BEIJING: Although considerable achievements have already been made in the fight against desertification, China’s top forest and grassland management body has pledged to remain vigilant and committed to the global struggle with shifting sands.
“As a global model for desertification control, we will thoroughly implement President Xi Jinping’s important initiative to improve global ecological governance and build an eco-friendly world economy, extensively engage in international exchanges and cooperation, implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, continue to contribute Chinese wisdom, and promote global environmental governance and protection,” said Guan Zhi’ou, director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, in a recent interview with China Daily.
China’s efforts in holding back its deserts date back more than 50 years, and the nation has achieved zero net growth in land degradation, as well as a reduction in desertification and sandy land, Guan said. China is willing to share its experience in combating desertification with other countries, the official added.
In 1978, China launched the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, which has a planned duration of 73 years. China joined the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994 as one of its first signatories.
In June last year, President Xi issued a call for action to tackle the critical challenges of the program and strive to create new miracles in desertification control in the new era. This marked a historic new phase in China’s efforts to combat desertification.
Over the past 46 years, the forest coverage rate in the project area has increased from just over 5 percent to 13.84 percent, creating a vast green barrier in northern China, Guan said.
According to the administration, 53 percent of China’s treatable desertified land has been managed. By the end of last year, the forest coverage rate exceeded 25 percent, with forest stock volume surpassing 20 billion cubic meters and annual carbon sequestration reaching more than 1.2 billion metric tons.
The Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program has been recognized in the Global 500 Roll of Honor for Environmental Achievement by the United Nations Environment Programme. The UNCCD Secretariat has also twice honored China for its “outstanding contribution to combating desertification”.
China now has the largest area of planted forests in the world and is the largest contributor to global greening, said Guan.
At the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD, which was held in Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, in 2017, a global goal of achieving “land degradation neutrality” by 2030 was established. China has already met the target ahead of schedule.
“After more than half a century of continuous efforts, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, our approach to combating desertification has become more scientific, with improved top -level design, more comprehensive working mechanisms and stronger policy support,” Guan said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
