During the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from August 17 to 28, Lan Siren, former president of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University and a counselor to the Fujian Provincial Government, shared insights from Changting County's ecological restoration journey.

Lan emphasized that the core value of Changting's four-decade-long practice lies not in a specific technology, but in a comprehensive methodology of systematic governance, sustained effort, and ecological benefits for the people—a model that could serve as a vital reference for global land degradation management.

Located in western Fujian, Changting was once among the most severe soil erosion areas in southern China, its barren red-soil slopes earning it the nickname "Flame Mountain." After more than forty years of continuous effort, the local soil erosion rate has dropped from 31.5% to 6.18%, while forest coverage has risen to 79.55%.

According to Lan, the most important lesson from Changting is that ecological restoration was never simplified to mere tree planting. Instead, the region integrated water management, vegetation restoration, water source conservation, industrial development, and community participation into a unified approach, adhering to holistic restoration and generational persistence rather than pursuing short-term results.

Juncao (mushroom grass) serves as a typical example. Planted on severely degraded red-soil slopes, it effectively stabilizes and improves the soil, solving the survival problem of vegetation on barren hills. Simultaneously, it can be used to cultivate mushrooms, produce animal feed, and develop bioenergy. In other words, one technology both restores the land and improves people's livelihoods.

In Lan's view, this is the essence of the Changting experience: ecological governance and industrial development are not sequential steps but two sides of the same coin. Following this approach, Changting's under-forest economy has achieved scale, with a current operating area of 1.92 million mu and annual output value exceeding 3.6 billion yuan.

"Turning barren mountains green is only the first step," Lan noted. If local residents do not benefit economically, the restored vegetation faces the risk of secondary degradation. One initiative involves converting the ecological benefits of soil and water conservation into tradable products, such as carbon sinks and water resource rights. Once incomes stabilize, residents naturally become willing to protect the mountains and forests—ecological restoration generates returns, and those returns fund continued stewardship, creating a positive cycle.

Regarding the global value of China's local practices, Lan stressed that it offers a transferable framework: land restoration cannot be rushed, technology must adapt to local conditions, and restoration must prioritize people's livelihoods. The Changting model has already been implemented in Guyuan, Ningxia, and Dingxi, Gansu, and was selected as a UN case study for ecological restoration, demonstrating its potential for cross-regional replication.

On South-South cooperation, Lan suggested prioritizing the establishment of overseas demonstration bases for low-cost restoration technologies like juncao in developing countries. This could involve joint training programs and shared laboratories to cultivate local talent, while also sharing China's experience in diversified financing, including government investment, social capital participation, and monetization of ecological products.

The sustainability of Changting's experience over four decades owes much to deep university involvement. Lan admitted that the biggest risk in university-led ecological restoration is "when the project ends, the team leaves." Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University's collaboration with Changting has lasted over forty years, built on establishing research stations and technology transfer bases directly on degraded slopes, drawing research topics from frontline problems, and applying results on the ground. Numerous faculty and students have used the barren hills as their classroom, solving practical issues while cultivating skilled talent who understand both ecology and rural development.

This collaboration model has now been extended to Guyuan, Ningxia, and Dingxi, Gansu, serving as a benchmark for universities providing long-term services to local ecological governance.