WINDHOEK -- The founder of a Chinese enterprise was honored on Monday with the Global Drylands Champions award by a special UN body on anti-desertification.

Wang Wenbiao, chairman of the Elion Resources Group in China and also a member of the standing committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has spent the last 25 years in combating desertification in the Kubuqi Desert.

Wang received the award at a gala dinner party held on the sidelines of the ongoing 11th Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which opened on Sept 16.

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

At the awarding ceremony, Wang said his Elion Resources Group has turned more than 5,000 square km of the Kubuqi Desert into green lands.

He stressed that only through the joint efforts of the government, businesses, individuals and the civil society, can the arduous task of combating desertification be achieved successfully.