On February 22, Rolex announced the five winners of the 2023 Rolex Award for Talent, and Liu Shaochuang became the first Chinese scientist to win the award.
Founded in 1976, the Rolex Awards cover areas such as environmental protection, medical science, applied technology, cultural heritage and discovery, and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world's first waterproof wristwatch, the Rolex Oyster. The Rolex Awards are part of Rolex's Perpetual Planet initiative, which supports exceptional individuals and organisations to use technology to better understand and develop solutions to challenges facing the global environment.
It is reported that the jury of the 2023 Rolex Awards is composed of ten internationally renowned experts and leaders in related fields, and the five winners are from China, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, Peru and Indonesia. Among them, Liu Shaochuang from China successfully won the award for his project "Using Innovative Technology to Save Endangered Wild Camels".
Wild camels, which crossed the Gobi Desert thousands of years ago, are now critically endangered. "Ten years ago, this research relied entirely on human observation. "Scientists can't track camels, so they can only study hoof prints and fecal tracks. Now, Liu and his team put on satellite collars for camels to learn about their migration routes, living environments and potential threats. They equipped the first wild camel in May 2012, Liu Shaochuang said that there are currently seven wild camels wearing tracking collars, and they also send their locations to satellites every day.
With this new technology, he and his team were able to track and study the camels' movements as they traversed the vast and inhospitable terrain, and gradually identify the measures needed to protect them. "If we know where the camels are going, where they are drinking and what threats they face, we can make plans to further protect the camels' water sources and establish protected areas," he said. "Satellite technology can also help to study the environment in which camels travel and to assess the impact of climate change on ecosystems.
Liu and his team also plan to study other threats to camels, including predatory attacks, grazing competition, and various diseases. Wildlife rangers can also use computer-simulated climate scenarios and human interactions with other grazing animals to plan the most suitable shelter for the long-term survival of camels. With the Rolex Award, Liu Shaochuang is part of the Perpetual Planet initiative, which aims to shed light on the world's understanding of wild camels and their unpredictable living environment. He decided to put his knowledge to good use and use his findings to help him work with conservation organizations to establish two new large-scale protected areas, namely the China Wild Camel National Park and the China-Mongolia Cross-border Wild Camel Nature Reserve.
It is understood that Liu Shaochuang is a researcher at the Aerospace Information Innovation Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with rich scientific expertise, and plays an important role in the research and development of China's lunar and Mars probes. He will use satellites to track wild camels in China and Mongolia's Gobi Desert region to support future conservation efforts.