The belts have curbed the 'handshake' between the two deserts

陈小将

In recent years, the local forestry department has been planning a 200-km-long sand control belt at the intersection of the Badain Jaran and Ulan Buh deserts.
All the efforts have yielded positive results. Over the past 40 years, the region around Alshaa has successfully undertaken desertification control across more than 6 million hectares, which has resulted in forestry coverage rising from about 3 percent to 8 percent.
The vegetation coverage on the grassland has also risen, from less than 15 percent to 23 percent.
By 2030, about 560,000 hectares of the desertified area will be afforested and a third sand control belt will have been formed, providing environmental security and ensuring the safe operation of railways and expressways, Liu said.
The improved environment has also greatly raised local incomes. Now, more than 30,000 farmers and herders in Alshaa's forestry and grass industry earn average annual incomes of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan ($4,115 to $ 6,860).
A complete industry chain has been formed to integrate the planting, processing, production and sales of suosuo, sandy grapes and black fruit goji berries, according to the local government.
The Forestry Bureau of the Three-North region said the afforestation work in Alshaa is part of wider efforts to fight desertification in North China. It added that the program has made great strides in the past 45 years.
By 2025, the Three-North Shelter Forest Program will have planted trees across 551 counties in North China, it added.
So far, the program, which was launched in 1978, has seen 32 million hectares of forests planted and conserved, and 85 million hectares of degraded grassland have been restored. Meanwhile, forest coverage in the areas involved in the project has risen from 5.05 percent in 1978 to 13.84 percent now.