Tang Fanglin, deputy director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to desertification and land degradation control, implementing key ecological projects such as the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, returning farmland to forests and grasslands projects, and the sand sources control project in the Beijing-Tianjin region.

The area of desertified land in China has transitioned from an average annual expansion of 343,600 hectares at the end of the 20th century to an average annual reduction of 667,000 hectares now, achieving a continuous net decrease in desertified land area over 20 years, he said.

"China actively explores and promotes comprehensive governance, integrated management, and systematic governance models, innovatively combining land management with industrial development, promoting the application of sand control through photovoltaics, turning deserts into treasures, and providing new approaches for desertification and land degradation control to countries around the world," Tang said.