by Xinhua writers Wang Jingzhong, Chen Lei, Zuo Wei and Sun Wenji
ORDOS, Inner Mongolia, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) - All was not silent in the heart of the Kubuqi desert in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The whistling of the wind was covered up by the roars of machines.
With an auger in hand, one worker was drilling a deep hole in the sand, then another worker put a seedling in it and covered the hole with sand. It took less than 20 seconds to plant a tree.
"This method doesn't affect the soil structure and will keep moisture in the sand. The survival rate of the seedlings can reach as high as 65 percent in dry areas," said Han Meifei, an engineer with Elion Resources Group, best known for its successful efforts in greening the Kubuqi.
In areas with enough groundwater, hydraulic planting methods were more efficient, he said. Taking out a slim tube linked to a water hose, he turned on the tap and jetted water into the sand. Within 10 seconds, a meter-deep hole was dug and a seedling was planted.
"The survival rate is above 90 percent, compared with a 10-percent rate when using the traditional shovel-digging method," he told a group of delegates to the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP13) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which is being held in Ordos City on the edge of the Kubuqi desert.
The meeting has brought together more than 1,400 delegates from 196 countries and regions as well as 20 international organizations. They are expected to draw a roadmap to end desert expansion worldwide by 2030.
THE KUBUQI MODEL
Kubuqi is the seventh-largest desert in China, covering an area of 18,000 sq km. The desert closest to Beijing, it was once a major source of sandstorms that hit the country's capital city.
The constant expansion of the desert forced many people to migrate. Those who remained mostly lived under the poverty line.
To rein in the desert, the Ordos government implemented a plan: to cut the desert into half by building a 100-km-long highway through the middle of the desert, encircling the desert with trees and grass and then tackling the sand patch by patch.
Elion took the lead in the battle. The company invested heavily, invented various sand-treatment methods and encouraged local farmers and herdsmen to participate.
Elion has provided farmers drought-resistance licorice seedlings for free, and it will buy back the grown plants at market price. Licorice, an important traditional Chinese medicinal herb, can fix the drifting sand and improve the soil. After three years, the soil will be good enough to grow grain and vegetables.
In Kubuqi, Elion has also built China's largest solar farm in a desert. Its 650,000 fixed and sun-tracking panels together channel 500 million KWh of electricity into the national grid each year.
"The panels shield wind and sand and reduce evaporation, so grass and other plants can grow well under them," said He Pengfei, a senior executive of Elion, noting the solar project has created more than 1,000 jobs for local people.
These efforts not only contributed to the greening of more than 6,000 sq km of Kubuqi, but also lifted 102,000 people out of poverty.
The afforestation efforts have also improved the climate in the desert. Rainfall in Kubuqi was less than 100 mm in 1988, and the figure soared to 456 mm in 2016, while the number of sandstorms fell from 50 in 1988 to only one in 2016.
"Transforming a desert into a forest is very amazing. I'm very proud to be here to see 'Kubuqi forest,'" said Fatoumata Cherif, a delegate from Guinea, after touring some of the desert.
"In Kubuqi, they have provided jobs in solar energy, eco-tourism, and planting medicinal herbs. That's exactly what we need to do, to green the desert and get people out of poverty," said Erik Solheim, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) who is in Ordos to attend COP 13.
Patrick Worms, Senior Science Policy Advisor at the UN World Agroforestry Center, said he was impressed by how people managed to restore degraded land at "an extremely large scale" while solving the governance issue.
The core of success at Kubuqi is its sustainable business model, and the establishment of a system that incorporates policy instruments, private sector investment and active participation by locals, according to a policy report from the UNEP.
SHRINKING DESERTS
More than 40 percent of the country's land is degraded to some extent.To combat desertification, China has invested enormous efforts in past decades, including the adoption of the world's first law on tackling desertification, the return of farmland to grass and the ban of natural forest logging.
Efforts have been stepped up over the past five years. The ruling Communist Party of China has given ecological construction equal footing to economic, political, cultural and social construction in its overall plan to build socialism with Chinese characteristics.
China is ahead of its peers. The area of desertified land in the country is dropping by an annual average of more than 2,400 square km, compared to an annual average expansion of over 10,000 square km at the end of last century, making China the first country in the world to achieve desert shrinkage.
"China plans to reforest 50 percent of the desertified land that can be treated by 2020, and the rest by 2050," said Liu Dongsheng, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration, at COP 13.
These efforts have won high praise from UN officials as well as delegates to COP 13. China has provided experience, technology and a model for the global fight against desertification, making remarkable contributions to reach the global goal of zero growth in degraded land, Monique Barbut, executive secretary of UNCCD, told delegates to COP 13.
"China sees the desert not as a problem, but as an opportunity, an opportunity for jobs and fighting poverty via greening the desert," said Solheim.
INT'L COOPERATION NEEDED
Desertification is one of the most pressing issues facing mankind. Up to 2 billion hectares of land are degraded worldwide. On average, 12 million hectares are lost every year and 169 countries are affected by land degradation, desertification and drought, according to the UNCCD.
With the theme of "Combating Desertification for Human Well-being," the main mission of COP13 is to seek solutions for the UN sustainable goal of "achieving a land degradation neutral world by 2030" and to develop a new UNCCD strategy framework for the 2018-2030 period.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday stressed global cooperation to combat desertification in a congratulatory letter to the high-level meeting of COP13. China will unswervingly fulfill its obligations under the UNCCD, and continue to push forward communication and cooperation with all member parties and international organizations to work for the targets set during the conference and create a better world, Xi said.
Solheim said China is one of the most successful countries worldwide in greening the desert and has lessons to share with the world on curbing desertification.
During the meeting, countries along the Belt and Road launched a cooperation framework to fight desertification. The framework will help members cooperate on financing, sharing information, training, and learning from each other through example projects. Solheim said he expected the Belt and Road Initiative would be used for investment and technology transfer in fighting desertification. Iran, for example, has suffered greatly from sandstorms. Solheim said Iran can learn from China's technology and knowledge in curbing desertification, and countries in Africa and Central Asia facing similar problems can do the same.
