{"id":5802,"date":"2026-07-13T06:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5802"},"modified":"2026-07-13T06:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:04:48","slug":"chinas-green-great-wall-tames-desert-growth-but-scientists-warn-the-fight-is-not-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5802","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s \u2018Green Great Wall\u2019 tames desert growth, but scientists warn the fight is not over"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

KUBUQI DESERT, China (AP) \u2014 For half a century, millions of workers have repeated a task across the deserts in northern China: inserting forearm-length sticks into shifting sand, first in a row, then in an intersecting line, gradually forming a grid. Then saplings are planted at the center of each small square.<\/p>\n

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The technique, known as \u201cstraw checkerboards,\u201d is a simple yet widely used method to stabilize sand dunes against the wind and help plants take root by using water supplied through an irrigation system.<\/p>\n

The widespread lattice it created across the sand has become the iconic image of China\u2019s decades-long campaign against the spreading of desert conditions, known as the Three-North Protective Forest Program or the Green Great Wall.<\/p>\n

The generations of work have yielded measurable progress, but scientists caution that preserving the gains will require decades of continued effort.<\/p>\n

For a long time, drought, overgrazing and farming removed vegetation, harmed the soil and made areas vulnerable to wind and sandstorms. That kind of degradation of the land over time is known as desertification. The area of desertified land in northern China peaked in 2000, and it has been reduced by over 1,000 square kilometers (400 square miles) each year since then, according to data published by state media. <\/p>\n

The Chinese government said the initiative launched in 1978 has played a crucial role in transforming vast regions covering nearly half of China from \u201cthe desertification advancing and people retreating\u201d to \u201cgreenery advancing and the desertification retreating.\u201d Forests planted by the program now cover a cumulative 500,000 square kilometers (200,000 square miles) . <\/p>\n

\u201cThe broad significance of the Three-North Program is not only the scale of restoration, but the long-term political commitment behind it,\u201d said Barron Joseph Orr, chief scientist for the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification. In a response to The Associated Press, he wrote that reversing desertification is possible when it becomes part of long-term development strategies.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, efforts to combat desertification have included a project launched in Africa in 2007 to plant trees across a number of countries to hold back the Sahara Desert. <\/p>\n

Measuring the success of the Green Great Wall<\/h3>\n

The progress is the result of the efforts of frontline sand-control workers, along with top-level planning and substantial state investment, said Zhu Jiaojun, a scientist at the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has long been dedicated to the construction and management of the program. He added that increased rainfall in recent years in some areas has made vegetation restoration easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe achievement of desertification combat is due to people\u2019s hard work and a bit of luck with climate,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

According to long-term monitoring data by Zhu\u2019s team, China\u2019s desertified land has shrunk by around 10% overall since 2000, and areas of severely or extremely desertified land have decreased by more than 40%. Forest cover in the program area has risen from around 5% in 1978 to 14% in 2022. <\/p>\n

In a recent government-organized media tour to a corner of Kubuqi Desert, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the west of Beijing, 60-year-old Yin Yuzhen recounted her early days of being a sand-control worker as \u201cvery lonely.\u201d Working alongside her husband near her hometown in the neighboring Mu Us desert, she said that it felt delightful to encounter any other creature. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven the passing of a bird across the sky made me happy,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Four decades ago, she recalled, the sand often blew so thick that it made it hard to see a short distance. <\/p>\n

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\u201cBut now we can see the sun. We can see the green in the distance. We can see the road,\u201d said Yin. <\/p>\n

She and her husband now work from dawn to noon every day, attending to trees and fixing or replacing checkerboards. They are joined by their children and sometimes local volunteers. <\/p>\n

Zhu, the scientist, estimated that over 300 million rural laborers have been involved in the program, mostly on a paid, part-time basis.<\/p>\n

Sustaining both land and livelihood<\/h3>\n

Orr said restored ecosystems in drylands can become increasingly self-sustaining over time, but they still require careful management and long-term monitoring, with success depending on factors such as water availability and soil health. <\/p>\n

The environmental advocacy group Green Camel Bell in Gansu province works to explain desertification and its risks to farmers and herders, plant trees with them in dryland areas, and help restore and sustain vegetation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEfforts to combat desertification and restore forests should be linked to local livelihoods, so communities do not see economic development and ecological protection as an either-or choice,\u201d said its founder Zhao Zhong. <\/p>\n

Orr agreed that restoration efforts have a much greater chance of succeeding if they\u2019re structured to help communities benefit economically. <\/p>\n

Zhu said that a key question for the project is how conservation can be sustained if the scale of human intervention and investment is reduced. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we are very concerned with and this is also the biggest challenge,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Yin hopes the younger generation will continue her work. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to teach young people to love this Earth. If we love it with all our hearts, nature will love us in return,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this story. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n

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