6 | Thursday, June 20, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA

ENVIRONMENT Tree­planting programs defy deserts and drought

Afforestation efforts are providing jobs and improving lifestyles in underdeveloped areas. Li Lei reports from Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in The efforts signal the latest tri­ a series of stories focusing on the umph against the deserts that Xinjiang Uygur autonomous wreaked havoc in past decades. region, looking at developments in One of the earliest and most suc­ the environment, the economy and cessful endeavors was at Saihanba, a the cultural and business sectors, forest in Hebei province that was a and poverty alleviation measures. lush, royal hunting ground for many centuries. However, by the 1920s, its fter decades of playing 20,000 hectares had become a economic catch­up at the sprawling desert as a result of dec­ price of environmental ades of excessive logging, and it degradation, China has fueled sandstorms across North learned to seek financial returns by A China. restoring the land. In the 1960s, a reforestation pro­ Now, some of the most rewarding gram was introduced to restore the examples of this policy shift can be environment and turn the desert found in the country’s least­devel­ into a national forest park. In 2017, oped regions. the achievement was recognized by In Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur the UN Environment Program, autonomous region, government­ when it presented the “afforestation led projects to slow desertification community” with its Champions of and reclaim the land are transform­ the Earth award. ing an area that is home to 1.2 mil­ Further success has been seen in lion rural poor, accounting for the Kubuqi Desert in the Inner Mon­ almost 40 percent of the region’s golia autonomous region. total impoverished population. Over the past three decades, the These massive campaigns have Kubuqi Desert Greening Project has improved the environment and succeeded in reining in the expan­ boosted yields of traditional sion of China’s seventh­largest crops, such as cotton. They have desert, which is roughly the size of also shored up income from lucra­ Kuwait. It has also turned about tive cash crops by providing ara­ 6,000 square kilometers of the ble land in an area known for its desert, about 30 percent, green. harsh environment and lack of The central authorities’ push for workable soil. greener development was rein­ One of the places leading the fight forced in 2012, when the Commu­ is Makit county, Kashgar, which lies nist Party of China added immediately west of the Taklimakan People walk across a bridge in the man­made woods in Makit county, Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. In 2012, the local environmental preservation to its Desert, the second­largest area of government launched a project to convert about 66,000 hectares of desert on the county outskirts into woods. ZHANG GUIGUI / FOR CHINA DAILY blueprint for overall construction of shifting sand dunes in the world, a socialist China, extending the pre­ spanning more than 1,000 kilome­ vious four sectors: the economy; ters across southern Xinjiang. Figures provided by the local gov­ politics; culture; and civil society. For as long as the locals can ernment show that 1 hectare of The move was in stark contrast to remember, raging year­round sand­ treated land produces about 2,250 the previous development model storms have made farming an ardu­ kilograms of cistanche tubulosa per that had been used for decades — ous undertaking. For generations, harvest, bringing in net profit of achieving double­digit economic local families, mostly members of about 10,500 yuan. Cultivation of growth at any cost and ignoring the the Uygur ethnic group who own the hardy desert plant has provided heavy environmental damage. less than 1 hectare of sandy land per jobs for about 200 poor farmers. Now, officials who neglect envi­ household, have struggled to feed Wang said the team is exploring ronmental preservation face pun­ themselves. other ways to generate profits from ishment. The most recent example Osman Ataula, 40, who recently the improved environment, such as is the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi shook off poverty with government developing organic farming by rais­ province, where thousands of lavish, aid, said spring sandstorms are the ing chickens in the shade provided but illegally built, villas have been most catastrophic for cotton farmers Wang Yufeng, director of Makit by the saxaul trees. demolished in the past year to like him, because they rip apart the county’s natural resources restore a number of natural conser­ plastic mulch used to keep land bureau, checks the growth of Wider success vation zones at the foot of the moun­ moist and tear off nearly all the buds. cistanche tubulosa last month. Makit is not the only success story, tain range. “It is common to replant several LI LEI / CHINA DAILY though. In Yecheng county, further Several powerful figures, including times a year,” he said. “Then, I have south in Kashgar, authorities have Zhao Zhengyong, former Party secre­ to seek temporary jobs to help with Orchard workers bag walnuts in Yecheng county, Kashgar. achieved similar goals with a slight­ tary of Shaanxi, and Wei Minzhou, a the family expenses.” HU HUHU / XINHUA ly different approach. former senior provincial legislator, Over the past four years, Yecheng were dismissed after being found Retreat A better environment has encircled large swaths of desert guilty of allowing the villas to be built. However, in 2012, the sand began with belts of poplars, while large Moreover, about 1,000 local officials retreating after the local government is usually followed by numbers of Russian olive, a more­ were censured for negligence. launched a project to convert about rich agricultural drought­resilient tree, have been Now, banners reading “lucid 66,000 hectares of desert on the out­ sown to improve the soil in the waters and lush mountains are skirts of Makit into woods comprised output, then by the encircled areas. invaluable assets” can been seen of saxaul and poplar, drought­resist­ development of the The county government has everywhere, both on the streets of ant trees whose roots bind the sand leased the land at a low rate to an big cities and painted on walls in vil­ and prevent invasive sandstorms. manufacturing agricultural company, which uses it lages yet to shake off poverty. To that end, 50­meter­wide belts sector.” to grow cash crops such as goji ber­ That maxim, coined by President of towering poplars were planted ries, apples, watermelons and for­ Xi Jinping in 2005 when he was Par­ densely in a bid to reduce wind ero­ Lin Guoyin, deputy director of age grass. In turn, the company’s ty secretary of Zhejiang province, is sion. At the same time, saxaul trees Yecheng’s agricultural bureau operations provide jobs for impov­ guiding officials at all levels, from were planted in neat rows between erished local people. high office to the grassroots. the poplar belts to improve the con­ Lin Guoyin, deputy director of Jia Junping, head of Chengchuan dition of the soil. survival of saplings in the first year Yecheng’s agricultural bureau, said township, Gansu province, where Wang Yufeng, director of the after planting, but the rise in rainfall there has been a fundamental shift in reforestation efforts have been county’s natural resources bureau, is expected to result in a shorter officials’ attitudes toward financial ongoing for 30 years, said the con­ who has headed the program for the period of dependency. input into the environment, with tinuous investment in the environ­ past seven years, said the project, In addition to the environmental many realizing its significance for ment in the area, a major apple which has provided job opportuni­ Musayif Muniyaz, a farmer in Yecheng who has been lifted out of progress, the man­made green belts economic growth and poverty relief. production base, has been repaid ties for hundreds of farmers, is about poverty, trims poplar trees. LI LEI / CHINA DAILY provide vast swathes of land for the “A better environment is usually several times over. one­third complete. “That’s more cultivation of cash crops that thrive followed by rich agricultural output, He added that the improved for­ than 190 million trees,” he said. in arid conditions. then by the development of the estry coverage has resulted in high­ The 42­year­old said farmers have 60,000 yuan ($8,684) a year to poor ters of rainfall last year, compared In 2016, Wang’s team began plant­ manufacturing sector, and in time er levels of rainfall, which has been hired to preserve the environ­ households, easily lifting a family’s with only half that amount a decade ing cistanche tubulosa in the woods. by tourism, which could boost local slashed the sky­high cost of irrigat­ mental shield by watering the sap­ average income above the region’s ago. Meanwhile, sandstorms only The parasitic plant — which has high residents’ incomes,” he said. ing the orchards. lings at night, using a drip irrigation annual poverty line of about 3,000 occur about 50 days a year, from added value due to its wide use in tra­ He added that local tourism “Drought used to be common­ network to reduce evaporation, and yuan per person. about 150 in 2009. ditional Chinese medicine and cook­ authorities are considering using place, but the tree­planting program placing wire fencing around the Wang said a positive cycle is being ing — obtains nutrients and water the improved environment and the has changed that for good,” he said. young trees to protect them from Environmental benefits developed, because “more rain from the saxaul it grows upon. It is spectacular views of the sprawling animals. According to local meteorological makes the rest of the work easier”. At fast­growing too, and is ready for sale Taklimakan outside the county to Contact the writer at The work can bring as much as authorities, Makit saw 100 millime­ present, irrigation is essential to the just 18 months after planting. grow the sector. [email protected]

FIRST PERSON

least three trees every year. tion and labor than elsewhere, I remember an article I studied which means far higher financial The scale of the effort made is amazing in Chinese class in junior high input. The harsh environment in school. The text was called “Ode to the desert poses challenges for the Chao Dairong, deputy director of the work I usually went home covered the local people. Irrespective of the Poplar”. planters, too. Yecheng county agriculture and rural in thick dust. The leaves on the trees financial status, every family would The author wrote impressively Poplars need to be planted affairs bureau, Kashgar, Xinjiang. were never green, just grey. Also, my plant as many trees as they could about poplars standing tall and more densely than other trees. nose bled a lot in those days. around their house. upright in the Gobi Desert in Xin­ Only by doing so can they shoot came to Yecheng in 1997 aft­ There were very few trees. If you Xinjiang has the best climate for jiang. towards the sky to claim more er graduating from a junior look at a map of the county back fruit cultivation because tempera­ Because of its towering height and sunlight. college in my home province then, greenery can only be seen tures vary greatly between day and Chao Dairong plants trees in resilience in dry climates, the tree The taller they are, the more of Shandong. I only intend­ within the urban areas of the more­ night, which helps the sugar build­ March. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY has been widely used in the fight effective they are at curbing wind Ied to try my luck in the “mysteri­ than 31,000 square kilometers up in the fruit. against the ever­expanding Takli­ erosion. ous far west” for a while. I never under our jurisdiction. The rest was However, even more­resilient makan. It’s amazing to look at the sheer imagined I would be here for so the golden sand of the Taklimakan crops, such as corn, cannot survive started in 2015. The groundwork Afforestation work in deserts is scale of the efforts made in Xin­ long. Desert. in the desert if there are no trees to involved nearly every government quite different from planting trees jiang’s vast deserts. I had to get used to the climate. As I worked, I realized that trees keep sandstorms at bay. employee. In Xinjiang, it’s compul­ in places with sufficient rainfall and The sandstorms were wild, and after really meant something special to Yecheng’s afforestation project sory for every resident to plant at soil. The work requires more irriga­ Chao Dairong spoke with Li Lei.