China's desertification control is making major inroads

Over the past five years, China has greened 36.6 million hectares of land and maintained a forest coverage rate of over 25 percent, while pushing forward with its desertification control efforts, according to a side event at the 17th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification on Monday.

The event, held at the China Pavilion, showcased China's progress in desertification prevention and control, digital monitoring and the transformation of scientific results into practical tools, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said in a media release on Tuesday.

China's key ecological projects, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, have driven a historic shift in heavily degraded areas from "sand advancing and people retreating" to "green advancing and sand retreating", it said.

Over the past five years, 67.82 percent of treatable sandy land in the Three-North region has been effectively controlled. Forest and grass coverage in the area has risen to 40.76 percent, while related forestry and grassland industries have generated more than 800 billion yuan ($118.9 billion) annually.

Andrea Meza, deputy executive secretary of the UNCCD Secretariat, praised China's achievements in land degradation neutrality, desertification control and soil health, saying the country's long-term planning and integration of traditional knowledge with advanced technology offered useful lessons for others.

China also called for deeper cooperation under multilateral platforms and proposed further desertification-control cooperation with Arab, Mongolian, Central Asian and African partners, as well as countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.