On the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, the 3rd Taklamakan Desert Forum was successfully held in Korla, the "Pear City" in Xinjiang, from June 10th to 11th. More than 180 representatives from national scientific research institutions, international organizations, and enterprises in the field of desertification prevention and control from China, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East gathered together to study how to effectively prevent and control land degradation and desertification of the Sahara Desert and the Taklamakan Desert, to improve the environment, promote the ecological restoration, explore the establishment of a multi-party participation platform and propose solutions tailored to local conditions.

 
Jia Xiaoxia, an official of the secretariat of the UNCCD, said that focusing on key ecological issues of desertification, cooperation and exchanges should be strengthened, and mature technical achievements and successful experiences should be divided into items to jointly create a sustainable ecological environment.
   
Sanou Marcelin, a senior director of the secretariat of the Pan-African "Great Green Wall", said at the forum that the Sahel region has suffered from desertification for a long time. Under the leadership of the African Union, many countries in the region have launched the " The Green Great Wall” plan, hopes to jointly combat desertification through transnational cooperation, and the green cooperation between Africa and China has broad prospects.
   
Professor Xu Zheng of Tsinghua University, in the report of “The Path of Solar-Water Ecology Starts From Here” advocated the global development of Solar-Water Ecology, enhanced solar pumping technology to better empower the land and people, and promoted the construction of the solar water conservancy industry in conjunction with the Pan-African "Green Great Wall" , set sail on a new journey of Solar-Water Ecology, develop solar water conservancy industry alliances, establish multi-level partnerships, and jointly promote ecological restoration with diversified forms of cooperation, to let the world full of sunshine.

 
Since the successful construction of the No. 0 Solar Pumping Irrigation Station in the Taklamakan Desert in 2001, Shenzhen Solartech R&D and technical team with Professor Xu Zheng as the core has been focusing on the research and development of solar pumping technology, system product development and expansion of application solutions. In 2004, the world's first research and demonstration base for solar pumping systems was established at the International Graduate School of Tsinghua University. In 2006, Shenzhen Solartech Renewable Energy Co., Ltd. was established. Until now, solar water pumping technology, system products and system solutions have been widely promoted and applied to domestic water, water-saving irrigation, seawater (brackish water) in more than 130 countries and regions around the world of desalination, grassland animal husbandry, desert control and other fields.

 
During this period, Shenzhen Solartech solar pumping system technology and products entered the promotion catalog of advanced practical technologies of the Ministry of Water Resources in 2011, won the United Nations Global Human Settlement Environment Green Technology Model Award in 2014, and the system products won the Global Leap Awards of the Global Energy Efficiency Alliance in 2019 .

 
This forum provided a platform for sharing, exchanging and learning from some countries in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa that are seriously affected by desertification along the "Belt and Road", and strengthened the exchanges and cooperation between China and these countries in the field of desertification prevention and control. Implement the "Belt and Road" cooperation mechanism for combating desertification, and make positive contributions to achieving the United Nations' goal of zero growth in land degradation by 2030 and a 50% reduction in global degraded land by 2040.

 
After the forum, representatives from 14 countries related to the Great Green Wall Initiative in Africa, the Aral Sea region of Central Asia, and Mongolia drove more than 500 kilometers to the Cele Desert Research Station of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Cele County, to visit, learning and communication.