UNCCD chief highlights China's tech-driven efforts to combat desertification, eyes AI cooperation

China's sustained investment in combating desertification, including the use of advanced machinery, drones and water-efficient technologies, is offering valuable experience for global efforts to restore degraded land, Yasmine Fouad, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), said in an interview with China Media Group.

Fouad made the remarks after viewing footage of how drones and machinery are being used for planting and ecological restoration in China's deserts.

She highlighted China's efforts to combine technological innovation with efficient water use.

"This is a piloting of how can we use the seedling in order to make plants or to plant trees or plant a certain type of crops. This is excellent and interesting, but what is more interesting about China also is the efficient use of the water, because that is a challenge worldwide and the next COP17 is a COP that will bring the land and water nexus into that discussion, so I believe it's great that China has a research technology does pilot project but it also walk an extra mile of looking at not only the land as soil, but also the land and water nexus," said Fouad.

The comments came as China continues to expand technological applications in desertification control, with innovations aimed at improving the efficiency and precision of ecological restoration while making better use of limited water resources.

Looking ahead, Fouad said artificial intelligence (AI) should become an important tool in preventing and combating desertification, particularly in identifying land at risk of degradation and matching restoration measures to local conditions.

"It has to be, it has to be. We have no choice and this is one of the things that. The UNCCD did not touch that area, artificial intelligence, but that would be part of our discussion in the upcoming COP17, how can we use artificial intelligence for. First in detecting and there are some efforts in that using geospatial, detecting the drought land that would be degraded. So what I say artificial intelligence will accelerate the selection of the appropriate solution that is suitable to the place and to the type of soil and to the challenge that it is facing. And packaging that with the early warning system that some countries already have and include in their work, especially on drought issues and that would be a game changer in the way we are looking into that and we definitely look forward to cooperation with China on that big project," said the UNCCD chief.

The UNCCD was adopted in Paris in 1994 to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought, particularly in Africa. China signed the convention in October that year.

UNCCD chief highlights China's tech-driven efforts to combat desertification, eyes AI cooperation

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday delivered a nationally televised address outlining Canada's position after trade talks with the United States broke down, announcing that Ottawa's "dollar-for-dollar" retaliatory tariffs on 20 billion U.S. dollars' worth of American goods would take effect on Sept 8.

The prime minister said the counter-tariffs will cover a wide range of sectors, including dairy, steel, appliances, pulp and paper, and electronics.

The United States and Canada failed to reach a trade deal on Friday, and the United States imposed a 50-percent tariff on 20 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Canadian goods on Saturday which took effect just after midnight (0400 GMT).

Explaining why negotiations broke down at the last minute, Carney said that while both sides were close to a mutually beneficial agreement earlier this week, the U.S. side introduced last-minute changes that were "unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal."

The U.S. side's repeated disregard for existing free trade agreements, such as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), sends a bad signal to international businesses and is "certainly not good news" for the agreement's future renewal, Carney warned.

The rift comes as the United States, Mexico and Canada are trying to renew the CUSMA, a trade agreement that Trump negotiated in his first term and once praised as a triumph.

The United States has begun formal talks with Mexico to revamp the agreement, but negotiations with Canada have not yet begun.

The CUSMA is a trilateral trade pact that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement when it took effect on July 1, 2020. On July 1, 2026, the United States officially declined to renew the agreement for another 16-year term, triggering an annual review process until the pact expires in 2036.

When asked why Canada was entering a trade dispute, the prime minister replied flatly: "Because we were attacked."

Carney reiterated his confidence in Canada's economic resilience, pointing out that Canada is creating jobs at four times the rate of the United States, with foreign direct investment reaching a 20-year high.

"Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America," he said.

Canadian PM vows "dollar-for-dollar" tariffs against U.S. as trade talks collapse