China's ‘green great wall' in Inner Mongolia traps three more deserts

The Star

a day ago

China has completed a sand control belt spanning three deserts in Inner Mongolia, marking yet another milestone in the creation of a 'green great wall' across the arid northern region.
The last piece of straw checkerboard, a widely used method in China to stabilise sand, was placed at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert on Sunday, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The move completed a 1,856km (1,153-mile) green belt that also runs across the Tengger and Ulan Buh deserts, the agency reported on Monday.
The three deserts in Alxa league, the westernmost part of Inner Mongolia, cover a total area of 94,700 sq km (36,564 square miles).
Zhang Youyong, chief engineer of the Alxa right banner's forestry, grassland and desert control bureau, told Xinhua: 'We use the straw checkerboard method to first lock the shifting sand, followed by planting drought-resistant trees such as sacsaoul.
'This approach helps us build an effective sand prevention and control system, ultimately strengthening the ecological barrier.'
Badain Jaran desert is China's third largest desert. Together, the three deserts account for around a third of Alxa league's total land area and more than 83 per cent of Inner Mongolia's total desert land.
Average annual rainfall received by the league is less than 200mm (about 8 inches), while water lost to evaporation is about 15 times greater, at over 3,000mm, according to Xinhua.
The completed project to link the existing belts across the three deserts was launched in February, and further sand control and grassland restoration efforts will continue.
The project represents the latest phase in China's decades-long efforts to curb desertification in its arid northern regions through sand control measures and reforestation under its Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Programme.
'Three north' refers to China's northeast, north, and northwest – areas most threatened by desertification.
Initiated in the 1970s, the programme has seen a network of thousands of kilometres of forest and shrubs planted to stabilise the Gobi Desert, which has helped to reduce sandstorms blowing into nearby regions such as Beijing.
Last November, a green belt was completed across the Taklamakan Desert. Located in western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, the Taklamakan is China's largest desert and the world's second-largest shifting sand desert.
Shifting sand deserts are dominated by wind-driven dunes and frequent sandstorms, which can affect weather, agriculture and human health.
The green belt around the Taklamakan stretches 3,050km and includes various trees and shrubs as well as other sand-blocking methods. It was completed to prevent desert spread and to safeguard roads and railways from the 'sea of death', a grim nickname earned by the Taklamakan due to the shifting dunes covering 85 per cent of its area and extreme aridity that make it one of the most dangerous deserts to cross.
Other countries are creating their own green belts in desert regions to combat their expansion. These include Africa's 'Great Green Wall initiative', which aims to prevent the southward expansion of the Sahara.
Launched by the African Union in 2007, the programme aims to restore 100 million hectares (247 million acres) of degraded land by 2030 with the help of an 8,000km green wall.
China plays a significant role in supporting the initiative through sharing technology, expertise and funding.
Lei Jiaqiang, a leading desertification control expert from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, spoke earlier this year about how Chinese scientists introduced sand control techniques to help build the African wall.
This included introducing checkerboard straw grids, a technique perfected by China in its deserts, and drought-resistant shrubs to stabilise shifting sands near Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, Lei said at a seminar in Beijing. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST