Integrated Agri-disaster Management for Sustainable Agricultural Development in China

For China, sufficient food with good quality and better life for in 1.6 billion people in 2003 will be of the highest priority for sustainable agricultural development in a short and medium term. To achieve those goals, new technologies for management and rational utilization of agricultural resources, are of great significance. Chinese agriculture under the regime of sustainable development is suffering from natural disasters such as drought, flood and forest fire, etc. very seriously. So how to combat the disasters and to decrease the economic loss with the help from new technologies such as remote-sensing and GIS (geographical information system) has attracted more attentions fTom governmental officers and scientific researchers. Under the supervision and practical demand for policy-making of Mainstay of Agriculture, the Institute of Natural Resources and Regional Planning, CAAS, P. R. China has developed an integrated agri-disaster monitoring and evaluation system, which is now operationally running with functions like disaster detecting, monitoring, forecasting, economic loss evaluating and providing scientific supporting. In has been proved that this system is very effective in sustainable agricultural development in China. 19