Professor Bojie Fu has been awarded the 2026 Volvo Environment Prize, the Volvo Group said in the release announcing the award. Fu is a professor of geography and landscape ecology at the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Loess Plateau was a cradle of early Chinese civilization, but centuries of intensive cultivation and overgrazing stripped its vegetation and pushed the area toward ecological collapse, with soil washing into the Yellow River, according to the release. Large areas of the plateau are green again after a long restoration effort.
Through field studies and landscape-scale analysis, Fu and his team examined the relationships between land use, vegetation, water, soil, biodiversity and local livelihoods. Their work found that more vegetation can hold soil in place, capture carbon and revive biodiversity, but that planting the wrong species or planting too densely can worsen water scarcity and threaten a restored landscape's long-term survival. That evidence helped move restoration strategies away from mass planting campaigns toward adapted land management, including guidance on which species to plant, where they can thrive, and how to balance restoration with agriculture and community needs.
Farmers resisted the effort out of concern for their livelihoods if they could no longer keep livestock or farm as before, and the Grain for Green programme addressed that by compensating local communities and farmers, the release said. Early demonstration projects received World Bank funding, while most of the later investment came from the Chinese government. The release said success depended on sustained financial and political commitment as well as continuous scientific monitoring and a willingness to adapt when established approaches were not working.
The prize has been awarded annually since 1990 and is presented by an independent foundation. It consists of a hand-crafted diploma, a glass sculpture and SEK 1.5 million. Fu will receive it at a ceremony in Stockholm on Nov 2, 2026. More information about the laureate and the prize is published by the foundation.
