Chinese scientist among 2024 UNEP's Champions of the Earth Award winners

陈小将

Lu Qi poses for a photo at an experimental center in Dengkou county of Bayannur, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Oct 13, 2024. [Photo by Justin Jin/UNEP/Handout via Xinhua]
NAIROBI -- Lu Qi, a Chinese scientist, is among the six winners of the 2024 Champions of the Earth Award, announced Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.

Honored in the Science and Innovation category, Lu has spent three decades working in science and policy, helping China reverse environmental degradation and reduce desertification, according to the UNEP.

Additionally, Lu played a pivotal role in implementing the world's largest afforestation project and in establishing expert research networks and partnerships, the UNEP said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

As the chief scientist at the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Lu has championed multilateral cooperation to combat desertification, land degradation and drought.