The Kubuqi International Desert Forum is a high-level dialogue platform for global initiatives of combating desertification and developing desert areas.
“Share the value of the desert”, this is the general goal of the Kubuqi International Desert Forum, which is held for the 5th time from 28 to 29 July at its permanent venue in the Kubuqi Desert, Inner Mongolia. The forum focuses on desertification control and ecological economy and is, among others, a non-government-supported platform for the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Its aim is to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programmes.
The theme of this year’s forum is “Desert Ecological Civilisations Co-built the Silk Road”, a positive response to the suggestion of Chinese Government’s General Secretary Xi Jinping “One Belt, One Road” development strategy to combat desertification along the Silk Road. It aims to gather new ideas and explore new approaches and cooperations to combat desertification and formulate a strategic framework for the implementation of the “One Belt, One Road” project at the end of the forum. The event also calls for global cooperation in combating desertification and aims to contribute to the 2030 global goal in achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). The objective of a LDN is to maintain or improve the condition of our land resources.
The Central Foreign Affairs Office of China formally approved the Kubuqi forum as one of the large-scale foreign forums that contribute to combating desertification at the national level.
Maximilian Abouleish-Boes, Chief Sustainable Development Officer in SEKEM, was invited by the UNCCD to attend the forum to represent SEKEM.