The concept of “Biodiversity Conservation in Our Neighborhood (BCON)” is an innovative biodiversity conservation concept proposed by Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) in 2021, based on the background of rapid urbanization development and the continuous acceleration of global biodiversity loss. The core keywords are "neighborhood" and "conservation". It means that in areas with intensive human activities, people take the initiative to adjust their production and lifestyle, by minimizing the disturbance to nature and wild animals and plants, to maximize the buffering of conflicts between humans and wild animals and plants, and to maximize the protection of human production and life and natural wild animals and plants. The concept emphasizes innovative conservation mechanisms and actions to mitigate the continuing and accelerating loss of global biodiversity.

In just over a year, CBCGDF has collected 82 cases related to BCON and awarded licenses to the case agencies. Siyuan Family Farm in Shanting District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province was one of the first institutions to be awarded the license. The "lazy man" agricultural planting model implemented by Siyuan Family Farm is also a typical case of BCON.

New era and new story

A new ecological planting and breeding model that emphasizes restoring nature with the power of nature, restoring the ecology with the power of ecology, and reducing the interference on plant growth. This abandonment of the traditional planting model that relies on the application of pesticides to control pests and diseases has made Siyuan Family Farm a new force in the BCON practice, and has also allowed the farm to embark on a new path to prosperity.

For a long time, in order to prevent and control crop diseases and insect pests, chemical pesticides have been widely used in my country, but they often treat the symptoms rather than the root causes, which bring about worrisome problems such as environmental pollution, ecological crisis, food security and health hazards. Actively exploring the way of sustainable agricultural development has also become a problem that more and more practitioners in the field of agriculture think deeply.

The Siyuan Family Farm, Shanting District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province, was established in 2014. Before 2016, the farm continued to use the traditional planting model of relying on pesticide application to control pests and diseases. Doing so will not only cause great harm to the environment, but also will not improve the quality and taste of crops, and the food safety issue will discourage many consumers. The operation of the farm also fell into a slump for a while.

In 2016, the farm reached a turning point with the introduction of an advanced farming concept. A new ecological planting and breeding model, the biological control method, was brought into the farm by Professor Jiang Gaoming, chief researcher of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. According to the concept of "restore nature with the power of nature and restore the ecology with the power of ecology" proposed by Professor Jiang Gaoming, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the farm's 70 mu of land was stopped, and organic matter and orchard grasses were sprayed on the surface; earthworms were put in to loosen the soil. Natural composting and other measures to build a protective layer inside and outside the soil of fruit trees - "beneficial insects" and "pests" coexist and restrict each other, forming a complete and balanced ecological chain. The implementation of this concept not only enables the farm to embark on the road of sustainable development of ecological agriculture, but also highly conforms to the core idea of the concept of BCON, and also makes the farm model become the typical BCON case of CBCGDF.

Take the cornfield as an example, due to the abundant rainfall brought by the Severe Typhoon In-Fa in 2021, the drought was completely over, and the weeds in the cornfield also grew. The corn was 40 cm high and the weeds were only 10 cm. Corn always grows faster than grass, so grass doesn't affect corn. When the wind and rain come, the weeds will crawl on the ground, providing a shade, moisturizing and cooling. When the grass grows, there is no need to worry about the drought in this cornfield. Taking advantage of the rapid growth of corn, weeding by hanging the roots, then planting corn, and letting the weeds dance with the corn will not affect the yield of corn at all, and the taste of corn is also very good. This makes good use of the diversity and locality of weeds and achieves the planting diversity we need.

Today's Siyuan Family Farm has been adhering to the road of ecological planting for six years. It does not use pesticides, herbicides, hormones and other substances that are not friendly to the environment. Environmental interference, the effect is good. In order to promote this cause, they actively use online platforms, We Media, farmer training, documentaries and other media to publicize the benefits of ecological agriculture. Through the sharing of experience cases, we will take the initiative to help some farmers who want to be ecological agriculture, and provide help within our ability. The founder of the farm, Wang Yanjing, has also become a well-known leader of ecological agriculture in the local area.

 Thought connotation and value of the times

As the historical trend of the development of human civilization, ecological civilization emphasizes the construction of ecological civilization as the guide, through the huge changes in the whole society from concept to action, and takes sustainable development as the guide, and limits human activities to the limit that the ecological environment can bear. To achieve the macro layout of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

What should be done in the construction of ecological civilization? There are undoubtedly many ways. After continuous practice and exploration, the most important and most important way to drive the enthusiasm of the public to participate is to find typical and model in the creation of the people, and use the practice of ecological civilization to influence more social public to make changes in ideas, change their own production and lifestyle, and promote the mainstreaming of ecological civilization construction.

The concept of BCON came into being under the needs of this era, and it is also the representative of cases like Siyuan Family Farm. They have made contributions to ecological environmental protection with their individual persistence and actions, and also led to more and more groups are participating in the construction of ecological civilization. It is also such ordinary stories one after another. They use innovation, persistence and practice in the construction of ecological civilization to promote the whole society to jointly protect the earth on which we live, and to save resources and recycle the production, and move towards a better and happy life.

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ZLUu-OLhtwSGPIwkuOm15g

Translator: Daisy

Editor: Samantha

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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