Anew global desertification control action plan focuses on creation of aninstitute that could develop best practices for ecological restoration andshare those with developing countries struggling with encroaching sand.

TheKubuqi Global Desert Institute was be set up with the cooperation of the UnitedNations Convention to Combat Desertification and built into a leading trainingcenter within five years.

Worldwide,deserts are increasing by 50,000 to 70,000 square kilometers annually, the plannotes.

Theinitial plan is to organize one or two annual sessions at the institute in theKubuqi Desert of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to train 10 to 15professionals in desertification control in developing countries.

TheKubuqi Action Plan of Global Desertification Control (2015-25) was passed atthe Fifth Kubuqi International Desert Forum, which ended in 2015, in Ordos,Inner Mongolia.

Theaction plan is one of the initiatives supported by the UN convention. It includestargets to improve technology management around the world, especially indeveloping countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt, which runs through Asiato Europe.

Itwill promote a public-private partnership to encourage the participation ofenterprises and individuals. Wang's company, for example, says it will financethe planting of 130 million trees along the belt in the next three to fiveyears.

Desertificationis a thorny problem that faces many countries. Over 110 countries are beset bydesertification, which costs them up to $50 billion annually and affects thelivelihoods of about a billion impoverished people.

Institutefocuses on stopping encroaching sand

However,there is still hope for the growing global population as more than 2 billionhectares of degraded land can be restored, said Jia Xiaoxia, head of theDesertification Control Bureau under China's State Forestry Administration, whoattended at the forum.

Morethan 6,000 square kilometers, or one-third of the total area of the KubuqiDesert, now is green again thanks to local efforts to replant the desert overthe past 30 years, Inner Mongolia Daily reported on Wednesday.

Inthe action plan, desertification efforts adopted by Wang's Elion ResourcesGroup in the Kubuqi Desert were listed as an effective example.

Thecompany has taken comprehensive measures over the past 27 years to grow plantsin the desert to improve land quality, engage local residents and sell productsfor profit.