In light of International Day of and Combating Sand and Storms (SDS Day) 2026 is coming up on Sunday, July 12, as a member of the Climate Forests’ Forest Defender and of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Community of Learning and Practice (UNCCD-CLP), and an implementer for the UN Restoration Decade’s Ecosystem Restoration Hub and for the Restor, a nature restoration champion of the Decade, I’m compelled to spread about the massive and successful afforestation project in Northern China’s arid desert region to combat sand and dust storms, as part of CIEDM participation in raising awareness of SDS Day 2026. With the China's Great Green Wall and its project leaders being received several recognitions awarded by international bodies, including the UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth Award 2017 and 2024, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’s World Restoration Flagship 2022, the project has been well documented in many publications and postings and has been an inspiration for foresters/re-foresters and a reference for their projects. On July 12, we are engaging an online campaign, mainly via website dashboards and social media, for SDS Day 2026 with the Great Green Wall as a model for grand-scale forestation projects to mitigate and and dust storms in arid regions on the globe and with the Arcadia Ecohome Microforest, a pocket forest with climate adaptable tree species in the arid US Southwest, as a case for implementation of community-based small-scale projects. In addition, with a heatwave currently striking Southern California and quickly drying up the surface soil, we are engaging a mulching action with leave-the-leaves practices at the Microforest to make sure all forest floors are covered with fallen leaves without exposed soil to the natural elements so as to reduce dust particles in the air.