Coinciding with World Soil Day 2019, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Ningxia Forestry Grassland Administration, China, launched the International Knowledge Management Center on Combating Desertification.

The Knowledge Management Center is part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the UNCCD and China aimed at implementing the Ordos Declaration, which was adopted by the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 13) in 2017. The overall objective is to strengthen international cooperation by sharing technologies and experiences in combating land degradation, desertification and drought, as well as to support capacity development of affected developing countries.

The launch took place on 5 December 2019, during the first annual International Seminar on Desertification Control Technologies and Practices held in Yinchuan, Ningxia Autonomous Region, China. The outcomes of the seminar, which attracted 100 participants from 15 African and Asian countries and featured vegetation cover restoration approaches and forest shelter-belt construction techniques developed in Ningxia and other dryland areas of China, will be made available on the UNCCD Knowledge Hub. UNCCD parties use the Hub to share best practices in sustainable land management and restoration.