BEIJING - As an important step taken by the state to protect the environment, an ecological compensation mechanism has been put in place for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office Wednesday."China has initiated a series of ecological compensation mechanisms, including transfer payments to key ecological function zones, forest ecological benefit compensation, grassland ecological protection subsidy and reward, and wetland ecological benefit compensation," said the white paper, titled "Ecological Progress on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau."From 2008 to 2017, the central government made transfer payments of 16.29 billion yuan (2.44 billion US dollars) and 8.35 billion yuan to the key ecological function zones in Qinghai and Tibet, respectively, covering 77 key counties and all areas prohibited to development by the state.China is also improving its ecology-related policies and regulations for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to form an increasingly complete system for ensuring ecological progress, according to the white paper.A system of protected natural areas has been set up in the region, it said.To date, the Plateau has established in total 155 nature reserves at all levels (41 state and 64 provincial ones), covering a total area of 822,400 square km. This is equivalent to 31.63 percent of the Plateau's landmass and represents 57.56 percent of China's land nature reserve areas."Basically, all of the Plateau's unique and fragile ecosystems and rare species can be found in these reserves," it said. fuck cancer braceletevent wristbandsrubber band bracelets
New regulations issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, earlier this week will improve the management, security, accuracy and openness of scientific data, officials said at a news conference on Wednesday.The regulations, which were published on Monday, are intended to clarify the responsibilities of officials and scientists who regulate and use the information.For classified data, such as that related to national defense, trade secrets and personal privacy, China will strengthen security and enhance the ability to track leaks and erase lost data."Scientific and research data are valuable strategic resources for a nation's scientific and socioeconomic development," Ye Yujiang, director of the Ministry of Science and Technology's basic research department, said at the news conference. In recent years, China has seen major scientific development and explosive growth in the amount of scientific data. However, it has lacked a national-level regulation to govern the data, and its management has lagged behind developed countries, Ye said."In some instances, a lot of valuable data has not been fully utilized by Chinese scientists, and some has even leaked to foreign countries," Ye said. "Data regulation has been a weak link in China's effort to become a global technological powerhouse, so the new regulations are welcome remedies."Since the late 1960s, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia have issued regulations to improve data protection and management, as well as to encourage openness and the use of scientific and governmental information.Sun Jiulin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, said that "unlike scientific equipment, which is subject to wear and tear, scientific data can become more valuable over time and more useful as research methods and technologies improve"."A decade ago, Chinese scientists could not fully take advantage of the data collected because of technical limitations. Such was the case in geography and natural resources," he said. "But now we are paying close attention to data generated both during and after projects, so that we can truly turn our data resources into a wealth of knowledge."Wang Ruidan, deputy director of the National Science and Technology Infrastructure Center, said China will continue to strengthen its national data center and its ability to aggregate data from various departments and local governments.Scientists will have to submit data to relevant authorities for filing before publishing it in foreign science journals. Scientific data sets will also better identify their origins and researchers, allowing clearer citations and stronger protection of intellectual property, Wang said.
