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In the summer of 2025, high temperatures swept across many countries in the Northern Hemisphere, with extreme heat occurring in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. Experts predict that as global warming continues, extreme high-temperature events are expected to become more common, more intense, and last longer in many regions.
In April 2025, UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a speech after the Leaders Meeting on Climate and the Just Transition, where he emphasized that the world is experiencing increasingly severe climate disasters. He stated that our world faces massive headwinds and a multitude of crises, but we cannot allow climate commitments to be blown off course: “No region is being spared from the ravages of accelerating climate catastrophes. And the crisis is deepening poverty, displacing communities, and fueling conflict and instability.”
Catastrophic nature is being felt in so many ways, with coastal countries and regions affected by rising sea levels being the first to bear the brunt.
At the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in 2021, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley issued a serious warning about the threats posed by global warming. “For those who have eyes to see, for those who have ears to listen, for those who have a heart to feel, 1.5 degrees is what we need to survive. 2 degrees is a death sentence for the people of Antigua and Barbuda, the Maldives, Dominica and Fiji, Kenya and Mozambique, Samoa and Barbados.”
In recent years, with climate change, biodiversity loss, increasing desertification, and frequent extreme climate events, human livelihood and development face severe challenges. Responding to the challenges brought by ecological and environmental changes, promoting global environmental governance, and exploring a path of harmonious coexistence between man and nature require the joint efforts of all humanity.
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition in April 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that in the face of environmental challenges, all countries are in a community with destinies linked, and no country can stay immune. Only together can we effectively address climate change, marine pollution, biological conservation and other global environmental issues and achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Only concerted efforts can drive home the idea of green development and bring about steady progress in the ecological conservation of the globe. “Looking up at night, we are awed by the many stars in the sky. Yet, planet Earth is the only home for mankind. We must protect this planet like our own eyes and cherish nature the way we cherish life. We must preserve what gives our planet life and embrace green development.”
Taraz, the capital of Zhambyl Region, is a seven-hour train ride from Almaty, Kazakhstan. Driving further east from here for another two hours, one arrives in Zhanatas, a place where even the local people say is remote.
You’ll pass few vehicles on the way from Taraz to Zhanatas. The distant mountain ranges seem endless. The nearby Gobi Desert, with its sparse grass and trees, hosts only occasional herds of cattle and sheep.
At the end of the mountain road and towering conspicuously under the azure sky, you’ll find a massive farm of wind turbines, turning.
In Kazakh, “Zhanatas” means “new rock,” and this city derived its name from the discovery of phosphate ore. Today, it hosts one of the largest wind farms in Kazakhstan. The Zhanatas 100 MW Wind Farm, the first large-scale wind power project in Central Asia, was built through China-Kazakhstan cooperation.
Yerkegali Baktybayev is a native of Zhanatas. In his memory, Zhanatas often experienced power outages during his childhood, so ever since he was young he dreamed of becoming a power engineer to harness the abundant wind energy and generate electricity. When he heard that China was building a wind farm in Zhanatas, he applied and became an engineer at the wind farm. “Here I learned how to operate these new wind power equipment and systems, I like this job very much, and want to continue developing in the industry.”
In Kazakhstan, thermal power accounts for over 80% of the total power generation and is concentrated in the coal-rich northern regions.
Southern Kazakhstan is rich in wind resources, making it ideal to develop green energy and improve the energy structure. As China and Kazakhstan aligned through the Belt and Road Initiative and the “Bright Path” new economic policy, the two countries kicked off a number of key capacity-building energy projects, with the Zhanatas wind power project being one of them.
Almas Chukin, managing partner of the project’s Kazakh investor, Visor Investment Company, stated that the Zhanatas wind power project is an epitome of the accelerated advancement of clean production capacity cooperation between Kazakhstan and China. “Energy is very important for economic development; without energy, there is no development. We built a new power plant in the south, which makes socio-economic operations more efficient, because the southern provinces, especially Zhambyl Region and Shymkent City, are very short of energy. We are helping these regions solve the problem of power shortages. Generally speaking, in Kazakhstan, China is the most important partner.”
The first phase of the Zhanatas wind power project has a capacity of 100 MW, as 40 wind turbine units were installed with each unit’s capacity reaching 2.5 MW. It is jointly invested by China and Kazakhstan, adopting Chinese funds, Chinese technology, and international standards.
The wind farm can now generate about 360 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, to meet the electricity demands of 160,000 local households, and greatly improve the local electricity supply while reducing a large amount of greenhouse gas and ash emissions. Musorov, who works at the wind farm, believes that the arrival of the Zhanatas wind farm has brought new vitality to the small town he lives in.
“In my opinion, since the wind farm was established, life in Zhanatas is getting better and better.”
In September 2022, ahead of his state visit to Kazakhstan, Xi Jinping, in a signed article published in “Kazakhstanskaya Pravda,” specifically pointed out that large-scale strategic projects such as the Zhanatas 100 MW wind power project have provided a strong boost to the development of both China and Kazakhstan.
The green Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Xi Jinping has effectively helped other developing countries embark on a path more suitable for their green and low-carbon transformation.
Climate change is a major global issue of common concern to the international community. It is both an environmental issue and a development issue, but in the final analysis, it is a development issue. In line with its national sustainable development strategy, China has adopted a series of policies and measures addressing climate change. At the same time, it has continuously shared experiences with other countries,
In April 2021, in his speech at the Leaders Summit on Climate, President Xi Jinping pointed out that it is more important to show people how to fish than simply just giving them fish. China has done its best to help developing countries build capacity against climate change through various forms of results-oriented South-South cooperation. “As long as we unite in our purposes and efforts and work together with solidarity and mutual assistance, we will rise above the global climate and environmental challenges and leave a clean and beautiful world to future generations.”
The Gobi bear is Mongolia’s “national treasure” and the only bear species living in the Gobi Desert. Due to its extremely small population, it has been listed as a critically endangered species, with numbers even scarcer than the giant panda in China.
In recent years, UN reports have sounded the alarm: approximately one million species are facing extinction, with many species likely to vanish within decades. The Gobi bear is one of them.
Although classified as carnivorous, the Gobi bear, like the giant panda, primarily eats plants. In recent years, global climate change has caused the Gobi bear’s water sources to dry up and food sources to become scarce, and on top of that is the impact of human activities. Today, the Gobi bear’s habitat is becoming increasingly smaller.
In 2018, China and Mongolia signed an agreement on technical assistance for the protection of the Mongolia Gobi bear. In the same year, China dispatched an expert team to the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area in southwestern Mongolia to participate in the research and rescue of Gobi bears.
Li Jia was one of them. “When Gobi bears pass by, sometimes these hooks snag some of their fur. We extract the fur for DNA analysis, which can help determine the Gobi bear population size.”
Over several years, Chinese and Mongolian experts traveled a total of 70,000 kilometers in the Gobi Desert, traversing three oases in the Gobi Bear Protected Area, conducting the most extensive sample collection project in history about Gobi bears. The team investigated the population dynamics and biomass changes of the Gobi bear’s food sources.
Amgalan, a zoologist from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, recalled that in 2015 they detected a Gobi bear population of 22 individuals. Through scientific research methods, experts from the two countries have now detected more Gobi bears. “Through DNA testing, experts of the two countries have discovered at least 50 Gobi bears. These young Chinese experts are the best in their respective professional fields. They are all very experienced. They work under such harsh conditions just like I do. I am very grateful for their dedication.”
Using 150 infrared cameras and other technical equipment provided by China to Mongolia, precious footage of these wild spirits bathing, foraging, and breeding in the protected area’s oases has been recorded.
Choijin Bayarbat, director of the Administration for the Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area, said these devices have made Gobi bear monitoring more efficient. “The technical equipment in the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area has been 100% updated. Our protected area staff and experts are all using these new devices to monitor and protect the Gobi bear.”
In August 2024, experts from the Chinese Academy of Forestry first discovered the Gobi bear in Yiwu County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, during field scientific research work. This was also the first discovery of the Gobi bear in Xinjiang.
Li Jia, the expert assisting Mongolia, expressed the hope that more animal researchers and the public would pay attention to the Gobi bear and other wildlife in this region. “Gobi bears live in such a harsh environment. We hope that through our research, everyone can better understand how Gobi bears survive, thereby raising everyone’s awareness of Gobi bear protection. Hopefully this will also raise public awareness not only of the Gobi bear but also of other endangered species like the snow leopard and the Mongolian wild ass, thereby protecting the entire ecosystem.”
To address global ecological challenges such as biodiversity loss, China has actively participated in relevant international conferences, facilitated negotiations, organized side events, and held exhibitions to propose China’s solutions.
In October 2024, during the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Colombia, the first nine small-scale projects supported by the Kunming Biodiversity Fund were approved, marking the fund’s entry into a new stage of implementing the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.” These projects cover a total of 15 countries.
In September 2020, Xi Jinping delivered a video speech at the UN Biodiversity Summit. He said that biodiversity affects the well-being of humanity and provides the very basis for the human race to survive and thrive. “Biodiversity is an important basis, a goal and the means for achieving sustainable development. Recognizing that ’our solutions are in Nature,’ we could strive to find development opportunities while preserving Nature, and achieve win-win in both ecological conservation and high-quality development.”
The ecological environment is crucial for the continued existence of humanity, and ecological civilization is crucial for human development. Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought insists on jointly discussing the path of global ecological civilization construction. He emphasized that, “In the face of ecological and environmental challenges, humanity is a community with a shared future where members prosper or decline together, and no country can insulate itself.”
Whether it is the construction of wind farms in Kazakhstan or the China-Mongolia Gobi bear rescue project, while accelerating the construction of a Beautiful China, the country also persists in practicing multilateralism, actively shares green development experiences with international partners, and contributes to global ecological governance through practical actions.
“Building a Community of Life on Earth” is an extension of the concept of a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity proposed by Xi Jinping in the field of ecology and environment. Just as he said in his address at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022: “A sound ecosystem is essential for the prosperity of civilization. We must work together to promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature, build a community of all life on Earth, and create a clean and beautiful world for us all.”
If you are interested in listening to this episode of the podcast series Stories of Xi Jinping, please visit: https://podcasts.apple.com/cn/podcast/building-a-clean-and-beautiful-world-by-pursuing/id1689566035?i=1000739247873 ///nCa, 9 January 2026