Amity Foundation's Zhang Liwei (right) with Lei Dinghai, a village doctor trained by Amity at Wangjiangxi Village in Guizhou Province. Photo: Helen Jingwen Zhao/Amity Foundation

Amity Foundation cuts poverty in China by supporting the environment

October 22, 2007

After the U.S., China is the second largest consumer of energy and emitter of greenhouse gases. But China is rapidly increasing its energy efficiency and dramatically expanding wind and hydroelectric power production. In response to an emerging urban car culture, China has set up fuel efficiency standards well beyond those of the U.S. Per capita, each Chinese citizen still produces less than 1/6th of the carbon pollution of each American. As Church World Service prepares to advocate for policies that help the world’s most vulnerable people deal with climate change, its partner in China, the Amity Foundation, is setting up alternative energy systems for China’s poorest. CWS asked Amity’s Associate General Secretary Zhang Liwei about the impact of Amity’s biogas projects in Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces.

Zhang Liwei: Bio-gas has helped these villages stop the practice of cutting down trees for fire-wood and thus stop deforestation in their area. As the waste decomposes in the sealed container, it creates a bottom layer of sludge that can then be used for fertilizer. A biogas system with a volume of eight cubic meters can produce 400 cubic meters of methane gas, which can help save up to three tons of coal. It can also help protect 0.26 hectares of forest and reduce the emission of six tons of carbon dioxide. The sludge produced is a good fertilizer and supports organic agriculture. Since the projects use animal droppings and human waste, the sanitary situation improved. Furthermore, it also helps promote gender equity by reducing the time and effort women devote to arduous tasks, so that they have more time for income-generating agriculture. One biogas system can save fuels equivalent to 300 RMB (US$40) and save electricity equivalent to 120 RMB (US$16) a year. It also saves fertilizers equivalent to 120 RMB a year.

CWS: What other alternative energy projects has Amity facilitated recently?

Zhang: Amity also helped set up mini-hydraulic power stations and photovoltaic power supply systems. Amity provided 1,580 solar energy stoves for farmers in Qinghai Province. In Germu City, where Tibetan villagers traditionally use animal dung for cooking, sanitation and living conditions improved after we introduced similar stoves. Animal dung is now used as organic fertilizer to cultivate farmland or grassland.

CWS: How is Amity reducing poverty stemming from ecological impairment in Gansu Province?

Zhang: By planting 4,282 poplar saplings in Beitan Township, we halved erosion by reducing winds speeds by 20 percent, along with the number of sandstorms. We increased vegetation by five percent and doubled peasant income over six years. In 1999 there were eight occurrences of scale disease; in 2006 there was just one. Agricultural production increased by 50 kg per mu (0.16 square acres). The alfalfa from one mu of land can feed 10 sheep, motivating peasants to build corrals, rear animal and earn more income. Peasants are now skilled in sapling and shrub plantation, alfalfa cultivation, management of biogas system, and construction. The micro-credit program provides members 2,000 RMB (US$267) loans each cycle, which can create 300 RMB profits each year. Micro-credit helps them to collectively meet market challenges. Women and vulnerable people gain respect and a sense of ownership.

CWS: How is the organic chicken farming project in the Dalate County of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region raising environmental awareness among the region's farmers?

Zhang: Environmental conditions in Dalate County’s Liangwai Mountain are harsh. Amity helped plant 13,333 hectares of alfalfa and other grass and supports 3,509 families in raising 300,000 chickens every year. The alfalfa helps preserve water and prevent soil erosion. The chickens eat pesticide-free alfalfa and insects and sell at a better price since they are organic. It can help increase farmers’ income by 500 yuan (US $65) per person per year. Therefore each family can have an income increase of 5,000 yuan a year. Due to the environmental and economic impact of the project, the people in Dalate County are more environmentally conscious.

CWS: How is Amity engaging with climate change?

Zhang: The recent disasters in China were definitely related to the climate. Over the past year, China has witnessed drastic weather modes such as drought, floods, and typhoons, which has inflicted great losses in human life and property. On the one hand, we are doing relief work. On the other, we focus our efforts on rehabilitation and emphasize disaster mitigation and preparedness. We also help reforest disaster areas so as to avoid future disasters. The universe is God’s creation. We are protecting the earth as a whole. It’s important to achieve economic growth, but is equally to pay enough attention to the environment. We try to educate people by demonstrating our best practices. But climate change and alternative energy are brand new concepts for ordinary Chinese. We have a long way to go to achieve any significant progress in this respect. Although Amity has been active in environmental protection in some communities, the overall environmental awareness of the general public is far from desired.

CWS: Is Amity engaging any level of government—local, municipal, regional or national—on environmental, alternative energy and climate change policy?

Zhang: This is a weak area for Amity. However, we try to advocate through our best practices. For example, Amity supported the construction of 300 biogas systems in three villages in Guizhou province in 2001. The local government saw the good of the project and sent a report to the provincial government. Two years later, Guizhou formed a provincial plan to advocate the use of biogas and even budgeted funds for this endeavor.

CWS: What role do you see for partnership with CWS in addressing climate change in China?

Zhang: Emerging social ills have shown that there must be something wrong with the previously agreed-on development paradigm in China. A new consensus should be reached to achieve common prosperity. The development paradigm of putting efficiency and GDP growth first needs to give way to fairness and justice, environmental protection and human-centered development. Amity, as an NGO, has a critical role to play in realizing such a new paradigm by mobilizing and engaging people in this whole process. Amity hopes to work with CWS on advocacy on climate change, as well as on practical projects. We hope that CWS will continue to support Amity’s alternative energy projects such as biogas systems and solar energy stoves. We also hope that CWS can serve as a network to share information with us and engage us in advocacy related work. After all, we have a shared responsibility to protect our earth.