New technology

With the biosphere program, more high-end technologies can be applied to streamline the approach that seeks to make people's economic progress move alongside the proper management of wildlife habitats.

Satellite and terrestrial technologies could be deployed to scan large areas for changes, and used to work out specific requirements of programs that wish to balance development and conservation in specific places.

"Success is not guaranteed, but you'll have to keep trying," Ishwaran says.

When compared with other countries, China's development is perceived to have been "hardware" driven, such as building of roads and bridges. But in Ishwaran's opinion, China's expertise in space and other sciences is an important part of its soft power in international relations.

As he points to a screen in the lobby of Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, a China Academy of Sciences affiliate, where HIST is located, a live satellite image moves slowly.

"This is relayed to Angkor Wat in Cambodia," he says. "So people there can use it for detecting problems and managing their area."

Ishwaran isn't ready to retire yet. But even when he does and settles down in Paris, where his wife works, he says he may "go in and out and do a few things with the HIST center here".

China is a place that "impresses you to an extent that you want to keep coming back and spend more time", he says.

Xing Yi and Yang Yang contributed to this story.

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