Putting a "green scarf" around the Taklimakan Desert

BEIJING, Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from China.org.cn on China's efforts on combating desertification:

Putting a “green scarf” around the Taklimakan Desert

"Sandy wind, is blowing over the shed… Sheep in the pen, are circling restlessly…" This is a folk song that people used to sing in counties like Awat along the Taklimakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Simple lyrics reflect the sour life they've had to suffer from sand and dust storms striking in from time to time.

But not long ago, a new milestone appeared in the long battle with desertification. On Nov. 28th, the last desert rose was planted into the sandy soil, completing the final stretch of the 3,046-km-long sand-blocking green belt surrounding the Taklimakan Desert, hence, China's largest and the world's second-largest shifting sand desert now wears a "green scarf."

Given the vastness of the Taklimakan Desert, not to mention its high-speed winds and severe droughts, building the world's longest ecological barrier to encircle this monstrosity is no easy task. During the arduous exploration of harnessing desertification, people gradually found that adopting proper methods according to local geographical features is the effective solution.

In areas where the dunes are relatively low, and underground water abundant, people bulldozed the dunes to grow drought-tolerant plants like salt cedar and sacsaoul. With the help of drip irrigation, the plants rooted down quickly, so that vegetation could be resumed and underground water conserved in the desert. For the areas not suitable for plantation, straw checkerboard barriers and upright sand fences primarily made from reed stems were set to "contain" the shifting sand. As for the areas with access to the power grid, photovoltaic panels were built, utilizing the rich energy endowments in the desert, while reducing the wind as well as sand movement. Moreover, people can also plant drought-resistant cash crops, tripling the benefits.

Over time, people living at the brink of the Taklimakan Desert noticed that sand storms have become less frequent, the environment has improved, and yields have been bettered in their farmlands.

Thanks to inter-generational efforts, green tints have encircled the desert, and the way of human-desert harmony lies within.

China is one of the countries that suffer most from desertification. Faced with this steep challenge, the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP) was initiated more than four decades ago, and this largest-scale afforestation project on earth has sought to build a Great Green Wall. Three decades ago, China signed the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and has honored its commitment ever since. Now, reduction has been realized in both desertification and sandification, and China has become the first country to achieve zero net land degradation. Under the UNCCD, China has played an active part in carrying out international collaboration in this field. For example, it has shared its experience and technologies in desertification prevention and control with countries facing similar challenges, like Mongolia and Ethiopia, striving for the common green development of the Global South.

At present, the UNCCD COP16 is being held, to accelerate the international cooperation agenda for tackling desertification. For China, the green scarf of the Taklimakan Desert also signifies a new start. For "Our Land" and "Our Future," one can be hopeful to see more stories about human-desert harmony, and humanity-nature harmony.

China Mosaic