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oVER the years, Wang Qingfeng, a Chinese scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Wuhan Botanical Garden (WhBG), has witnessed many changes in biodiversity exchanges and cooperation between China and Africa. In fact, his entire career has revolved around the relationship. his first visit to the African continent was in 1996, and currently he is the Chinese chairperson for the academy’s Biodiversity Conservation Studies in East African Flora project that was launched in 2010.
Beginnings
Wang’s first visit to Africa dates back to 1996, when he was a young lecturer at the College of Life Sciences at Wuhan university. That year, he was sent to the university of N’Djamena in Chad, where he worked in foreign aid for a year. In his spare time, Wang did scientific research in Chad and other neighboring countries. Chad’s local distinctive biotypes piqued a keen research interest in him.
he often rode a small motorcycle to do fieldwork. When he arrived in an area, four or five African children would help him carry his bags and specimen folders. They asked him where he would go and what specimens he needed, which they then helped him to collect. Wang was touched by such hospitality.
“If I didn’t go to Chad, everything would have been different,”he says. “once you’ve been to Africa, you feel connected to the continent, and you like to do things related to Africa.”
After he returned from Chad, he heard about Robert W. Gituru, a Kenyan student who wanted to pursue doctoral studies in China but had been rejected by many schools because he could not speak Chinese. After some discussion with another professor, they agreed to bring Gituru to do his doctoral research at Wuhan university. Wang says his efforts to help Gituru were tied deeply to his own experiences abroad in Africa.
As his teaching and research advanced, an idea came to Wang: Would it be possible for China and African countries to do joint research on African flora biodiversity conservation studies?
In macro-biology research, historically, older generations of Chinese scientists could not go abroad to do research, but now Wang realized it was becoming necessary to travel to broaden scientists’ horizons. The biodiversity of African flora, so different from Chinese flora, offered a unique study opportunity.
While African countries need to prioritize biodiversity conservation, most of them lack the advanced technology, experts and research capacity necessary, which makes it difficult to carry out independent research. This is where cooperation comes into play.
Opportunity favors the prepared?mind
In 2001, Wang arrived in Kenya to investigate the possibility of cooperation in biodiversity research. he even signed a cooperative research agreement with the East African nation’s Egerton uni- versity. But due to complications and lack of funds, the collaboration did not last long.
In 2002, after three years of studying, Gituru, who was by now Wang’s student, graduated from Wuhan university. he returned to Kenya and became a teacher in the Department of Botany at Jomo Kenyatta university of Agriculture and technology(JKuAt).
Gituru fully understood and supported his mentor’s ideas about promoting joint research in biodiversity conservation between China and Africa. he also trusted China’s accumulated knowledge on flora. once back in Kenya, he maintained close contact with Wang, and their joint efforts accelerated the process of cooperation.
opportunity favors the prepared mind. In 2009, Wang was transferred from Wuhan university to WhBG. With its more advanced experimental and technical support system and more competent research team, WhBG provided him with a better platform to realize his dream.
In August 2009, the cooperation between WhBG and JKuAt was settled. Later that year in December, Wang and his co-workers returned to Kenya and signed the “Mou - JKuAt & WhBG 2009”agreement. In 2010, the two sides formally signed a cooperative research agreement and set up the Directorate of Sino-Africa Biodiversity Resources Conservation at JKuAt. Gituru became the directorate’s director.
Now under the Biodiversity Conservation Studies in East African Flora project, both sides since 2011 have conducted four joint investigations in Kenya and other African countries. Their findings on Kenya’s common and ornamental plants will be published in a detailed study by the end of 2012 in both English and Chinese. This publication will fill the academic gaps in biodiversity science, and the hope is that it will spark research interest in African countries. Plans to jointly build botanical gardens are also being drafted under the project’s framework.
The road ahead
From aiding Africa to promoting China-Africa cooperation, exchanges between Chinese scientists and Africa are being expanded. Wang’s ties with the continent are getting stronger.
According to Wang, his project will be completed in three years as scheduled. But even after the project ends, “I will continue my joint research with African researchers,” he says. “Doing scientific research is a long process, [and] now that we have started, we should continue working on it. our efforts will bear fruit later.”
he also hopes that more interest in biodiversity conservation can be cultivated on both sides, so that the cooperation can be carried on by the next generation of scientists. This joint work, he believes, will lead to the sound development of Sino-African relations in the long run.
Beginnings
Wang’s first visit to Africa dates back to 1996, when he was a young lecturer at the College of Life Sciences at Wuhan university. That year, he was sent to the university of N’Djamena in Chad, where he worked in foreign aid for a year. In his spare time, Wang did scientific research in Chad and other neighboring countries. Chad’s local distinctive biotypes piqued a keen research interest in him.
he often rode a small motorcycle to do fieldwork. When he arrived in an area, four or five African children would help him carry his bags and specimen folders. They asked him where he would go and what specimens he needed, which they then helped him to collect. Wang was touched by such hospitality.
“If I didn’t go to Chad, everything would have been different,”he says. “once you’ve been to Africa, you feel connected to the continent, and you like to do things related to Africa.”
After he returned from Chad, he heard about Robert W. Gituru, a Kenyan student who wanted to pursue doctoral studies in China but had been rejected by many schools because he could not speak Chinese. After some discussion with another professor, they agreed to bring Gituru to do his doctoral research at Wuhan university. Wang says his efforts to help Gituru were tied deeply to his own experiences abroad in Africa.
As his teaching and research advanced, an idea came to Wang: Would it be possible for China and African countries to do joint research on African flora biodiversity conservation studies?
In macro-biology research, historically, older generations of Chinese scientists could not go abroad to do research, but now Wang realized it was becoming necessary to travel to broaden scientists’ horizons. The biodiversity of African flora, so different from Chinese flora, offered a unique study opportunity.
While African countries need to prioritize biodiversity conservation, most of them lack the advanced technology, experts and research capacity necessary, which makes it difficult to carry out independent research. This is where cooperation comes into play.
Opportunity favors the prepared?mind
In 2001, Wang arrived in Kenya to investigate the possibility of cooperation in biodiversity research. he even signed a cooperative research agreement with the East African nation’s Egerton uni- versity. But due to complications and lack of funds, the collaboration did not last long.
In 2002, after three years of studying, Gituru, who was by now Wang’s student, graduated from Wuhan university. he returned to Kenya and became a teacher in the Department of Botany at Jomo Kenyatta university of Agriculture and technology(JKuAt).
Gituru fully understood and supported his mentor’s ideas about promoting joint research in biodiversity conservation between China and Africa. he also trusted China’s accumulated knowledge on flora. once back in Kenya, he maintained close contact with Wang, and their joint efforts accelerated the process of cooperation.
opportunity favors the prepared mind. In 2009, Wang was transferred from Wuhan university to WhBG. With its more advanced experimental and technical support system and more competent research team, WhBG provided him with a better platform to realize his dream.
In August 2009, the cooperation between WhBG and JKuAt was settled. Later that year in December, Wang and his co-workers returned to Kenya and signed the “Mou - JKuAt & WhBG 2009”agreement. In 2010, the two sides formally signed a cooperative research agreement and set up the Directorate of Sino-Africa Biodiversity Resources Conservation at JKuAt. Gituru became the directorate’s director.
Now under the Biodiversity Conservation Studies in East African Flora project, both sides since 2011 have conducted four joint investigations in Kenya and other African countries. Their findings on Kenya’s common and ornamental plants will be published in a detailed study by the end of 2012 in both English and Chinese. This publication will fill the academic gaps in biodiversity science, and the hope is that it will spark research interest in African countries. Plans to jointly build botanical gardens are also being drafted under the project’s framework.
The road ahead
From aiding Africa to promoting China-Africa cooperation, exchanges between Chinese scientists and Africa are being expanded. Wang’s ties with the continent are getting stronger.
According to Wang, his project will be completed in three years as scheduled. But even after the project ends, “I will continue my joint research with African researchers,” he says. “Doing scientific research is a long process, [and] now that we have started, we should continue working on it. our efforts will bear fruit later.”
he also hopes that more interest in biodiversity conservation can be cultivated on both sides, so that the cooperation can be carried on by the next generation of scientists. This joint work, he believes, will lead to the sound development of Sino-African relations in the long run.