Aerial photo taken on June 4 shows the view of Wulingsu Lake in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By WANG Xiaoxia

After more than 40 years of unremitting efforts, China has made remarkable achievements in the prevention and control of desertification, and achieved a historic transformation known as "sand advancing and people retreating" to "green advancing and sand retreating" in the key areas.

June 17 marked the 28th World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. The importance of this day confirms that desertification and drought are among the greatest threats to sustainable development facing the world. In this regard, China's efforts to combat desertification have also contributed solutions to global desertification management.

Aerial seeding

A fleet of Y-5B aircraft loaded with seeds and flying in the direction of the desert, dropping its load to spread seeds of trees and grass into the vast arid land, is commonly seen in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Alxa League is one of the 12 prefecture-level divisions in the administrative area of Inner Mongolia.

Aerial seeding, or the technique of sowing seeds by dispersing them through aerial mechanical means such as a drone, plane or helicopter, has been applied in Alxa for more than 40 years and has effectively curbed the advancing of desert.

Back into the 1980s when aerial seeding was first trialed in Alxa, the three deserts of Badain Jaran, Ulan Buhe and Tengger, stretched across the whole of Alxa, covering one-third of the total area, said Liu Hongyi, chief of Azuoqi forest station, adding that once the three deserts eventually joined together, the entire Alxa faced the risk of being swallowed by the desert.

To prevent this happening, staff workers in the past working without GPS have endured the surface temperature of over 50 degrees Celsius in the desert to locate the range of aerial seeding, and guided aircraft to the sowing area, said Liu.

By the end of 2022, the total afforestation area by aerial seeding has reached 6.89 million mu (around 0.46 million hectares), and two large sand -control shelterbelts with a total length of 460 kilometers and a width of 3 to 20 kilometers had been established on the eastern and southern edges of the Tengger Desert and the southwestern edges of the Ulan Buh Desert, effectively curbing their advance and expansion.

According to statistics from local government, over the past 40 years, the forest coverage rate of Alxa League has increased from 2.96 percent to 8.37 percent, and the coverage of grassland has increased from less than 15 percent to 23 percent.

Systematic upgrade of irrigation area

As one of the three mega irrigation areas in China, Hetao Irrigation Area in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia, has been used to divert water from the Yellow River for irrigation of farmland due to the lack of rain. 

However, the high level of minerals in the Yellow River's water, along with extensive flood irrigation, have led to the salt-alkalization of land, which can be further eroded into desert, Hu Shuwen, professor from China Agricultural University, told S&T Daily. Hu stressed that it is a systematic program to restore the salt-affected land, and the most urgent task is to change the means of irrigation.

To expand well-planned irrigation, Hetao Irrigation Area has formed a complete seven-tiered irrigation and drainage system, applying information technologies to improve the precise management of the irrigation area and promote the eco-friendly and efficient use of water resources.

Apart from irrigation means, salt in the soil must be drained out to improve land quality, said Hu, who is committed to changing the soil texture to allow the water to carry salt away through drainage.

Wulangsu Lake, the biggest lake wetland of the Yellow River basin, receives more than 90 percent of the farmland drainage in the Hetao area. In recent years, it has witnessed improved water quality, which reflects the green transformation of production and lifestyle in Hetao.

For the wellbeing of humans

"If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together," said Marcelin Sanou, an official at the Pan-African Agency for the Great Green Wall, quoting a well-known African proverb to stress the importance of cooperation in combating desertification, while attending the 3rd Taklimakan Desert Forum recently in Korla, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Launched in 2007 by the African Union, the Great Green Wall initiative aims to restore the continent's degraded landscapes and transform millions of lives in the Sahel region. Considering China's experience in combating desertification, the Pan-African Great Green Wall signed a memorandum of understanding with the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography in 2017, aiming to enhance cooperation in sand control.

Central Asian countries have also suffered from desertification. At this year's China-Central Asia Summit, China pledged to work with Central Asian countries to conduct cooperation in such areas as improvement and utilization of saline-alkali land and water-saving irrigation, build a joint laboratory on agriculture in arid lands, and tackle the ecological crisis of the Aral Sea. Hu, who has been to Central Asian countries to carry out investigations, said that the soil component in Central Asia is similar to that in China's Xinjiang, so Chinese technologies can be applied there.

Desertification is threatening sustainable development of the world, mostly developing countries who are short of technologies. Through technology support, people-to-people exchanges and establishing a joint laboratory, China's anti-desertification experience is providing a solution to global food security and safeguarding the well-being of humans, said Hu.