What does ecologist John d Liu do?
John D. Liu is an American ecologist and filmmaker. John has worked with Commonland Foundation on catalyzing privately invested large-scale restoration worldwide since 2009, and is currently its Ecosystem Ambassador.
How did John Liu transform the Loess Plateau?
He worked for CBS for more than ten years as a producer and cameraman. Liu has said that after the collapse of the Soviet Union he grew tired of journalism and wished to make films. In 1995 he filmed the Loess Plateau in China, which was being transformed from a barren and eroded ground into an oasis by the government.
What happens if we change Liu?
What if we change – Hope in a Changing Climate by John D. Liu. major project is restoring fertility and hope to China’s Loess Plateau, until recently one of the poorest regions of the country. Liu of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), it’s a story repeated all over the world.
What did John Liu witness and film on China’s Loess Plateau describe in detail what happened?
Liu’s evolution from cameraman to ecological evangelist began in the Loess Plateau. On a trip there in 1995 he witnessed a devastated landscape, so barren and wind-swept that millions of tons of silt from the once-fertile soil was being washed into the Yellow River.
What is meant by ecological restoration?
Ecosystem restoration is defined as “a process of reversing the degradation of ecosystems, such as landscapes, lakes and oceans to regain their ecological functionality; in other words, to improve the productivity and capacity of ecosystems to meet the needs of society.
How did the Lis Plateau in China become a desert?
After the deposition of sediments on the Loess Plateau, they slowly changed to loess under the arid climate. The Chinese Loess Plateau is one of the largest and thickest loess plateaus in the world. Because of the strong winds, erosion is also powerful across in the Loess Plateau.
Where is Loess Plateau?
China
Loess Plateau, Chinese (Pinyin) Huangtu Gaoyuan or (Wade-Giles romanization) Huang-t’u Kao-yüan, highland area in north-central China, covering much of Shanxi, northern Henan, Shaanxi, and eastern Gansu provinces and the middle part of the Huang He (Yellow River) basin.
What are the benefits of ecosystem restoration?
In all cases ecological restoration will improve the biological diversity on degraded landscapes, increase the populations and distribution of rare and threatened species, enhance landscape connectivity, increase the availability of environmental goods and services, and contribute to the improvement of human well-being …
Why ecosystem restoration is needed?
Ecosystem restoration at a global scale is important if we are to mitigate the extent of the ecological crisis that we are currently facing, and protect the biodiversity for future generations. Our food systems and the revival of forest and agrarian crops depend on healthy soils.
How was the Loess Plateau restored?
In the Loess Plateau, funding from the World Bank and the Chinese government helped restore 4 million hectares of land, more than doubling the incomes of local farmers, reducing erosion by 100 million tons of sediment annually, reducing flood risk, and dramatically increasing grain production.
What happened to the forests that originally grew on the Loess Plateau?
Because the loess plateau is well-suited to agriculture, natural forests in most areas were largely replaced centuries ago by agricultural cropland and pasture.
How did China’s Loess Plateau turn into a desert?
The plateau was highly fertile and easy to farm in ancient times, which contributed to the development of early Chinese civilization around the Loess Plateau, but centuries of overgrazing, subsistence farming, deforestation for fuel wood gathering and cultivation of crops on slopes, exacerbated by China’s population …
