When Dr. Guangyu Wang told his grandparents he’d be studying forestry at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, China, they were surprised the program would take four years. To them, studying forests could be achieved over a few months of fieldwork.
“My grandpa would say, ‘I planted the tree and I cut the tree and just learned it in the field … what are you going to study for four years?’” Wang laughed.
At that juncture, Wang understood the gap between farming and its technical and scientific applications. Born in a subtropical rural area in China, he learned to appreciate the value of forests and their contribution to the livelihood of small communities. During his studies, Wang found time to come back home to help manage his family’s land.
Wang is the UBC Faculty of Forestry’s associate dean, Asian strategies, the director of the Asia Forest Research Centre and an associate professor in the faculty. His current research focuses on sustainable forest and integrated watershed management using computer modeling and GIS, a computer system for capturing, storing, checking and displaying positional data to see, analyze and understand patterns and relationships of the Earth’s surface.
“In the past 40 years, I never changed my study or research direction,” Wang asserted. “I like forests. And in particular, right now, my research is mainly on national parks.”
Wang has worked on national park development in the US, Canada and China. He was director of Fuzhou National Forest Park from 1993 to 1997, which was regarded as one of China's top national parks at the time. He also worked at the US Forest Services, the Pacific Northwest Regional Office and the World Forestry Institute.
“I like national parks. I think this is one of the key areas to preserve the nature’s landscape, biodiversity, endangered species,” Wang said. “This is the last place for the Earth to preserve that kind of pristine forest environment.”
Finding new ways to preserve nature's therapy
Wang aims to educate people on the indispensability of national parks as a space to relax by engaging in recreational activities and is involved in research focused on natural therapy.
Wang pointed to the need to preserve the vitality of not only national parks but community, city and regional parks to enable visitors to engage with green spaces and deal with stress and anxiety.
He said he could see this during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he and his team conducted research to provide park design and development recommendations to park managers and other decision makers during health crises.
He also envisions bringing the outside in, by investigating which natural elements of our forests provide health benefits, and to find ways to mimic them for those who cannot easily access green spaces due to mobility limitations or circumstance.
Wang and his research team are currently working with Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster to create 3D forest models for patients preparing for surgery to reduce anxiety and stress, and to support individuals in hospice care.
A holistic approach to forestry management
Talking further about this effort to balance forest conservation, health benefits and economic development, Wang said he applies technological advancements to challenges that arise due to rapid urbanization.
To him, climate change challenges the measures used to assess the preservation of forest ecosystems and ecological evolution. To tackle this, Wang and his team are developing ways to assess ecological integrity using indicators that monitor a forest's changing landscape.
Wang also hosted an event alongside PhD student Chunyu Pan, on nature-based solutions (NbS) — techniques that use nature to address societal issues — to tackle climate change at the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
There, Wang and Pan presented on the role of a holistic approach to forestry management that considers biodiversity conservation, community well-being and livelihood, and climate action, and the potential for bamboo to act as a carbon sink solution and contributor to sustainable living. The event aligns with the UN's sustainable development goal, “Life on Land,” providing a holistic and practical method for addressing carbon offset challenges.
Wang integrates technology to further his ambition of making forests stand in their purity while providing health benefits to people.
Moving forward, Wang advocates for a changed mindset about forests.
“Forests [are] about the people, for the people,” he said. “A forest is not only a forest. So as a university, as a researcher, we should look at all the different kinds of the benefits we generate from forests … in a world in this kind of rapid urbanization.”
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