The International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) has been formally designated as one of the seven Global Regional Technical Centers under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The announcement was made during the 23rd session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 23), held from December 1 to 5, 2025, in Panama.
As the sole legally binding international treaty addressing desertification, land degradation, and drought, UNCCD forms one of the three pivotal Rio Conventions alongside the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. CRIC 23 convened approximately 500 delegates from 196 countries, the European Union, civil society, and research institutions to assess global progress towards achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).
Dr. Li Xiaosong, a researcher from CBAS and a member of the Chinese delegation, participated in the session. Prior to CRIC 23, he was invited by the UNCCD Secretariat to attend a Training of Trainers on UNCCD national reporting and a workshop for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Panama City from November 27 to 29, 2025.
During the training events, CBAS was officially inaugurated as a UNCCD Global Regional Technical Center. It joins six other established institutions—the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), Saudi Arabia's National Center for Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification (NCVC), the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management in the Caribbean (PISLM), and the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Africa. Together, these centers will provide technical guidance, capacity building, and data support to UNCCD country parties.
In its new role, CBAS will be responsible for providing implementation support to 17 countries, including India, the Republic of Korea, and Iran. Furthermore, it plans to host a dedicated training workshop for over 20 Asian countries in China in March 2026, offering systematic capacity-building support for the upcoming 2026 reporting cycle.
During CRIC 23, CBAS organized a side event titled "Innovative technologies for land degradation monitoring and intervention." The session, featuring opening remarks from Mr. Johns of the UNCCD's Science, Technology, and Innovation unit and Ms. Jia Xiaoxia, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Desertification Control under China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration, facilitated in-depth discussions among global experts. Participants explored cutting-edge solutions, including innovative Earth Observation (EO) data products, artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and the coordination and standardization of multi-source data to enhance global capacities in land degradation monitoring, assessment, and governance.
Experts from CBAS , UNCCD and GEO-LDN secretariats, the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Bern, and the Desertification Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry presented their latest advancements in monitoring, indicator systems, mechanistic modeling, AI applications, and implementation support.
The series of technical exchanges, training sessions, and side events during CRIC 23 underscored the SDG Center's growing role within the global framework for combating desertification and land degradation. As a UNCCD Regional Technical Center, it will leverage China's strengths in Earth observation, big data, and AI to deliver sustainable, systematic technical assistance to countries in Asia, the Middle East, and beyond.
By promoting the development and application of high-resolution EO products, digital twin methodologies, AI models, and unified indicator systems, CBAS provides tangible support for improving the quality and comparability of global LDN reporting and for bridging data and capacity gaps in developing nations.