Passing on the secrets of success

As part of China's aid package to developing countries, Gansu province and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region have been providing training courses for foreign officials and scholars on the prevention and control of desertification.

Since 1993, the institute has provided foreign guests with 43 seminars on the prevention and control of desertification, ecological restoration, industrial development, the protection of oases and water conservation, according to Liu Shizeng, director of the Gansu Desert Control Research Institute in Lanzhou, the provincial capital.

Gansu has also launched cooperation programs with more than 20 countries, and established pilot bases in Nigeria, Niger, Egypt, and Mauritania. Ningxia Hui has held training sessions for officials from Arabian countries since 2006. In total, 220 participants from 20 countries have participated in the region's course on combating desertification.