Recently, the China Science and Technology Exchange Center issued the notice of the Key Project of Intergovernmental International Scientific and Technological Innovation Cooperation of National Key R & D Program, "Key Technologies for Dynamic Monitoring and Early Warning of Soil Erosion" was officially approved (No. 2021YFE0106700). The program was led by Professor ZHU Lianqi from the College of Geography and Environmental Science, HENU. The Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, University of Cape Town in South Africa and other domestic and abroad units jointly applied. The project achieves a breakthrough for HENU in the application and approval of this category of special projects in the National Key R & D Program.

China and South Africa are located in the northern and southern hemispheres, and both facing serious soil erosion problems. It thus is urgent to carry out cooperative research on key technologies of soil erosion dynamic monitoring and early warning. The project of "Key Technologies for Dynamic Monitoring and Early Warning of Soil Erosion" takes China and South Africa as study areas to explore the laws of soil erosion and solves the key parameters of soil erosion at different scales, establish dynamic monitoring index and key technology system of soil erosion, construct the index system of comprehensive assessment of soil erosion risk, and establish a soil erosion early warning platform to provide early warning analysis of soil erosion under the scenario of future climate change. At the same time, this project will discuss the new mode of promoting the cooperation and exchange of researchers between China and South Africa.

ZHU Lianqi's team mainly conducts research and teaching in pedogeography, mountain geography and environment. In recent years, with the support of the National Science and Technology Basic Resources Survey "Comprehensive Scientific Survey of China’s North-South Transitional Zone", with field investigation and remote sensing technology as the main methods, the team focused on the development and utilization of soil resources in Qinling Daba Mountain.

The leader of the South African cooperation team of the project is professor Michael Edward Meadows of the Department of Geography, University of Cape Town, South Africa, who is an internationally renowned physical geographer, an academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the President of the international geographic Union (IGU).