Related News
WB desertification control project breathes new life into Ningxia city
Print Edition
The distance between the southern edge of the Tengger Desert and the city of Zhongwei in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was once just a few kilometers, but the distance has been expanding over the past several years.
Tengger, the fourth largest desert in China, is mostly in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and stretches to parts of Ningxia and Gansu Province.
Residents of Zhongwei, which neighbors Inner Mongolia and Gansu, have suffered from desertification and land degradation for decades.
They said that in the 1950s, the distance between the desert and the city was around 5 kilometers. A breeze would bring dust and sand from the desert into their homes.
The situation has now improved significantly. Desertification is under control and the desert no longer moves toward the city. The distance between the desert and Zhongwei has expanded to more than 20km.
A World Bank desertification control project has played an important role in leading to these huge changes.
The Changliushui Project started in 2013, with a WB loan of 300 million yuan (US$44 million) to address desertification and land degradation.
“First we established straw checkerboards to halt the movement of shifting sand dunes. Then we sowed grass seeds and planted shrubs. Eventually, we turned the desert into an oasis,” said Tang Ximing, who is in charge of the project.
In Heilin village, more than 200 residents make straw checkerboards. They work not only in Zhongwei but also in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Shaanxi Province. The average income is around 70,000 yuan per person annually.
“It’s not only a desertification control project. It has become a poverty alleviation project as well,” said Tang, adding that the Changliushui Project has paid local residents more than 70 million yuan over the past six years.
As the project continues, straw checkerboards placed in the project area years ago are now covered by thriving sandy soil plants. The 52-year-old Tang invented a seeding machine, which could plant seeds in the desert with a higher survival rate and lower labor cost.
The “straw-checkerboard mode” has prevented the desert from engulfing the city and the city’s environment has become much better.
The project aims to bring 23,000 hectares of the desert under control when it ends in 2019. So far, more than 20,000 hectares have been harnessed.
The Changliushui project is part of the WB’s desertification control and ecological protection project in Ningxia, one of the most ecologically fragile areas in northwestern China. The region has been struggling with drought, wind and sand, water and soil loss, and soil salinization.
Statistics show that desertified land in the region reached nearly 3 million hectares in 2012, accounting for 57.2 percent of the region’s total area.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
