Applying Humboldt's holistic perspective in China's sustainability

Abstract

Alexander von Humboldt, was a great German geobotanist, educator and naturalist who greatly influenced science and humanities for more than two hundred years. In addition to scientific contributions (such as the understanding of vegetation distribution, the concepts of isotherm and pressure contours, and the initial concept of continental drift theory), he firmly believed in the concept of the interconnection of everything and the methodological approach of a holistic perspective to development, which has significance in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, because they include both synergy and trade-offs among these goals. China has undergone tremendous changes since its reform and opening up in 1978 and now faces severe challenges in sustainable development. The scientific methods applied by Chinese scientists in sustainability fulfil the Humboldtian holistic perspective of nature. Here I provide four successful cases and their significant implications for addressing the increasingly severe water shortage, biological conservation, and conflicts between human well-being and land. The four examples discussed in this article are enlightened to establish a strong, just, and influential government and require empirical research to implement sustainable development plans. I believe that it's vital to encourage and supervise public participation for a successful program; for example, the participants should not be restricted to project executors, i.e., farmers or workers, but also students and scientists. Eradicating poverty must be prioritized, and well-being is the ultimate goal for sustainable development. This review article provides an extremely valuable reference for other developing or even developed countries to address sustainability challenges.

Keywords

Biological conservation / Climate change / Energy / Food security / Holistic perspective / Water resource / Sustainable development goals

Author contribution

JGG wrote the paper.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declares that there are no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that influenced the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr. Andrea Stephens for her early writing suggestion and invitation. Sincere thanks go to Professor Wang Shuai, Professor Liang Er-Yuan, and Dr. Liu Hui for their insightful comments on this manuscript. I gratefully acknowledge the Editorial Office of Geography and Sustainability for revising and polishing my manuscript. I am also deeply appreciative of the comments from the two anonymous reviewers that improved the manuscript.

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