China’s ‘Green Great Wall’ tames desert growth, but scientists warn the fight is not over

KUBUQI DESERT, China (AP) — For half a century, millions of workers repeated the same task in the deserts of northern China: thrusting forearm-length sticks into shifting sand, first in a row, then in an intersecting line, gradually forming a grid. Then, saplings are planted in the middle of each small square.

The technique, known as “straw checkerboarding,” is a simple but widely used method of stabilizing dunes against wind and helping plants establish roots using water provided through an irrigation system.

Its sprawling lattice on the sand has become the iconic image of China’s decades-long campaign against the spread of desert conditions, known as the Three Northern Protective Forest Program, or Green Great Wall.

Generations of work have yielded measurable progress, but scientists warn that maintaining the gains will require decades of sustained effort.

A long period of drought, overgrazing and farming destroyed vegetation, damaged soil and made areas vulnerable to wind and sandstorms. This degradation of land over time is known as desertification. The area of ​​desertified land in northern China peaked in 2000 and has decreased by more than 1,000 square kilometers (400 square miles) each year since then, according to data published by state media.

The Chinese government said the initiative, launched in 1978, played a crucial role in transforming vast regions covering almost half of China from “the advance of desertification and the retreat of people” into the “advance of greenery and the retreat of desertification”. Forests planted by the program now cover a cumulative area of ​​500,000 square kilometers (200,000 square miles).

“The broad significance of the Three North Program is not only the scale of restoration, but also the long-term political commitment behind it,” said Barron Joseph Orr, chief scientist of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. In his response to The Associated Press, he wrote that reversing desertification could be possible by making it part of long-term development strategies.

Efforts to combat desertification elsewhere include: Project launched in Africa in 2007 Planting trees in many countries to stop the Sahara Desert.

Measuring the success of the Green Great Wall

This progress is a result of the efforts of front-line sand control workers, as well as high-level planning and significant government investments, said Zhu Jiaojun, a scientist at the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who has long been devoted to the construction and management of the program. He added that increased rainfall in some regions in recent years has facilitated the restoration of vegetation.

“The success of combating desertification depends on people’s hard work and a little luck on the climate,” he said.

China’s desertified land has shrunk by about 10% overall since 2000, and severely or extremely desertified land has declined by more than 40%, according to long-term monitoring data from Zhu’s team. Forest cover in the program area has increased from approximately 5% in 1978 to 14% in 2022.

During a recent government-organised media tour to a corner of the Kubuqi Desert about 800 kilometers (500 miles) west of Beijing, 60-year-old Yin Yuzhen described his early days as a sand control worker as “very lonely.” While working with her husband near her hometown in the neighboring Mu Us desert, she said it was a pleasant feeling to encounter any other creatures.

“Even a bird passing in the sky made me happy,” he said.

He recalled that forty years ago the sand often flew so thick it made it difficult to see a short distance away.

“But now we can see the sun. We can see the green in the distance. We can see the road,” Yin said.

She and her husband now work from dawn to noon every day, tending to trees and repairing or replacing checkerboards. They are joined by their children and sometimes local volunteers.

Scholar Zhu estimates that more than 300 million rural workers are involved in the program, mostly on a paid, part-time basis.

Sustaining both land and livelihood

Restored ecosystems in drylands can become increasingly self-sustainable over time, but still require careful management and long-term monitoring, and success depends on factors such as water availability and soil health, Orr said.

Green Camel Bell, an environmental advocacy group in Gansu province, is working to explain desertification and its risks to farmers and herders, planting trees with them in drylands and helping to regenerate and sustain vegetation.

“Efforts to combat desertification and regenerate forests must be linked to local livelihoods so that communities do not view economic development and ecological conservation as one or two options,” said founder Zhao Zhong.

Orr agrees that restoration efforts have a much better chance of success if they are structured in a way that helps communities benefit economically.

A key issue for the project is how conservation can be sustained if human intervention and investment are scaled back, Zhu said.

“This worries us a lot and is also the biggest challenge,” he said.

Yin hopes the younger generation will continue their work.

“We must teach young people to love this Earth. If we love it with all our hearts, nature will love us in return,” he said.

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Video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this story.

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