China has completed construction of a 3,046 kilometer green wall across the Taklimakan Desert. The large green belt of red willows, saxaul and other trees will act as a giant sand barrier.
The Taklimakan Desert is located in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. It is the second largest drifting desert in the world. The winds and frequent sandstorms often blow huge amounts of sand around, burying roads, river canals and farms.
The consequences are so far-reaching that farmers call this desert the Sea of Death. This, plus the continued expansion of the Gobi Desert, led to the launch of China’s Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program in 1978.
An aerial photo shows planting seedlings in the Taklimakan Desert in 2021. Photo: Xinhua
100 billion trees
The project is the largest ecological engineering project in the world. Over six decades (expected to be completed by 2050), it will plant about 100 billion trees to create barriers against sand blowing across China. The now completed Taklimakan Desert Project is just one of many regions planned for this treatment.
So far, an army of 600,000 workers has planted 300,000 square kilometers of trees. According to Chinese state news, they hope to increase forest cover to four million square kilometers by 2050.
Total forest cover has already increased from 10% in 1949 to 25% in 2023. Desertification currently affects 27% of China. The United Nations recently revealed that 77% of all land on Earth is drier than it was 39 years ago.
Desertification is accelerating worldwide due to climate change and human activity, but China risks becoming one of the most affected areas.
Part of the green belt along the Taklimakan Desert highway. Photo: Xinhua
While some have praised China for minimizing desertification, others are concerned that the green belt’s non-native tree species are creating an unnatural monoculture. However, it is not easy to find plants that work in greenbelts in such a harsh environment.
China will have to maintain this Great Green Wall by continually planting more trees to keep the blowing sand at bay.
