China makes major strides in fight against desertification, shares lessons with world

Earlier this month, a week-long international training program on desertification control, commissioned by the UNCCD secretariat, was held in Yinchuan, Ningxia, with 34 participants from 18 countries, including Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and India.

Each year, China trains nearly 100 desertification control specialists from developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America through such programs.

China's experience has reshaped global desertification control efforts. In Mongolia, Chinese experts have contributed to the One Billion Trees initiative, which aims to plant 1 billion trees by 2030, and helped build ecological restoration demonstration zones.

In Saudi Arabia, China's model of using photovoltaic installations to stabilize desert land has been successfully introduced, offering a new approach to both desertification control and energy transition. And along the southern edge of the Sahara, the lessons of China's Three-North program have been applied to the Great Green Wall Initiative.

"We have only one Earth. The technologies China has developed for fighting desertification belong not just to China, but to all of humanity," said Feng Zhanwen, head of the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center.

This year, the center will build three physical projects in Central Asian countries and send experts to conduct two technical training sessions on desertification control, Feng said.