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Nature's Great Green Wall: How China is using trees to fight the Gobi Desert.
China's Three North Shelterbelt Project, commonly known as the "Green Great Wall", is a grand plan to resist the expansion of the Gobi Desert. The project was launched in 1978 and is expected to be completed by 2050, extending a total of 4,500 kilometers in northern China. This long-term forest planting project aims to establish windbreaks through artificial means to prevent desert invasion and at the same time provide timber resources needed by local residents.
Planting trees is not only an environmental protection measure, but also an important cornerstone for future sustainable development.
Invasion of the Gobi Desert
Every year, the expansion of the Gobi Desert reduces China's grassland area by 3,600 square kilometers. The resulting dust storms carry away up to 2,000 square kilometers of topsoil each year, which not only affects China's agricultural environment, but also has serious impacts on neighboring countries such as Japan, North Korea and South Korea. It is in this environmental context that the Three North Shelterbelt Project aims to increase the forest coverage in the north from 5% to 15% in order to significantly reduce the degree of desertification.
Personal Efforts and Results
Many individuals are also working quietly on this project. For example, Yin Yuzhen is planting trees in China's semi-arid Wuxin Banner, working tirelessly to restore the harsh desert environment. Such individual actions have been taken seriously by the country’s leadership, with Xi Jinping praising such behavior at the 2020 National People’s Congress and noting its positive contribution to the ecological environment.
As of 2009, China has planted more than 500,000 square kilometers of trees, increasing tree coverage from 12% to 18%, making it the world's largest artificial forest.
Successes and Challenges
The success of this project has also been recognized by international organizations. The World Bank pointed out in 2008 that more emphasis should be placed on the quality of tree species rather than the quantity. The NOAA study found that increases in forest cover observed by satellites are consistent with Chinese government data. As the number of forests increases, the absorption of carbon dioxide also increases significantly, which is of great significance for mitigating climate change.
The Three North Shelterbelt Project has reversed the desertification of the Gobi Desert to a certain extent. The Gobi Desert, which once expanded by 10,000 square kilometers each year, has shrunk by more than 2,000 square kilometers by 2022.
Criticism and reflection
The plan is not without controversy, however. Hong Jiang, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin, is worried that these trees will absorb large amounts of groundwater, causing water resource problems in the arid northern regions. Other experts believe that planting trees is only a short-term measure and cannot fundamentally change the desertification of the land. Past efforts to combat desertification have often failed, with many uses of exotic tree species having the opposite effect, and monocultures of certain species reducing biodiversity and resistance.
Long-term Outlook
Despite the challenges, China's Three North Shelterbelt Program has shown considerable success in addressing the threat of the Gobi Desert. The plan is a major credit to the transformation from just 10% of the country's forest cover in 1949 to 25% by 2024. China's land desertification rate also dropped from 27.2% to 26.8%. However, continued efforts are needed to ensure that this project becomes a true success. This makes us wonder: What better strategies and actions can we take in the face of climate change and ecological challenges in the future?
