A recent conference held in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, highlighted China’s advances in grassland ecosystem restoration and desertification control, offering valuable insights for global land rehabilitation efforts. The event brought together experts from China, South Africa, Japan, and the Netherlands to share experiences and explore innovative strategies for combating land degradation.

The three-day forum, organized jointly by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Design, its Inner Mongolia Research Institute, and the China Association for Scientific Expedition’s desert scientific exploration committee, focused on interdisciplinary and cross-regional collaboration. Participants aimed to develop scientific solutions to support land degradation management, ecological civilization, and sustainable development worldwide.

International experts praised China’s achievements in desertification prevention, emphasizing the role of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and multisource remote sensing in these efforts. Michael Meadows, former president of the International Geographical Union and emeritus professor at the University of Cape Town, noted that ecological restoration practices in Inner Mongolia could offer important models for desert management globally. Similarly, Johns Muleso Kharika from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification stressed the need for science-based policies and increased cooperation between the Global North and South to enhance land protection and grassland restoration.

Field visits allowed attendees to observe innovative sand-control approaches in the Horqin Sandy Land, which combine infrastructure development with sand stabilization and economic activity. Participants also toured a cold and arid apple and pear breeding base preserving over 90 varieties of economic forest resources, as well as a newly established cherry experimental field where discussions focused on the introduction and collection of superior local varieties. These sites underscored Chifeng’s integration of ecological management with high-quality forestry and grassland industry development.

Despite progress, local officials acknowledged ongoing challenges. Piao Ying, a Chifeng official, noted that the city’s position at the intersection of the Horqin and Hunshandake sandy lands requires enhanced use of technology for precise ecological governance. He advocated moving beyond experience-based methods toward precision-targeted interventions and scalable governance models.

Experts also proposed new pathways for governance innovation. Li Xiaosong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Aerospace Information Research Institute, suggested the adoption of large vertical models for sand control to address issues like inadequate scientific zoning and weak process supervision. By integrating remote sensing, monitoring, knowledge databases, and socioeconomic data, such models could enable more accurate hazard diagnosis, plan design, oversight, and evaluation, advancing sand-control efforts toward precision and intelligent governance.