The Chinese city of Zhanjiang has honoured CSIRO eucalypt specialist Stephen Midgley for his work on eucalypt breeding programs in China.

The award as Honorable Citizen of Zhanjiang was bestowed on Mr Midgley by the Zhanjiang Municipal People's Government on 24 November 2001.

Zhanjiang City is in the tropical south of China and home to seven million people. It is a harbour city and one of China's original "open cities". It is also a focus for China's expanding resource of commercial eucalypt plantations and associated industry and is the base for the China Eucalypt Research Centre.

Stephen Midgley has worked with Chinese research institutes for almost 20 years. He also lived in Zhanjiang and assisted with the establishment and development of the China Eucalypt Research Centre in 1992.

Since that time Mr Midgley has fostered a number of collaborative research links with support from Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and CSIRO.

This work has offered training to research partners and has introduced new species of eucalypts and assisted in breeding programs resulting in increased productivity from eucalypt plantations.

China has been growing eucalypts for more than 120 years, and has in excess of 800 000 ha of eucalypt plantations and an even larger area under the '4-around' plantings - around the houses, villages, roads and canals.

"There are many challenges which China and Australia have in common and which form a strong rationale for working closely together," says Mr Midgley.

"We both have decreasing access to native forests, increasing reliance upon plantations - particularly eucalypts, we export rather than value add, we need to develop new markets and acceptance of eucalypt wood, we need to substitute for imports, and we have a commitment to landcare and sustainable management of plantation and water resources," he says.

CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products has worked with Chinese authorities for more than 10 years to develop the China Eucalypt Research Centre, which forms the focus for coordination, information and extension relating to eucalypt cultivation and utilisation in China.

"Stephen's great effort deserves this recognition by the Zhanjiang Municipal Government. It is not only an honour for him personally, but also an honour for CSIRO" says Dr Paul Wellings, Deputy Chief Executive of CSIRO.

"This is not the first international recognition that Stephen Midgley has received; he was honoured by an award from the Government of Vietnam for his contribution to forest development in the 1990s, he was a recipient of the 1994 CSIRO Medal (http://www.csiro.au/csiro/ararchive/ar94_95/resaward.htm) and more recently, he was awarded an Asia-Pacific Regional Award of Excellence by the Commonwealth Forestry Association in April this year."he says.

"Building on his other many achievements, and very worthy recognitions of excellence, this is further celebration of the contribution that Stephen made around the world. We are proud to have such an outstanding person in this part of CSIRO's team."

More information from:

Mr Stephen Midgley, CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products 02 6281 8201

Mr Mick Crowe, CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products 02 6281 8357, 0419 696 184

Email: Mick.Crowe@ffp.csiro.au

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