On July 11, the South China National Botanical Garden, established based on the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was officially unveiled. It forms a "one south and one north" pattern with the Beijing National Botanical Garden and forms an important

On July 11, the South China National Botanical Garden, established based on the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was officially unveiled. It forms a "one south and one north" pattern with the Beijing National Botanical Garden and forms an important part of my country's national botanical garden system. It is understood that the South China National Botanical Garden will build a demonstration base for natural education and ecological civilization, improve its science popularization education capabilities, and transform the science popularization venues and signage systems to increase the number of annual visitors from more than 1.6 million in 2021 to more than 3 million.

Yang Zhongyi, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University, believes that playing the role of natural science popularization is a core role of the National Botanical Garden, and the establishment of the South China National Botanical Garden will play a vital role in the construction of ecological civilization in Guangzhou and Guangdong.

Yang Zhongyi, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University

Yang Zhongyi believes that my country is in great need of such a relevant platform to carry out natural science popularization or environmental education. He said that first of all, among the seventeen sustainable development goals of the United Nations, including public well-being and health, quality education, sustainable cities and communities, low-carbon actions, and terrestrial life, these five goals are closely related to the nature of the botanical garden. Science popularization, biodiversity protection, and other functions are related.

"Secondly, many people, especially teenagers, are now prone to 'nature deficit disorder' due to less and less contact with nature, leading to sensory decline, weakened observation, obesity and other physical problems, as well as depression and other psychological problems. "Yang Zhongyi said that teenagers are increasingly dependent on electronic products. Coupled with safety concerns about schools and parents, teenagers have fewer and fewer opportunities to go outside the city to contact nature. "Therefore, the South China National Botanical Garden Construction is undoubtedly of great significance in solving this problem and can provide our young people with a high-quality environment in the city to contact nature.”

In addition, Yang Zhongyi believes that the current nature education curriculum content is relatively lacking, and he suggested relying on it. The construction of the South China National Botanical Garden will make the nature education curriculum system better and spread it to all parks in Guangzhou as much as possible, including making good use of " pocket park " to carry out nature education. "Guangzhou City's plan to build a park city will provide better spatial conditions for the popularization of natural science. However, many of our parks only have good natural conditions, but lack nature education courses that are combined with the natural conditions of the parks. It is recommended that the natural resources department or The forestry department attaches great importance to the development of targeted nature education courses in parks, so as to achieve "one course for each park" or at least "one course for each park", hoping to provide high-level support for the development of science education and nature education in the city. The South China National Botanical Garden can also play an important role in this process," Yang Zhongyi said.

"Currently, our natural science education is often just done, but we don't know what role it plays in improving the public's awareness of ecological civilization and nature protection." Yang Zhongyi emphasized that relying on the South China National Botanical Garden, nature education can also be tested Or the effectiveness of natural science popularization, and through education, the public can improve their understanding and sense of participation in the construction of ecological civilization.

Interview and writing: Nandu reporter Chen Zhuorui, intern Song Meiying