Text | WWF project groups
What gives the earth a variety of colors?
Mountains and lakes, forests and oceans, wetland grasslands, birds and animals, flowers, birds, insects and fish...
All kinds of creatures make up a colorful nature,
Every color of nature is worth guarding.
Wetlands, forests and oceans constitute the three major ecosystems on which we live, and the production of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries allows us to reproduce. Human beings need an ecosystem of coexistence and co-prosperity, and they need the guardians of nature, not just the porters of nature.
As the first Chinese enterprise to sign the Un CONVENTION on Biodiversity Commitment on Business and Biodiversity, Yili has released the Biodiversity Conservation Report for four consecutive years since 2017, sharing Yili's successful experience in business-based biodiversity. From the supply chain to the pasture, from the production and marketing model to the market, from the group management to the ecological environmental protection, from the top to the bottom of the internal and external repair in yili group.
Cattle eat and live
Sustainable palm oil (e.g. RSPO) in the supply chain, organic soybeans. WWF proposes to focus on the procurement and use of feed, soybeans and palm oil, give priority to the use of products with sustainable forest certification (such as FSC packaging materials), and consider more about the water in production, carbon emissions, the environment of the production area and its biodiversity, and whether the use of land will bring environmental pressure to the local area. For example, the quality of protein in dairy products is important for human health, but the way we produce and consume protein is already putting pressure on the land and marine resources, as well as our climate and health. Global food production is the largest anthropogenic land use, accounting for 50 per cent of habitable land. Livestock production accounts for 77 per cent of agricultural land, with uses including feed production, pasture and grazing. Sustainable land management can address food security while preventing the loss of nature's contribution.
Providing adequate food to 10 billion people by 2050 means that food production needs to increase by 50 percent, while about 33 percent of the world's food available for food is lost or wasted, with about 56 percent of it occurring in developed countries. Increasing productivity can slow the expansion of agricultural land, but inefficient or unsustainable agricultural systems often contribute to environmental and soil degradation and biodiversity loss, and increased levels of crop specialization and distribution can increase the risk of poor harvests.
Together with the animal protein feed production industry, we want to find sustainable and commercially viable solutions, and retailers and food companies can also play an important role. Over the past 50 years, the amount of land used for cultivation around the world has increased year by year, mainly at the expense of forests, wetlands and grasslands that have the role of regulating water quality, carbon storage and maintaining biodiversity. Due to the limited expansion of agricultural production land, the future of feed production must shift in the direction of improving land use efficiency and synergistically addressing the looming global problem of biodiversity loss.
We expect companies to take action to develop sustainable animal feed production in two key phases, one is to build a knowledge system through research and professional dialogue with the supply chain on animal feed ingredients, and the other is to build corporate strategies by setting feed production targets, setting technological innovations, and identifying sustainable development partners.
Yili's feed procurement for dairy cows and the procurement of dairy ingredients will not only consider quality and food safety, but also consider ecological safety issues. Whether it is soybeans in China or palm oil in Southeast Asia, priority will be given to sourcing raw materials with sustainability certification.
Satisfaction of the cows
In September 2019, at the "2019 World Farm Animal Welfare Conference" jointly sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the China Association for the Promotion of International Cooperation in Agriculture, Yili once again won the title of "Corporate Social Responsibility Public Welfare Model". In the design of each farm, Yili considers the comfort of the cow's winter life, installs a temperature-controlled heating sink to ensure that the cow can also drink water normally in winter; in order to make the cow "rest well", design and install standardized beds, rubber mats, automatic cow body brushes, etc., and regular hoof repairs for the cows to improve the quality of cow rest and life. In addition, Yili has also established a professional veterinary team, which has effectively reduced the incidence of epidemic diseases in dairy cows.
Entering the harvest season, the pasture grass of arukorqin banner is growing well
Pastures are just the beginning in the beautiful prairies, and Yili is also very concerned about grassland degradation, desertification, and the livelihood of indigenous peoples who are highly dependent on raising cattle and sheep.
After scientific research and analysis, the forage planting mode of combining planting and breeding was implemented in the 55,000 mu high-quality forage production base in Arukorqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, and the mechanized and water-saving sprinkler irrigation technology was used to plant alfalfa. The root whiskers of Alfalfa are relatively developed, and the effect of sand fixation is very good; in addition, its leaf area index is high, so the efficiency of absorbing carbon dioxide is relatively high. Moreover, alfalfa is roughage and can be harvested 2-3 times a year, which greatly reduces the cost of breeding for dairy farmers.
In view of the traditional dairy farming industry facing manure treatment difficulties, high feed costs and feed production technology problems, financial difficulties, lack of land resources and a series of challenges, since 2013, Yili in large-scale breeding pasture to implement "planting and breeding integration", according to estimates, 1 ton of dry straw feed utilization can replace 500 kg of grain, 1 ton of manure nutrient content equivalent to 20-30 kg of fertilizer. Yili follows the principle of "raising seeds with seeds and promoting breeding with seeds", promotes the development of high-quality forage planting in large-scale breeding pastures, improves the efficiency of the use of manure resources, and helps the pastures solve the dual challenges of environment and development.
In 2020, Yili's "integration of planting and breeding" project will cover 272 cooperative farms, driving upstream partners in the industrial chain to embark on the road of green ecological development and create a truly green dairy supply chain.
Milk processing today and in the future
Carbon inventory of the plant. Since 2010, Yili has carried out carbon inventory for eleven consecutive years, systematically accounted for the greenhouse gas emissions of all its enterprises, and basically formed a carbon emission database for dairy processing and manufacturing processes, which is the first enterprise in the industry with independent carbon inventory capabilities. Taking 2010 as the base year, Yili has reduced its emissions by 6.51 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 11 years, which is equivalent to saving 10.7 billion kWh according to the grid emission factor of 0.6101 tons of carbon dioxide/MWh.
Forest system protection in packaging materials. Continuously increase investment in research and development of packaging materials, and conduct research and achievement transformation from many aspects such as reducing the amount of packaging materials, reducing the energy consumption of packaging materials, and using green packaging materials. It is reported that Jindian organic milk currently uses FSC forest certified packaging materials for all product packaging, and in 2020 alone, Jindian used 4.946 billion packages of FSC packaging materials, which is equivalent to promoting the operation of 185,500 mu of sustainable forests. In the Statement of Principles on Forests adopted by the Conference in 1992, sustainable forest management is defined as "sustainable forest management means the maintenance of biodiversity, productivity, renewal capacity, vitality and the ability to self-recover at the present and at a certain speed, in the management and use of forests and woodlands, in some way and at a certain speed, without harming other ecosystems".
Blue-headed diving duck
Ecological protection in the public advocacy of "Organic Spring". Zhang Shaohan, Wu Qingfeng, Wu Dajing, And Faye Wong have successively joined the public welfare communication activities sponsored by WWF and Yili Jindian, and the annual global "Earth Hour" activities "Wetland Day" and "Biodiversity Day" have designed colorful online and offline activities, so that more members of the public can increase their attention to ecological environmental protection by virtue of their understanding of birds, wetland cognition, FSC and other popular science content, and establish green consumption habits while consuming safe and nutritious foods.
Business for Good Management and Implementation
Food safety is the foundation of quality, and improving nutritional value is the guarantee of quality. WWF hopes that enterprises can also consider ecological security while considering the needs of users, and pay attention to the threat of decline in the unsustainable demand of natural resources. Adapting the company's production methods to environmentally friendly production is also being carried out in our cooperation with Yili Jindian.
Our project was selected in the south of the Songnen Plain in the northeast region. The Songnen Plain is the main distribution area of the swamp wetland in northeast China, with a wetland area of more than 1 million hectares, including internationally important wetlands such as Zhalong, Xianghai, Horqin and Momog, and is an important breeding ground and migration stop for rare and endangered waterbirds such as red-crowned cranes, white cranes and oriental white storks.
At the same time, the Songnen Plain is also one of the important commodity grain bases in China. In the past, unsustainable agricultural activities led to drought, water shortage, thin soil, compaction, increased resistance (resistance) to diseases and insects, low efficiency of water and fertilizer, instability in total grain production, slow increase in yield, fragile ecological environment, and the comparative benefits of corn planting decreased year by year.
In the "National Plan for The Production Capacity of 100 Billion Kilograms of Grain (2009-2020)" proposed by the state in 2009, the Songnen Plain is one of the most important areas. The impact of agricultural activities such as maize cultivation on wetland ecosystems is also becoming increasingly apparent. Studies have shown that non-point source pollution from agricultural activities accounts for 60% of the total pollution in the region. In the past 100 years of agricultural activities and development, the wetland area of the Songnen Plain has shrunk by 50%. Therefore, since 2016, Yili Jindian has worked with WWF to carry out the "AMUR-HEILONG Basin Sustainable Management and Biodiversity Restoration Project" for five consecutive years. Selected the Qian'an area of China's golden corn belt - Songnen Plain to establish a sample area, explore the sustainable production of agriculture and animal husbandry and protect wetlands of international importance and the migration path of endangered birds, and carry out a project for the restoration of degraded grasslands and biodiversity conservation in Hulunbuir.
Yili and WWF conducted remediation measurements of degraded grasslands
China is a large grassland country, the grassland stretches from east to west for more than 4500 kilometers, covering about 2/5 of the land area. China's natural grassland has the largest distribution area, about 392.8 million hectares, which is 2.91 times the cultivated land area, 1.89 times the forest area, 1.15 times the sum of cultivated land and forest area, accounting for about 12% of the global grassland area, ranking first in the world.
However, in the past fifty years, in the context of the global climate anomaly and rapid population growth, coupled with drought, human activities such as overgrazing, irrational development and fence construction, China's natural grasslands have been degraded to varying degrees. The overall trend of grassland degradation, desertification and salinization is very severe, and the total area and biodiversity of grassland wetlands tend to decrease.
Accordingly, WWF and its partners have carried out a number of activities for many consecutive years.
(1) Sustainable agricultural technology innovation achievement "carbonization and soil improvement water and fertilizer integration technology", through straw return to the field to cultivate soil to increase the soil, on this basis to implement water and fertilizer integration technology, greatly improve the land production capacity. This technology has been reported by Jilin Television.
(2) Provide free and multiple new technology training for agricultural technology extension personnel, responsible persons of new business entities, and grain farmers, improve production skills, love hometown, and establish cultural self-confidence of agricultural personnel.
White-naped crane
(3) Integrated research to improve grassland productivity, explore the restoration of wetlands and grasslands in the songnen plains of the agricultural and pastoral staggered zone. Completion of the Report on Rehabilitation and Sustainable Management of Degraded Grasslands.
(4) Periodic biodiversity surveys were carried out on the restored project plots, and after surveys and data analysis, 48 species of wild vascular plants belonged to 18 families and 37 genera. Among them, there are 15 families, 24 genera and 33 species of dicotyledonous plants, 3 families, 13 genera and 15 species of monocotyledonous plants, an increase of 3 species over 2020 and 10 species compared with 2019; 26 species of vertebrates in 7 orders and 15 families.
(5) In order to improve the understanding of grassland ecosystems by local management departments and community residents, and to provide a scientific basis for the rational use and management of grasslands, WWF and the Institute of Nature and Ecology of Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences jointly carried out the study "Assessment of the Ecological Service Value of Grassland Resources in Qian'an County".
(6) Hold the volunteer activity of "Heilongjiang River Basin Environmental Protection Ambassador" to promote the protection of local wetland and grassland ecological environment, and promote more public attention to the ecological environmental protection of the agricultural and pastoral staggered belt.
(7) Establish a wetland protection network in the Heilongjiang River Basin, through which to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between domestic and foreign diversified conservation forces, carry out relevant capacity training, share the research results of wetland and biodiversity conservation and the front-line experience of conservation, unify scientific conservation concepts, promote the development of wetland and biodiversity conservation, and improve the level of wetland protection and management in the Heilongjiang River Basin.
Yili was led by Chairman Pan Gang to establish a "Sustainable Development Committee", and each department managed it separately to form a refined management model for the centralized management of key biodiversity projects. In accordance with the 9 commitments in the "Commitment to Enterprise and Biodiversity", Yili has made a comprehensive attack and blossomed at multiple points in the fields of habitat protection, climate change response, sustainable use of resources, etc., extending the development strategy of the green industrial chain to all partners in the upstream and downstream, not only adopting clean production processes themselves, but also passing on the concept of environmental protection to the entire industrial chain, and giving priority to suppliers who pay attention to environmental protection.
At the same time, through the practice in the field of biodiversity conservation, Yili integrates the authoritative views of domestic and foreign institutions, systematically summarizes the influencing factors of biodiversity, identifies 6 major biodiversity influencing factors and 6 major action areas that have a greater impact on biodiversity, and establishes a biodiversity conservation management system to carry out the whole life cycle of biodiversity conservation management. Dairy Role Models".
In 2021, after the release of the dual reports "Yili Group Biodiversity Conservation Report" and "Yili Group Sustainable Development Report", the "Yili Group Biodiversity Conservation Report" won the international ARC Gold Award.
The improvement of the natural environment and the restoration of the ecosystem bring about the reproduction of organisms and the stability of the living environment of human beings. In the unremitting cooperation between Yili and WWF, rare creatures have become witnesses of Chinese colors!
Grey Crane
Doing meaningful things and enjoying this happiness is happiness! With the support of Yili, WWF has recruited volunteers from the society to participate in the "Heilongjiang River Basin Environmental Protection Ambassador" activity for many years, assisted WWF to set up ten "WWF Ecological Education Network Pilots" in primary and secondary schools in internationally important wetlands, and brought nature education classes to 4,000 primary and secondary school students in the protected areas, trained nature instructors, told the stories of water, wetlands and wetland animals, answered questions, helped children easily learn wetland protection knowledge from stories, loved their hometown and nature with their hearts, and protected wetlands with actions.
Looking at the development of the global economy, it is a win-win process for enterprises to devote themselves to public welfare undertakings and participate in ecological protection work. With the accelerated growth of China's economy in recent years, Chinese enterprises are making great strides towards the world, and their product and service capabilities are catching up with advanced regions in the world. As a rising star in the field of global public welfare, Chinese enterprises have shown innovation and foresight in some fields in recent years. Coupled with the unprecedented support of the Chinese government for environmental protection, the green image of Chinese brands is providing very benign support for their global development, and Yili is one of the representatives. Yili not only mobilized tens of thousands of employees to support biodiversity conservation, but also used its own brand resources, channels, consumers, and supply chains to promote activities, which not only made the activities themselves more grounded, but also made the brand more respected.
"We are very willing to cooperate with enterprises like Yili with a large number of agricultural and animal husbandry resources," Liu Peiqi, director of the WWF Northeast Regional Project and the Heilongjiang River Basin Project, said: "On the one hand, this is because Yili itself has sustainable development technologies for us to learn from, on the other hand, Yili's large number of industrial chain resources can also help us demonstrate and promote efficient and sustainable agricultural production technologies and concepts, so that environmental protection technologies can be fully implemented." ”
(WWF Project Team Editor: Hou Yanlin Proofreader: Ge Zheng, Chen Xu, He Jiale, Li Shixin Editor: Liu Peiqi, Zhou Yuan)