00:00For years, the Chinese government has been implementing a large reforestation initiative
00:05encompassing expansions of land affected by sand in 13 regions of the country.
00:10From Xinjiang, our correspondent Mauro Ramos explains how these policies work
00:13and how they combine with income generation for local communities.
00:19In 2022, the Chinese government announced that Xinjiang had finally reversed the expansion
00:24of land affected by sand, since it would be the only region in the country with this problem.
00:30This achievement was the result of decades of reforestation policies and desertification control.
00:36Xinjiang is the largest region in China, and more than 50% of its territory is composed of arid and semi-areas.
00:44The region contains the two largest deserts in China, the Taklamakan and the Gurbantungut,
00:49which occupy about 23% of its total area.
00:54In November 2024, a green sand control belt around the Taklamakan was completed.
00:59At 3,046 kilometers, the project has become the world's longest ecologic barrier against desert expansion.
01:07Dr. Regeman, director of the forestry and grassland department of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,
01:14explains the purpose of the green belts.
01:16The goal of our efforts in the Taklamakan Desert, the world's second largest quicksand desert,
01:22is not to cover the entire desert with trees.
01:26Instead, our guiding principle is real-world defense.
01:30Our primary focus is protecting critical infrastructure, transportation corridors, and population centers.
01:36We concentrate our efforts on establishing a green belt, also politically described as a green scarf,
01:43along the edges of oases and the desert's border.
01:46This green barrier is designed to minimize the risks of wind and sand,
01:51reducing their impact to the lowest possible level.
01:54Xinjiang aims to ecologically restore 6.6 million hectares along the edge of the Taklamakan Desert by 2030.
02:02Of this total, approximately 4 million hectares have already been restored.
02:08Director Toti Regeman explains that the green belt project doesn't just focus on planting trees,
02:14but combines different techniques adapted to the arid environment.
02:20Biological sand fixation efforts will cover approximately 394,000 hectares,
02:25over 200,000 hectares.
02:32These figures represent the scale and composition of the tasks we are committed to completing in the near future.
02:39Toti Regeman emphasizes that the work carried out over more than four decades
02:44is not solely the government's effort, but directly involves local communities.
02:50To achieve these, specific mechanisms have been created.
02:53The government grants desertified land for production and ecological restoration.
02:58Hotang County, located at the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, is one example.
03:05There, an aquaculture project has been established with crabs, lobsters and sea bass.
03:11Lai Jun, a worker on this project, discusses last year's production results.
03:17Crab production is estimated at around 40 tons this year, and sea bass at approximately 30 tons.
03:22Blue lobster production could be slightly lower, by a few tons.
03:25We expect total production to exceed 70 tons.
03:28Another project that integrates different objectives of the socialist country
03:33is the generation of solar energy with reforestation initiatives,
03:37which has revitalized areas where sands have advanced in Lop County,
03:42located in the southern Taklamakan Desert.
03:44Yan Dian, head of the Lop Solar Energy Desertification Control Station,
03:49explains how the project works.
03:51We raise the solar panel components to about 1.5 to 1.7 meters high,
03:57with a spacing of 12 meters between two support stakes.
04:00This allows for large-scale mechanized operations once the solar power generation system is installed,
04:05followed by biological desertification control efforts.
04:08For example, this is the oat we grow, and it is about 15 to 20 centimeters tall.
04:13After the solar plant is completed, we plant more than a dozen types of crops.
04:16We want to develop a mature, replicable, and sustainable model for desert control.
04:22Mauro Ramos, Telesur, Beijing.
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