IGU-AGLE News from the IGU NEWSLETTER(pp26-29)

22 April 2017 

(Mike Meadows, Secretary-General and Treasurer International Geographical Union) 

NEWS from the IGU’s newest Commission: Agricultural Geography and Land Engineering I am currently visiting Professor in the School of Geographic Sciences at East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. During my most recent period of residence there, I had the privilege and pleasure of being invited to join members of the IGU Commission on Agricultural and Land Engineering excursion to Fuping County, Hebei Province, a rural and largely mountainous district around 50 km around 50km SW of Beijing.

The mission of this commission targets the improvement of agricultural conditions in different environments by way of land engineering which helps to increase and productivity and agricultural production. It focuses on the role of land engineering in consolidating land resources and improving the agricultural conditions of different areas and, indeed, this was the theme of the field excursion.

The trip was organized by Yansui Liu and Yuheng Li, chair and secretary of the Commission respectively. Both are affiliated to the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing (although Professor Liu was unable to join the excursion due to prior commitments). Fuping County, along with other rural regions of the country, has been a target for China’s poverty alleviation and it was fascinating to witness the various elements of the programme – there are concerted efforts here to improve the quality of life for its rural inhabitants through a diverse range of interventions, including investment in agricultural infrastructure, development of agricultural-related and other industries, e-commerce initiatives, education and health facilities and relocation from remote mountain villages. We visited Dahubo and Luotouwan villages, where the population consists almost entirely of the elderly due to the migration of younger people to the regional urban centres.