(XINHUA)

Wang Wenbiao, Chairman of Elion Resources Group in China, was awarded the Global Drylands Champions award by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Windhoek, Namibia, on September 23.

The award is a UNCCD initiative that recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to leadership in sustainable land management, especially across the drylands.

Wang has spent the last 25 years in combating desertification in the Hobq Desert of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, turning more than 5,000 square km into green land, an equivalent of 1.43 percent of global desertified areas.