From 30 May to 11 June, Professor LEI Jiaqiang, deputy director of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (XIEG), led a delegation of XIEG to Mauritania and Morocco for conducting scientific investigation and academic communication.

This was the third time that researchers of XIEG went to Mauritania and conducted scientific investigation on desertification. Mauritania, located in West Africa, is one of the most serious countries suffering from desertification in Africa. Based on the hazard status of wind-blown sand and projects of desertification control, the aims of this delegation were to carry out field survey, prevention experiment from wind-blown sand disaster, questionnaire survey and technique training in Mauritania, and establish field observation station of wind-blown sand environment and plant an experimental area for desertification control in the local.

During the investigation period, XIEG, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Mauritania (MESDM), and the University of Nouakchott, jointly organized the “Symposium of China-Mauritania Desertification Control”. At the symposium, researchers conducted discussions on the causes, damages and control techniques of desertification. To further carry out the cooperation between China and Mauritania on desertification control, the researchers of XIEG and Mr. Amedi Camara, minister of MESDM, established the China-Mauritania Technical Committee for Desertification Control, and discussed the cooperation modes and contents.

After the one week’s investigation in Mauritania, the researchers of XIEG went to Morocco and visited the coastal engineering for wind-blown sand control, the National Center for Scientific and Technological Research of Morocco, and the specimen museum. In Morocco, the Moroccan Royal Academy of Science and Technology organized the “Symposium of China-Morocco Desertification Control”. The researchers introduced the desertification and its control in their own country, discussed the cooperation between the two countries on desertification control, and finally established the cooperation contents and plans.　　　　　  

Over the past decade, XIEG has conducted cooperation or communication with more than 10 African countries on desertification control, signed cooperation agreement with Libya, Mauritania, Rwanda and the Arab League, and held a series of training courses and symposiums of desertification control technology in Xinjiang, China and some African countries.　 

Establishing field observation station for sand environment in Mauritania

Establishing plant experimental area for preventing desertification in Mauritania

Meeting with Mr. Amedi Camara, minister of MESDM

Visiting the specimen museum in Morocco