According to Chinese state media, a 46-year project to cover China’s largest desert with trees as part of a campaign to halt desertification and curb sandstorms has been completed.
The ‘green belt’ covers a staggering 3,000 km around the Taklamakan desert in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where workers planted the final 100 metres of trees covering the southern edge of the desert, the report stated.
In 1978, the project began as the country’s ‘Three-North Shelterbelt’ project, more commonly known as the Great Green Wall, launched. Since then, more than 30 million hectares of trees have been planted.
Increasing forest cover
This aggressive tree-planting project has significantly contributed to China’s forest coverage climbing above 25% at the end of 2023, up from 10% in 1949—this is despite the fact that China’s population has nearly trebled since exploding from 541 million inhabitants to 1.4 billion today.
The project has experimented with different tree and plant species to determine which were the hardiest. This has involved planting non-native species. This approach has prompted criticism, such as from the futurist Alex Steffen, who argues that the project has actually caused a lot of pollution and has done more damage to the local biodiversity than it has enhanced. It has also had little impact on reducing sandstorms. According to government officials, China will continue to plant vegetation and trees along the edge of Taklamakan to keep desertification in check. Poplar forests at the edge of the desert will be restored via diverting flood waters, and they’re planning new forest networks to protect farmlands and orchards on the western edge.
Despite the completion of this project, China is still facing an uphill struggle against desertification as 26.8% of its total landmass is still being classified as desertified and has come down to less than 0.5%, as it stood at 27.2% a decade ago.