Liaoning Provincial 2020 Science and Technology Major Project "Ecosystem restoration and governance in Northwest Liaoning: technology integration and ecological industry development demonstration," led by scientists of the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been approved officially by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and the project contract has been signed. The total funding is 10 million yuan for a period of three years (2020-2022). This is the first time that the Science and Technology Department of Liaoning Province has set up a major project in the field of ecological restoration. It is also a strategic deployment of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government in response to the "ecological priority" development concept and specific action implementing the development strategy of "Breakthrough in Northwest Liaoning".

In response to the major needs for restoration of the desertified land and industrial green transformation and upgrading in Northwest Liaoning, this project will assess the carrying capacity of environment in ecologically fragile areas in northwestern Liaoning and carry out experimental demonstrations. The project will establish an ecological industrial technology system, development mode and demonstration model that integrates ecological restoration, ecological prataculture and ecological tourism.

The project was led by Prof. WANG Zhengwen of IAE and participated by scientists from Shenyang Agricultural University, Liaoning Institute of Sandy Land Control and Utilization, Shenyang Architecture University, Shenyang University and other universities and research institutes, as well as Liaoning Huadian Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. and Northern Zhongjun Operation Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., representing therefore a Public-Private (i.e., Enterprise-University-Research Institute) Partnership for innovative research.

This year, IAE was also approved for the establishment of the Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Modern Conservation Tillage and Ecological Agriculture. A Key R&D Project of Liaoning Provincial Department of Science and Technology and two Provincial Science and Technology mission Projects were also approved. In addition, a researcher was supported by the Liaoning Provincial Outstanding Youth Foundation. Three researchers were funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning, and four researchers were funded by the Doctoral Start-up Foundation of Liaoning Province. Both total number of approved projects and total amount of funding hit record high in 2020.