This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's signing of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The 16th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD will be held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, from Dec 2 to Dec 13.

Huang Caiyi, director of the Desertification Control Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said on Monday that China will set up a China Pavilion with a total area of 608 square meters at the conference venue.

The pavilion will host an exhibition on China's desertification control efforts, focusing on the Three-North Shelterbelt Project, and will conduct a series of side events and exchange activities.

Huang, who is also China's national liaison man for the UNCCD, said that the China Pavilion is the largest national pavilion at the conference, aside from the host country, it is the first time that China will comprehensively showcase its desertification control efforts and the Three-North Shelterbelt Project abroad.

The China Pavilion is scheduled to open on December 2, the opening day of the conference, and will remain open until the conference concludes.

This conference is the third major United Nations environmental convention meeting held this year, following the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It will also lay the foundation for the comprehensive and systematic discussion of climate, biodiversity, desertification, and global sustainable development issues at the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the year.