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Division of Geography
Geography
is a comprehensive discipline which takes the relationship
between human beings and the environment as its research object
and involves extensive contents and numerous research areas.
In recent years, research on traditional areas of geography
(including soil science and remote sensing) has constantly
been improved with the rapid development of all of its branches.
In general, prominent success has been made in the areas of
earth surface processes, interaction between human?Earth relationship,
urban geography and the sustainable development of regional
environment and resources. In soil science, research on the
classification of soil systems and soil electrochemistry has
assumed remarkable superiority. In the research of remote
sensing, rapid progress has been achieved in application models
and information systems of resources and environment as well.
Moreover, with the demand of scientific development, new technologies
and methodologies are being increasingly introduced into the
research of geography, and projects for extensive interdisciplinary
research are arising accordingly. Comprehensive research in
different aspects of this discipline has been carried out,
and attention has been paid to the combination of nature with
humanity. In the past years, some high?tech projects and fundamental
research projects with high applicability have been funded.
Applied basic research of land use, urban planning, resources
development, natural disaster mitigation and environment assessment
has been conducted in combination with research on specific
cities and regions of the country. According to the supported
projects in recent years, the integration of research methodologies
used by different disciplines and the interdisciplinary research
by different means are the developing trends in geography.
In 2001, the Division funded 124 projects
of General Program (including Free Application projects, Young
Scientists Fund projects, Regional Fund projects, interdisciplinary
projects, non?consensus projects and preferential projects
for the development of western China). There were 30 projects
in the area of physical geography, with a total funding of
6. 97 million yuan, accounting for 24. 69% of the total funds
allocated to geography. These projects are mainly in the areas
of integrated physiography and geomorphology. Along with the
urbanization in China and the increasing influence of globalization,
support for human geography has been focused on the research
of economic geography (including historical geography) and
urban geography, with a total of 2. 97 million yuan for 15
projects, accounting for 71. 43% and 61. 62% of the total
funds and projects in human geography. Soil science is a relatively
independent discipline, which has close relations with biology.
In 2001, its support was concentrated on soil chemistry, soil
erosion and water and soil conservation, accounting for 48.
33 % of the total funds for the research of soil science.
In recent years, remote sensing research
has been focused on the foundation of remote sensing application,
applied models and new technologies, new methods, and resource
and environment information systems. Along with the national
construction, the need for carrying out basic and applied
basic research in this aspect is becoming even more urgent.
In 2001, the Division allocated 3.78 million yuan to the study
of models and methods of remote sensing information and environment
information systems, accounting for 69. 10% of the total funds
in remote sensing. Basic research on quantitative remote sensing
is one of the research areas that should be strengthened in
the future. The focus of environment geography is on the fields
such as environment pollution process, environmental biochemical
circulation and environment evolution. As research on global
change is getting more and more in depth, research on temporal
and spatial changes of macro?environment is attracting increasing
attention. One should fully understand the characteristics
and advantages of geography and explore the human Earth interaction
and the processes and mechanisms of the environment change
by means of historical geography, archaeology, biology, geophysics
and geochemistry. Apart from the above?mentioned projects
of General Program, the Division also funded two interdisciplinary
projects ( totaling 450 thousand yuan) and two projects for
the development of western China (totaling 460 thousand yuan)
. According to the principle of encouraging innovation and
the nomination by panel members, two non?consensus projects
were funded ( totaling 410 thousand yuan). According to the
unified arrangement of the National Natural Science Foundation,
the "small fund for initial exploratory research"
was set up in 2001. The Division allocated 690 thousand yuan
to this type of research in order to encourage exploratory
and innovative research.
For a given period of time in the
future, the Division will continue to encourage the exploration
of major basic and applied basic issues in the frontier areas
of geography, aim at the national objectives and regional
features of the country, focus its support on integrated researches
which possess creative academic ideas, adopt new technologies
and methodologies and take geological regions as their research
units. It encourages the probe into the structural and functional
changes of the Earth's surface system under the pressure of
human activities and its mechanism as well as ways for sustainable
development. In the mean time, it will intensify its support
to proposals for General Program projects in this discipline
in the light of the importance and practical needs of the
proposals.
Research
areas encouraged:
Theoretical geography;
o Synthetic functional processes of geographic elements;
o Formation mechanism'of geomorphic process and its environmental
effect;
o Dynamic process and sustainable utilization of water, soil
and biological resources;
o Land degradation, such as soil erosion and desertification,
and its restoration;
o Biological effectiveness of soil nutritional elements;
o Urbanization process and regional sustainable development;
o The impact of global change and human activities on regional
environment;
o Regional environmental quality and human health, and
o Basic
research on quantitative remote sensing for resources and
environment, and the remote sensing monitoring and analysis
of major natural disasters.
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