STORY: China shares anti-desertification experience with world
DATELINE: June 19, 2023
LENGTH: 0:01:36
LOCATION: LANZHOU, China
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the workshop
2. SOUNDBITE (English): RETSELISITS LEKU, Engineer from Lesotho
3. various of the workshop
4. various of desert, grassland and wetlands in China

STORYLINE:

Seventeen people from Ghana, Nigeria, Cuba, Lesotho, Laos and Nepal are participating in the Workshop on Ecological Restoration and Compensation Mechanism Construction in Developing Countries in Lanzhou, the capital of northwest China's Gansu Province.

The workshop, which will last until June 25, is organized by the Gansu Desert Control Research Institute.

SOUNDBITE (English): RETSELISITS LEKU, Engineer from Lesotho
"With the amount of information that has been generated so far, I think China is doing a very criterion of combating desertification. Throughout the training and learning, there is a potential (for us) to go back home, and maybe try to take the technology into a deeper level."

The training program has been held in Gansu since the 1990s, with about 1,000 technical workers and government officials from 87 countries trained.

The training courses combine in-class learning and field practice, focusing on theories and techniques of desertification control as well as ecological restoration.

China has made sustained efforts to combat desertification over the years, putting the brakes on desert expansion and contributing to global ecological conservation.

Official data show that during the 2012-2022 period, China's accumulative afforestation area reached 960 million mu (64 million hectares), while 165 million mu of grassland was improved, and more than 12 million mu of wetlands were added or restored.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Lanzhou, China.
(XHTV)