On June 6, the first overseas super observation station of the 'the Belt and Road' Climate and Environmental Observation Network over Dust Belt, developed and built by a research team led by Huang Jianping, an academician of the CAS Member, was completed and put into use. The unveiling ceremony was held at the Shaartuz National Meteorological Station in the Republic of Tajikistan. Chinese experts such as Academician Huang Jianping, Professor Zhang Lei, Professor Huang Zhongwei, and Professor Shuo Jianrong from Lanzhou University, as well as researcher Farhod Rahim, Director of the Institute of Physical Technology at the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, and Sabur, Director of the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory F. Abdullaev Researcher, Laboratory Chief Engineer A M. Juraev and other experts from Tajikistan attended the unveiling ceremony. Representatives of Tajikistan's national media were invited to attend the opening ceremony.
The 'the Belt and Road' Climate and Environment Observation Network is a response to the national 'the Belt and Road' initiative, initiated by Lanzhou University, led by Academician Huang Jianping, and co built with relevant meteorological departments, environmental protection departments, and scientific research institutes at home and abroad. On this basis, Lanzhou University has developed a natural disaster early warning and prediction system for the Silk Road Economic Belt. Each station of the 'the Belt and Road' Climate and Environment Observation Network is composed of internationally advanced instruments such as the multi band Raman polarization laser radar independently developed by Lanzhou University, and the main scientific research achievements are China's independent intellectual property rights. The construction of the observation network is not only aimed at developing high-precision and high-resolution meteorological disaster prediction and early warning systems covering countries and regions along the 'the Belt and Road', monitoring the local diffusion law of atmospheric compound pollutants such as dust long-distance transmission and haze, serving social and economic development fields such as railway and logistics transportation, but also will play an active role in global climate change research, calibration of China's spaceborne laser radar and other fields.
The the Belt and Road Climate and Environment Observation Network starts from Lanzhou in the east, extends westward along the Hexi Corridor to Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and finally reaches the Sahara Desert, the world's largest desert. There are more than 20 stations in total, spanning a straight line distance of more than 8000 kilometers, and climate monitoring data in the global arid and semi-arid regions can be obtained. The construction project of the observation network was officially launched in 2016. After 5 years of preliminary research and development, the Ruoqiang Station in Xinjiang was successfully unveiled in October 2020. Currently, all 7 stations in the domestic section of the observation network have been completed. The Shahtuz Station in Tajikistan is the first foreign super observation station of the observation network. The station is located at the border of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan, approximately 260 kilometers from the capital Dushanbe. It is an important Central Asian observation site of the Institute of Physical Technology of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.
The construction of the Shahtuz Station in Tajikistan took 5 years. In 2018, at the invitation of Researcher Alimahmad Kholov, Director of the Umarov Institute of Physical Technology at the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences, Academician Huang Jianping's team visited the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences and conducted on-site site research. They reached a consensus on the cooperation intention of the two sides to jointly carry out research on dust pollutant transport and its climate and environmental effects in Tajikistan in the future. Over the past 5 years, staff from both sides have had multiple exchanges through a combination of online and offline methods in terms of joint station construction, technical training, and joint application for international cooperation projects. In June 2023, with the joint efforts of China and Tajikistan, the Shartouz Climate Observatory in Tajikistan was officially completed.
The completion and operation of this observatory will provide comprehensive observation data on dust, pollutants, and meteorological elements in key areas of Central Asia, and directly serve meteorological disaster warning, climate change and its impact assessment and adaptation strategies for countries along the Central Asian route. It will benefit the people of China and Tajikistan, marking the substantive implementation of China's research on climate change and meteorological disaster prediction and warning in Central Asia and globally.
Due to the connection of the ancient Silk Road, China and the five Central Asian countries have been friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers since ancient times. Central Asia is the first place for supporting the 'the Belt and Road' initiative, and also a demonstration area for high-quality joint construction of the 'the Belt and Road'. Tajikistan is a landlocked country in southeastern Central Asia, adjacent to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. It is the smallest country among the five Central Asian countries and a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Affected by regional politics and global climate and environmental changes, most countries in Central Asia have been plagued by climate and environmental disasters for a long time.One of the most common negative impacts in recent decades is dust intrusion, which results in atmospheric pollution by dust particles, seriously damaging the physical health of citizens in the region. However, due to various factors such as insufficient investment, outdated technology, and a lack of advanced instruments, real-time comprehensive monitoring and forecasting, and early warning of regional climate and environmental changes cannot be achieved locally, resulting in most parts of Central Asia suffering from the destructive effects of climate and environmental disasters for a long time.
At the recently concluded China Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, China, Xi Jinping proposed that China will develop a special cooperation plan for poverty reduction in science and technology between China and Central Asian countries, and implement the 'China Central Asian Technology Skill Enhancement Plan'. The official completion and operation of the Shartuz Climate Observatory in Tajikistan not only provides the possibility for more comprehensive cooperation between China and Tajikistan in professional fields such as climate change, air pollution, and meteorological disaster warning in the future; At the same time, it is of great significance to help improve climate and environmental governance in Central Asia;It is in line with the goals of the 'Twenty Year Action Plan for the Research and Development of Natural Science, Precision Science, and Mathematical Science in the Field of Science and Education' initiated by the head of state of Tajikistan, and is also a strong implementation of the Xi'an Declaration of the China Central Asia Summit.
