The author recently found that in April 2019, the villagers of Yong’an village, Chengjian Town, Cenxi City, Guangxi Province sued a company that planted eucalyptus trees. The cause of the incident was that the company planted a large area of fast-growing Eucalyptus in the water source area and cultivation area of Yong’an village, which damaged the original ecological environment, resulting in “degradation of cultivated land and disconnection of water source area”. There is a serious shortage of crops for the nearby villagers.

After continuing to inquire about the relevant information, CBCGDF’s author found that the official account of Red Star News reported another news in January 29th: because of the long-term obstruction to the logging of a eucalyptus forest on the collective land of the village, 7 villagers in Yong’an village, Cheng Jian Town, Cenxi, Wuzhou, Guangxi, were taken away by the local police on suspicion of “damaging production and operation”.

The conflict in January 2019 resulted in the death of one person in custody. The origin of the matter is the dispute caused by the local villagers that the collective mountain was contracted to Guangxi Liwen Forestry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. to plant eucalyptus trees. In the past ten years, the villagers of two groups in Yong’an village have repeatedly reported to various departments that the eucalyptus forest caused the water cut off for production and living in the village. Seven villagers were taken away by the police, one of whom died during criminal detention, and six were finally approved by the prosecution for arrest.

It seems that these two things are not isolated events. The conflict in January 2019 should be an important reason for villagers to sue the eucalyptus planting company in April. Eucalyptus, the protagonist of this matter, is a kind of tree that grows very fast and consumes a lot of water.

Of course, the tree itself is not wrong. When there is a problem, it is those who make decisions that need to be reflected, and it also reminds us of the importance of biodiversity. The world is wonderful because of diversity and also safe because of diversity.

Take the “eucalyptus conflict” in Guangxi as an example, is it related to the life of ordinary people?

Of course, this incident has something to do with the life of ordinary people. As an economic tree species, eucalyptus is widely planted in many places, especially in Guangxi Province. Guangxi has about 5% of the country’s forest land, producing about 40% of the country’s timber, of which the contribution of eucalyptus cannot be ignored. The planting area, growth, and accumulation of eucalyptus in Guangxi rank first in China. By the end of 2018, the planting area of eucalyptus in Guangxi has exceeded 35 million mu and the annual cutting volume has exceeded 27 million cubic meters; the annual output value of papermaking and wood processing industry with eucalyptus as the main raw material reached 239.5 billion RMB, accounting for 41.6% of the total forestry output value of the whole region.

The reason why the author thinks of this is that recently the author found many paper materials of the office that brought back from different conferences and meetings. For several years, those materials are piled up like a mountain. No one is going to check it, the material itself is not valuable. Therefore, these materials have been in a state of dust.

For example, a photo album of Changbai Mountain brought back from a conference hasn’t been opened yet (it has been placed for 3 years). The author opens a look, the content of this album is actually very little, but its weight is up to 3 jin; there are three layers of packaging on the outside of the album: the inner layer is golden chemical fiber cloth, the second layer is a heavy paper box, and the outer layer is plastic film.

For example, the materials brought back from every meeting include conference publications, conference materials, relevant documents, newspapers, and other printed materials. According to the regulations of CBCGDF, materials for conferences, meetings, and activities need to be brought back. However, most of these materials are paper materials with little value in the future. There are also many magazines and promotional materials sent, but few people open them.

The question is: do we really need so many printed materials?

The price of paper is very cheap, but is it really that cheap? What kind of ecological environment cost is behind it?

The cost of the ecological environment is: these villagers in Guangxi are worried about the destruction of drinking water sources; pollution in the Tengger Desert and the use of sewage by paper-making enterprises to irrigate fast-growing forests.

Unfortunately, even today, a large number of printing materials are still regarded as “standard”, and the carbon footprint of a meeting is often very serious. However, almost everyone seldom feels that there is anything wrong.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly points out that it is necessary to promote comprehensive conservation and recycling of resources, implement national water-saving actions, reduce energy and material consumption, realize the circular link between the production system and life system, advocate a simple and moderate, green and low-carbon lifestyle, and oppose extravagance, waste and unreasonable consumption, carry out initiatives to create conservation-oriented institutions, green families, green schools, green communities, and green travel.

Maybe it’s time to take a good look at our way of life. Many material documents should not be printed at the beginning. Especially, in the 21st century, the network is very developed, many things could have been done electronically. For example, conference materials can be obtained by scanning QR code with a smartphone; or, if some conference organizers are criticized by participants for their waste, they can reflect on their own behavior.

In short, the paperless, less paper and electronic “green meeting” is imperative, because there is a limit to growth, and our resources and environment can no longer afford such consumption in the past.

For this reason, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation have released the group standard “Green Meeting Index (GMI) / CGDF00001-2019 to practice ecological civilization through green meetings. This group standard aims to implement the concept of environmental protection and resource conservation through “green conference”, effectively promote the construction of ecological civilization in China, promote the green transformation and high-quality development of conference and exhibition, and become the green vane of the industry. Especially in the context of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemics, “green meeting” not only protects the environment by saving resources but also helps to reduce the situation of material touch and network participation to maintain public health.

Fast-growing eucalyptus (Photo source: Internet)

A felled eucalyptus tree in Yong’an Village, Chengjian Town, Cenxi City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Photo credit: cdsbnc)

One academic seminar realizes paperless electronic completely.

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/12328.html

By / Xue Tongtong Modified / Maggie