The 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) opened Wednesday in Ordos City in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

More than 2,000 delegates from 196 parties and more than 20 international organizations attended the two-week conference with the theme "Combating Desertification for Human Well-being."

The main task of the session is to seek solutions for the UN sustainable goal of "achieving a land degradation neutral world by 2030" and to develop a new UNCCD strategy framework for the 2018-2030 period.

Zhang Jianlong, head of the State Forestry Administration, said China has made some progress in containing desertification and set a goal to improve 50 percent of the desertified land that can be controlled by 2020.

Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, said substantial achievements have resulted from the great efforts made over the past years, and more are expected with the new strategic framework formed at the Ordos session.