A Chinese company was able to show its approach to the control and treatment of desertification at the World Climate Change Conference (COP21) opened at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, on Dec 1.

The Elion Resources Group from China conducted the study in the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia (China’s seventh largest) as an example of ecologically driven wealth creation and reported that it restored 12,700 square kilometers of the desert over a 27-year period in a remediation project that helped with poverty relief and benefitted 100,000 people and created jobs for more than 1 million.

Wang Wenbiao, president of Elion Resources, told the gathering at COP21, “The control of desertification is very important for coping with climate change and that hot, arid desert areas accounting for around a fourth of the planet’s land surface have a great effect on climate change.”

Wang went on to say that dealing with desertification is as important as reducing greenhouse gases for stopping climate change. Action is urgently needed and the target is clear, which was backed by Wu Chanhua, Greater China director of the Climate Group, who commended the Kubuqi model and said that it’s badly need a successful mode that could be copied on large scale.

Wang Wenbiao, president of Elion Resources Group speaks at a gathering of COP21 at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, on Dec 1. [Photo/elion.com.cn]