Borderland eco-governance beneficial beyond China

At the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in November and the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in December, China showcased the pivotal role its border regions have been playing in deepening South-South cooperation on climate change and combating desertification. For instance, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, China has built the world's longest green barrier around a desert — the 3,046-kilometer-long Taklimakan Desert Green Belt — to prevent the expansion of the desert.

Ecological governance in China's border areas plays a significant role in strengthening ecological security, promoting common prosperity and safeguarding national security. It also contributes to building an ecological community of countries along the Belt and Road and improving the global ecological environment.

China's border ecological governance is different from some Western countries' development model of excessive natural resource consumption, as well as the old paradigm of "polluting first, treating later". Instead, the country is pursuing Chinese modernization that emphasizes harmony between humankind and nature. China's approach is different, and more eco-friendly, than the mainstream neoliberal ecological governance model prevalent in the West, and is free of "ecological capitalization" while avoiding its moral and practical dilemmas.