Jordanian princess hails Chinese sand-control pioneer as 'other face of innovation'

ROME, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's Princess Basma bint Ali on Friday hailed Chinese sand-control pioneer Yin Yuzhen as an embodiment of "the other face of innovation" in a speech at the global World Food Day ceremony.

Recalling that Yin had struggled at first but persevered until the transformation she sought slowly came to be, the princess, a Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said that at the heart of Yin's efforts lay hope that she put into practice.

Yin, who has spent more than four decades combating desertification in the Maowusu Sandy Land in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was named on Thursday among the FAO's 100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems and Rural Development, an initiative marking the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026.

The ceremony, held at FAO headquarters, was themed "Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow." Innovation often brings to mind laboratories, satellites, machines and artificial intelligence, the princess said, but the past week had offered extraordinary examples of a different kind, especially from the women farmers honored by the FAO.

Citing a recent address by Jordan's King Abdullah II at the United Nations General Assembly, the princess noted that challenges such as food insecurity and climate disasters did not emerge overnight, and that the question is whether attention lasts long enough to act -- something Yin never failed to do.

She stressed that the world's response to hunger, climate shocks and inequality cannot be confined to a single season of attention.

"It must be the steady kind that plants, tends and finally harvests the gains. As did Yin Yuzhen," she said.