has undergone a series of biological and engineering treatment measures, including afforestation, terraces, silt dams, comprehensive treatment of small watersheds, and projects to return farmland to forests and grasslands. In particular, the project of returning farmland to forests and grasslands implemented in 1999 has made great achievements. In recent years, some new engineering governance measures have gradually emerged, such as ditch control and land reclamation, solid ditch protection, etc., the main purpose is to maintain water and soil, improve the ecological environment, and promote sustainable economic and social development. ”
Having been engaged in the research of the Loess Plateau for a long time, Jin Zhao's knowledge and understanding of this land has penetrated deep into the bone marrow. He said that the current protection of the loess mound cannot be delayed. Although the Loess Plateau only accounts for about 10% of the total area of the Loess Plateau, the loess plateau is flat and easy to cultivate, with superior production and living conditions than other parts of the Loess Plateau. However, due to its severe channel erosion, the fragmentation and decomposition of the surface is very serious. Taking Dong Zhiyuan as an example, after more than 1300 years of natural and human activities, Dong Zhiyuan has been encroached on an area of more than 900,000 mu, with an average annual encroachment of about 690 mu, and the data is frightening. Not only that, but the destruction of the area has led to the danger of many areas being cut off and disappearing at any time, and once the prevention and control is not in place, the people of the town will be in danger.
In 2018, the National Natural Science Foundation of China officially launched the project "Catastrophe Mechanism and Prevention and Control of Major Projects on the Loess Plateau" presided over by Academician Peng Jianbing of Chang'an University. In this major project, Jin Zhao presided over the topic of "Loess Erosion Catastrophe Mechanism and Mutual Feeding Effect of Solid Ditch Baoyuan Project", and specially conducted research on "Gugou Baoyuan" in The Yuanqu District. During the field investigation and analysis, Jin Zhao and his team fully realized that the problem of Loess Ridge is not only a traditional soil and water conservation problem, but also a major social development issue related to homeland security, people's livelihood security and ecological security in Loess Area. In this regard, after many field investigations, investigations, observations and data analysis, the Jinzhao project team finally found that the rapid urbanization of the surface and the expansion of the traffic network are the culprits that lead to the intensification and shrinkage of the erosion of the current surface ditch. Therefore, on the basis of summarizing the experience of Dong Zhiyuan Gugou Baoyuan, the project team proposed a 6-character prevention and control system for the "Gugou Baoyuan" project in the Loess Area: Gugou Baoyuan: Gu, Ground, Pond (Lake), Pipe (Ditch), Well, Dam.
Jin Zhao said, "The Loess Plateau region includes 341 counties (cities), with a population of 108 million, rich in coal, oil, natural gas and non-ferrous metal minerals, and is an important energy and heavy chemical base and dryland agricultural production area in China. Therefore, improving biological and engineering control measures, promoting the economic and social development of rural areas and towns on the Loess Plateau, and curing poverty while curing ditches are important directions for the comprehensive management of the Loess Plateau in the future."
In the future, Jinzhao will focus his scientific research work on the shrinkage and degradation of the Loess Plateau and the preservation of solid ditches. He said, "The Loess Plateau is the wealth of the people of the Loess Plateau. Protecting the loess and protecting this fertile land from disappearing after a thousand years is both the responsibility and obligation of scientists. Although the task is arduous and the road is long, my generation will still seek up and down."