Greening desert, beautiful China - World Day to Combat Desertification (1/6)

After years of fenced grazing and ecological management, the ecological environment of Otindag Sandland in Inner Mongolia is gradually improved and restored. File photo was taken in October 2006.

The World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) is observed worldwide on June 17 every year. The theme of this year's WDCD is ecosystem-based adaptation.

In China, desertification areas accounted for 27 percent of the total land. And desertification has caused direct economic losses over 120 billion yuan each year. Therefore the slogan of WDCD in China this year is “Greening deserts, Beautiful China”

With the slogan “Land Belongs to the Future, Let’s Climate Proof It”, the 2014 WDCD highlights the benefits of mainstreaming sustainable land management policies and practices into our collective response to climate change.

Sustainable land management increases both community and ecosystem resilience while improving the human condition particularly in the dry lands.