Mengniu Unveils Ulan Buh Desert Restoration Results and Launches Global Green Leaders Initiative at UNCCD

During the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a side event titled "From Grassland to Table: The Contribution of the Belt and Road Desertification Control and Green Practices and the Food Industry" was held at the China Corner in the conference's blue zone. The event was organized by the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition, with support from the Green Climate Fund, the World Bank, Stanford University, and several Chinese enterprises.

Li Pengcheng, Senior Executive President of Mengniu Group, said in a video address that desertification affects about 40% of the global land area and impacts the livelihoods of 2 billion people. China has achieved a historic shift from "desert encroaching on human habitats" to "green spaces replacing desert," becoming the first country globally to achieve zero net land degradation. The Ulan Buh Desert, China's eighth-largest desert, received less than 70 millimeters of annual precipitation seventeen years ago. Since 2009, Mengniu and its supply chain partners have built a 6,200-mu windbreak forest belt in the desert's heart and completed desertification control over 220 square kilometers. After sustained restoration, annual precipitation in the area has risen to 380 millimeters, soil organic matter content has increased by more than 22 times, and over 100 biological species have returned to the habitat.

The Ulan Buh restoration has developed a self-sustaining cycle of "ecological restoration, industrial operation, and revenue reinvestment." Leveraging the desert ecological transformation, Mengniu has built the world's largest desert organic raw milk base, forming a closed-loop industrial chain of "desert control, grass planting, cattle raising, and milk production."

Sangasuren Oyun, Director of the External Cooperation Bureau at the Green Climate Fund, noted that during a 2025 visit to Ordos, she witnessed Inner Mongolia's successful integration of desert control, soil restoration, and large-scale renewable energy deployment, adding that China's scaled transformation experience offers lessons for the world.

Andrea Aquino, head of the China-World Bank Global Knowledge Center for Ecosystem Transformation, said China's model of combining land restoration with industry has global replication value. He noted that the center has advanced cooperation in multiple countries, exporting China's mature experience in ecological restoration and desertification control.

Zhu Mengye, senior scientist at Stanford University's Natural Capital Project, highlighted from a natural capital accounting perspective that grasslands, soil, and water resources are core natural assets requiring measurement and protection. Her team's research shows that surface water around mining areas in Mongolia has decreased by nearly one-third over the past decade, and ecological recovery in copper mining areas is significantly slower than in other mining areas, necessitating differentiated monitoring and restoration strategies.

Qi Qing, representative of China Shengmu's sustainable development department, said at the side event that organic farming is a system covering the entire production chain, and tree planting is only the starting point of desertification control. Industrial development must create sustained economic value to fund long-term ecological management.

On August 1, 2026, the Global Green Leaders Initiative was officially launched in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Led by Mengniu as the core initiator, and co-launched with China Communications Construction Company, Contemporary Amperex Technology, Hisense Group, Luckin Coffee, JD. com, and other enterprises, the initiative aims to build a dialogue and cooperation platform for leading companies across industries. Xiong Qiang, Vice President of China Communications Construction Company Dredging (Group), said at the side event that desertification control is a major challenge in global climate governance and the implementation of sustainable development goals. Enterprises must coordinate the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands, and deserts. He noted that CCCC has achieved dual benefits of ecological protection and livelihood improvement by aligning with host countries' actual needs, and expressed hope for deepening cooperation with Mongolia in ecological governance.

Consensus reached by participants at the side event included: industrial empowerment is a long-term solution for desertification control, requiring deep integration of ecological restoration and industrial development; technological innovation is core support for improving governance efficiency, necessitating faster translation of research results into on-the-ground application; and standard co-construction is the foundation for deepening global collaborative governance, calling for the development of a common assessment framework for industrial participation in desertification prevention.

The "Dairy Industry Desertification Prevention and Green Governance Practice Report," compiled and released by an expert group led by Mengniu, was circulated among delegates at COP17. Earlier, in July 2026, the Ulan Buh desertification control case was submitted to the United Nations Office for Project Services as the world's first complete dairy industry desertification control sample.

At the conclusion of the side event, Zhang Jianyu, Deputy Secretary-General and Chief Development Director of the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition, on behalf of the organizers and participating enterprises, reaffirmed the Global Green Leaders Initiative: to review the impact of their operations on land, grasslands, and ecosystems, and set quantifiable, trackable green development goals; to join the Global Green Leaders Network to share desertification control and green transformation experiences; and to bring the side event's consensus back to enterprises, communities, and countries to promote the deep dissemination of green concepts.