On November 28, 2022, the winners of Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Awards were announced. HE Xingyuan, researcher from the Urban Forest Group of the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), who led the project “Integrated Techniques and Demonstration for the Restoration of Diverse Ecosystems in the Upper Reaches of Liaohe River,” won the first award.

To improve the quality of water environment and maintain healthy water ecology in the upper reaches of the Liaohe River, the project team carried out research for more than ten years, focusing on the regulation of degraded forest structure, the comprehensive control of agricultural non-point source pollution, and the ecological restoration of wetlands and riparian zones. 

The innovative techniques developed by the project team include a high-resolution discrimination technique for the restoration of different landscape patches, an optimization technique for improving water conservation function of degraded forests, an efficiency improvement technique well suited to slope farmland areas, a technique for farmland non-point source pollution prevention and control, and a technique applicable for plant community rehabilitation and wetland restoration along river- and reservoir banks in cold regions.

The comprehensive technical system has shown to be well suited to the restoration of diverse ecosystems such as mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands and lakes in typical watersheds in Northeast China. The demonstration area has covered 510,000 hectares, and the annual comprehensive benefit has reached 3.2 billion yuan. A total of 21 patents invented by the project team have been authorized, 135 papers and 2 monographs have been published, three informative reports have been submitted to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a consulting report has been adopted by the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and by Jilin Provincial Government, respectively.

The project outcome can provide powerful technical support for the development of regional ecological civilization.