On August 17, the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) opened in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Under the theme "Restoring Land, Restoring Hope," the conference brought together representatives of Parties, research institutions, businesses, and civil society organizations from around the world. Through consultations and dialogue on core issues — restoring degraded land, protecting grasslands, and building resilience to drought — participants joined in the search for shared solutions to global land degradation. Shanghai Roots & Shoots participated in the conference as a UNCCD civil society observer, bringing the frontline practices of Chinese civil society organizations and young people in combating desertification to the global stage — a precious journey from local practice to global dialogue.
Globally, land degradation already affects about 40% of the Earth's land area. Intensifying drought, grassland degradation, and wind and sand erosion continue to threaten food security, biodiversity, and livelihoods in many regions. Nestled in the heart of the Eurasian steppe, Mongolia's distinctive environment made its capital, Ulaanbaatar, an ideal venue for discussions on grassland restoration and desertification control. For Shanghai Roots & Shoots, setting foot on this wind-affected land turned the grand topic of desertification from the pages of books into a tangible reality.
As a local public welfare organization long devoted to sustainability education for young people and to desertification control, Shanghai Roots & Shoots launched its Million Tree Project in 2007. Rooted in the Horqin Sandy Land, the project has mobilized tens of thousands of young people and corporate volunteers to take part in afforestation, exploring localized pathways through which social organizations can rally social forces for land restoration — via tree planting, forest tending and surveys, and environmental science education. For nearly two decades, the team's main frontline has been the sandy lands of northern China. COP17, in turn, offered frontline practitioners the opportunity to review their own work from a global perspective and to listen to the experiences of the wider world.
During the conference, Roots & Shoots observers moved between the Blue Zone, the thematic side events at the China Pavilion, and the Green Zone open to public exchange. They actively joined consultative dialogues among civil society organizations and engaged in in-depth exchanges with NGO practitioners, youth representatives, and local herder representatives from many countries. At the China Pavilion in the Blue Zone, the team showcased the achievements of the Million Tree Project, sharing practical experience in how Chinese civil society mobilizes young people and businesses to jointly combat desertification, and telling international peers the Chinese story of how ordinary people take part in holding back the desert.
"Only after arriving at the conference did we truly realize that desertification has never been a challenge faced by any single country alone," reflected the participating observer. Through side events and booth exchanges, the team heard about the real struggles of social organizations from different countries: facing the same grassland degradation and wind and sand erosion, many regions contend with insufficient funding, limited channels for youth participation, and traditional local ecological wisdom that has yet to receive due recognition. Although countries differ in their geography, their aspirations to protect the land resonate deeply. Many overseas practitioners showed keen interest in China's community-led desertification-control cases, hoping to learn how to mobilize ordinary members of the public — especially young people — to join the ranks of land restoration.
This participation was not merely an output of achievements; it was a journey of two-way learning. The team drew inspiration from cases around the world: some regions restore grasslands by respecting herders' traditional rotational grazing wisdom, and community-led local governance models offered abundant insights for the organization's future project design. At the same time, the team conveyed an important message: desertification control does not belong only to governments and research institutions — civil society organizations, businesses, schools, and ordinary young people can all be part of the solution.
Having returned home after the journey to Ulaanbaatar, the team has turned its conference experience into new directions for the organization's future work. Shanghai Roots & Shoots says it will bring what was seen and heard at COP17 back to campuses and communities, weaving the global status of desertification and restoration cases from various countries into youth environmental education curricula, so that more young people in China can understand this global crisis of land degradation. At the same time, it will continue to deepen the Million Tree Project, steadily optimize its sandy-land ecological restoration initiatives, and further expand channels for youth participation. Looking ahead, the organization hopes to continue taking part in relevant United Nations convention processes and sustain international civil society exchanges and mutual learning — sharing local practices with the world while drawing in beneficial global experience.
Land restoration is a long relay race. As the COP17 theme "Restoring Land, Restoring Hope" conveys, hope comes not only from grand international resolutions, but from the down-to-earth actions of every community and every generation of young people. There are no outsiders in the fight against desertification — whether in the city or on the sandy land, every bit of attention and every action adds strength to the protection of our land.
