Project Detail

Project of Alien Invasive Plant Control in Xinyuan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Baseline
1. environmental and socio-economic conditions
Xinyuan means "newly developed wilderness", located at the east end of Ili River Valley, which is known as "the top ten new heavenly houses in China", and is known as "the pearl of grassland and Xinjiang Wine Town". Xinyuan County belongs to the northern temperate continental semi-arid climate zone with obvious four seasons. Due to the influence of wet air from west to east, Xinyuan County has a good climate of warm winter and cool summer. The climate is mild, abundant water vapor, the frost-free period is 161 days, the annual average temperature is 9.7?, the total annual precipitation is 533.8 mm, the natural conditions are superior, conducive to the growth of grassland vegetation and trees.
The area is rich in natural resources. The total forest area is 2.217,900 mu, and the forest coverage rate is 13.36%. 7.616,600 mu of natural grassland. There are four major alpine grasslands in the world - Narati Tourist Scenic area and

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national forest park, with a total area of 800 square kilometers. There are 200,000 mu of wild reed and wetland resources, there are snow lily, fritillaria, licorice and other precious medicinal materials. Due to the winter temperature inversion of the mountain valley, the largest wild fruit forest of 40,000 mu and the original wild apricot forest of 60,000 mu in the 14th century have been preserved, concentrated in the north bank of the Kunes River, which is one of the areas with relatively concentrated wild apricot forest in Xinjiang. Prunus armeniaca Lam is one of the rare tree species in wild fruit forest under the second-level state key protection. It plays an important role in maintaining the stability and diversity of wild fruit forest ecosystem, so it is known as "wild fruit gene bank of China". It is rich in Kerabra apples, Narati black bee honey, Kerabra peaches, etc., and is known as "the world's apple source."
High biodiversity. Because of its special geographical and climatic characteristics, Xinyuan County provides a good growing environment for various plant species. The plant diversity in the area is high and the flora is relatively complex, mainly including 66 families, 275 genera and 564 species of plants within the phyla ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms, and the number of plant species accounts for 15.86% of the whole Xinjiang. Compositaceae and Graminaceae were the two largest families with 149 species, accounting for 26.7% of the total. The wild vegetation mainly includes Xueling spruce, Tianshan birch, wild apricot, wild apple and so on. Mountains, grasslands, rivers and other Chinese herbs grow everywhere, of which there are more than 200 kinds of medicinal value, such as fritillaria, cotonopsis, snow lotus, ephedra and so on. There are about 150 species of wild animals in Narati National Wetland Park, more than 10 species of national first and second class key protected wild animals, and more national first class protected wild animals, known as "bird giant panda" painted ibis. Narati grassland is a subalpine meadow plant, covering an area of more than 6,000 hectares, composed of lush and gorgeous mesophytic weeds and grasses, plants up to 50-60 cm, the coverage can reach 75% to 90%.
Xinyuan County has established the Kunes Mountain Meadow grassland Nature Reserve in the central Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang (National nature Reserve), the Narati National Wetland Park in Yili, the Narati National Forest Park, the Narati Scenic Area, the Kunes River Reach of Xinyuan County aquatic germplasm Resources Conservation Area, Xinghuagou Scenic Area and other nature reserves. The total amount of protected natural areas is 1.3012 million mu, accounting for 11.44% of China's total land area.
Once in these scenic areas, the blue sky, white clouds, mountain roads, people, horses, apricot flowers, constitute a harmonious and unified picture. "Full of green grass, a piece of apricot flower fragrance" is a true portrayal of the beautiful scenery of Apricot flower Ditch from April to June. However, with the continuous development of economic trade in recent years, more and more invasive plants have entered Xinyuan County along with trade and other ways. Due to the lack of public understanding of invasive plants and the lack of effective management and prevention and control in the early stage, invasive plants have caused serious harm to the nature reserve of Xinyuan County and reduced the local vegetation diversity, especially in Narati grassland and Xinghuagou.
The invasive plants in Xinyuan County included ambrosia, Ambrosia trilobed, Xanthium spinifolium, Amaranth spinifolium, and wild oat, among which ambrosia, Ambrosia trilobed and Xanthium spinifolium caused the greatest damage to plant diversity and the most serious threat to ecosystem stability. Since their first discovery in the Ili River Valley in 2010, ragweed and trilobed ragweed have spread rapidly. By 2020, the distribution area of the two species has reached 2,043 million mu and 568,500 mu, respectively, which has increased by 13,620 times and 3,790 times in 10 years, respectively, becoming the most serious area of ragweed and trilobed ragweed in China. Ragweed, trifid ragweed and Xanthium spinipennis are harmful in many ways. The first is the impact on human health. Ragweed and ragweed pollen can cause allergic reactions such as allergic dermatitis and bronchial asthma, is one of the most important pollen allergens, harmful to human health. The second is the harm to grassland animal husbandry. Ragweed and trilobed ragweed leaves contain bitter substances and essential oils, if mixed in the pasture, doped in the feed of dairy cows, once the dairy cattle eat, can make the quality of milk deteriorates, with a foul smell, affecting the quality of milk and milk products. The third is the harm to biodiversity. Invasive plants are highly competitive, tall plants, and grow robustly in groups. Taking ragweed as an example, it can still regenerate after five cuts, and the seeds can maintain high-quality vitality in the soil for 4-5 years. Once it occurs, it is difficult to prevent and destroy the local vegetation structure, reduce biodiversity, and destroy the ecological landscape. Fourth, the impact on agricultural production. Ragweed has a strong ability to absorb water and fertilizer, invading a variety of crop fields, and consuming nearly twice as much water in the soil as grass crops.

2. Problems
After large-scale pesticide spraying and mechanized control in the early stage, there are basically no large-scale distribution sites of ragweed and trilobed ragweed in Xinyuan County, and the main characteristics are sporadic distribution and new invasion. In view of this phenomenon, if we continue to rely on basic technical personnel for chemical and physical prevention, on the one hand, it will cost too much manpower and material resources, on the other hand, it can not find new invasion points in time. For other invasive species that are still in sporadic distribution period and have not caused extensive damage, it is more necessary to achieve "early detection and early control". Therefore, it is urgent to mobilize local farmers and herdsmen to participate in the prevention and control of invasive plants, so as to achieve "timely detection and early prevention and control".
In addition, although there have been many technical training sessions and on-site exchange sessions on ragweed and trilobated ragweed in the past, they are mainly for grass-roots technical personnel, lack of effective guidance for local farmers and herdsmen, and only focus on the prevention and control training of ragweed and trilobated ragweed, and lack a comprehensive introduction to local invasive species. In order to enable farmers and herdsmen to accurately identify invasive plants, and scientifically and effectively treat plants to avoid regeneration, experts must develop simpler and more practical control methods, so that the content is richer and more intuitive.

3. Solutions
1) Find out the family background: Through field investigation by experts, establish a list of invasive plants for demonstration sites, and clarify the types and occurrence sites of invasive plants.
2) Organize farmers and herdsmen to carry out science popularization and technical training: prepare an understanding book of invasive plants, clarify the morphological characteristics of invasive plants and the difference between them and similar species, so as to achieve accurate identification of "one kind and one book".
3) Lead farmers and herdsmen to conduct on-site demonstration: On the basis of indoor training courses, lead farmers and herdsmen to Xinghuagou and Narati grassland for on-site training, identify invasive plants, on-site guidance on how to remove them and subsequent treatment.
4) Develop a sustainable management plan: Summarize two years of training experience, hold experience exchange meetings with relevant local departments, and form a set of feasible sustainable management plans, so that other local invasion sites can achieve mass prevention and treatment of invasive species by replicating the project process.

4. Outcomes
1) Prepare a survey report on the occurrence and distribution of invasive plants in the demonstration site of the project, and clarify the occurrence area, distribution range and growth status of invasive plants in the demonstration site.
2) Through the compilation and sharing of 3-5 invasive species manuals, farmers and herdsmen have improved their understanding of invasive plants and their awareness of control. Through the development of specialized and targeted training programmes for farmers and herdsmen, 200 farmers and herdsmen were able to improve their ability to identify and monitor invasive plants and to detect early signs of plant invasion.
3) Local farmers and herdsmen to protect the ecological environment have formed a technical group of farmers and herdsmen to set up and run, and the initiative and prevention and control skills of farmers and herdsmen to participate in the prevention and control of invasive plants have been improved, and the strength of mass prevention and treatment has been strengthened. The distribution range of ragweed, ragweed and Xanthium acanthophylla in 186,800 ha of Narati grassland and Xinghuagou was reduced in two years.
4) A set of sustainable management program was developed to guide daily management and promoted to the local agriculture and rural bureau. To improve the prevention and control of invasive plants in Narati grassland and Xinghuagou

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

China Society of Plant Protection

Country:

China

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP7 Y4 (July 23-June 24)

Grant Amount:

US$ 50,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 5,340.75

Project Number:

CPR/SGP/OP7/Y4/STAR/BD/2023/03

Start Date:

5/2024

End Date:

4/2026

Status:

Currently under execution

Project Characteristics and Results

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Agriculture, animal husbandry and tourism are the two pillar industries of Xinyuan County, and the invasion of exotic plants has seriously affected these two industries. On the one hand. Xinyuan County has 7.616,600 mu of natural grassland, forage feed is abundant, forage can fully meet the county's herbivorous livestock breeding needs. In addition, Xinyuan County ranks the first in the whole state in terms of livestock stock, forming a breeding base for superior varieties such as Xinjiang brown cattle, Kazakh sheep and Yili horse. Therefore, the grassland quality of the natural grassland directly affects the health of livestock, and the invasion of foreign plants causes the decrease of agriculture and animal husbandry. On the other hand, invasive plants such as ragweed cause pollen allergies, destroy the natural environment of scenic spots, and affect the development of tourism. Therefore, strengthening the prevention and control of invasive plants plays a very important role in ensuring the safety and healthy development of local agriculture and animal husbandry ecology.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Direct project beneficiaries disaggregated by gender (individual people)?Number of direct beneficiaries with improved livelihoods and well-being?Improving the participation and decision-making of women in natural resource governance

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