LANZHOU, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will continue to help
African countries combat desertification, according to the Gansu Desert Control
Research Institute (GDCRI), which trains technicians from developing countries
in desert-control methods.
The institute, located in northwest China's Gansu Province, will organize
two training sessions from August this year on how to set up windbreaks, choose
plants for desert control and curb the advance of quicksand, GDCRI director Wang
Jihe said on Thursday.
The training programs will last 45 to 60 days, and will be attended by
officials and experts from about 18 African countries, Wang said, adding that
most expenses, including tuition and accommodation, will be covered by the
Chinese government.
Since the first program in 1993, more than 150 trainees from over 30
African countries including Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Angola and
Tanzania, have taken part in the training sessions, said Man Duoqing, head of
the international affairs department at GDCRI.
Last year's course was held in Minqin, a central-north county in Gansu and
one of the four areas in China from which sand storms originate.
The county saw 14 sand storms in 2006, down almost 50 percent on the
previous year, after it brought 2,000 hectares of desert under control by
encircling sand with nets made of wheat straw and planting drought-resistant
plants.
Ahmed A. Ashomakhy, a Liberian agriculture researcher at the 2006 session,
said China's desert-control techniques are highly practical.
2006 participant Peter Seeiso from Lesotho said he was impressed by China's
efforts to fight desertification.
With deserts including the Sahara, Africa is the region of the world most
affected by desertification.
China's deserts are shrinking by 7,585 sq km annually, compared with an
annual expansion of 10,400 sq km at the end of last century, according to
statistics from the State Forestry Administration. But this leaves little room
for optimism because rising temperatures, drought and dwindling forest areas
will increase desertification in some areas.
The China Meteorological Administration announced Thursday it will set up
facilities to monitor environmental and meteorological changes in sand
storm-prone hinterland areas including Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai
and Tibet.
According to United Nations statistics, one third of the world's land faces
the threat of desertification, causes average annual economic losses of 42
billion U.S. dollars.
