Africa learns from China in anti-desertification

CHIFENG, Inner Mongolia - The United Nations Convention to Combat Decertification (UNCCD) will help share China's experiences in controlling decertification with Africa, said an official with the UNCCD on Friday in Chifeng city, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

China's ecosystems, particularly those in plateau and semi-plateau regions, are very much similar to those in many African countries affected by land decertification and degradation, said Dr Mansour N' Diaye, Chef de Cabinet of the UNCCD Secretariat.

He made the remarks at the end of a three-day Media Workshop on Decertification, Land Degradation and Drought in Asia, which attracted journalists and officials from over 40 countries in Asia and Africa.

Attendees to the workshop visited the anti-decertification projects run by local governments and interviewed farmers working in the field.

He said the UNCCD is looking for projects that can be easily replicated in other countries, and that make differences to people's living conditions.

"The project is about not only halting the sand dune moving, but also about planting specific trees that bear fruit," he said.

The central government began working to control sources of sand and dust in June 2000 to prevent continuous sandstorms and dusty weather in North China.

Monitoring data from eight sandstorm monitoring stations and 22 meteorological stations showed that 86 percent of the stations have registered decreases in sand and dust levels since the start of the project.