China has completed a 153-kilometer green barrier belt to stop the Tengger Desert, its fourth-largest desert, from expanding eastward, marking a significant milestone in the fight against desertification worldwide. The last row of straw chequerboards, an ancient but very successful sand-fixing technique, was put in place in Changliushui village, Zhongwei City, to secure the shifting dunes in the Ningxia region of the desert.
This desert edge-locking project has been combining modern technology and traditional knowledge for more than 60 years. In order to anchor loose sand and stop wind erosion, the straw chequerboard method entails planting straw in a grid pattern. To create permanent vegetation cover, desert-adapted grasses and shrubs will be planted inside these grids as soon as the rainy season arrives.
This ecological belt, which ranges in width from 10 to 38 kilometres, serves as a natural barrier that protects infrastructure, villages, and farmland from sand invasion. The roughly 43,000 square kilometre Tengger Desert has long posed a threat to the neighbouring regions due to land degradation and sandstorms. Zhongwei, a key gateway that formerly allowed the desert to creep eastward, is situated between the Qilian and Helan Mountains.
The Chinese Academy of Forestry’s chief scientist, Lu Qi, emphasises that this project will lessen the causes of sandstorms and safeguard the Yellow River. The initiative began in the 1950s when China’s first desert railway, the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, was protected using the straw chequerboard technique. These age-old methods are being strengthened by modern inventions like enhanced chequerboard patterns and synthetic cyanobacteria sand crusts.
As part of the massive Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, which is regarded as the largest afforestation project in the world, about 2.6 billion yuan (roughly $363 million) have been invested in this barrier just in the last two years. Through generations of labour, 370,000 hectares of land have been reclaimed, pushing the desert back about 25 kilometres.
According to Lu, the green barrier belt represents the peaceful coexistence of nature and humanity and goes beyond simple ecological restoration. The success of China is now a source of inspiration for people all over the world. China hopes to share its experience, improve international cooperation, and promote sustainable development globally with the recently opened China-Central Asia desertification control centre in Ningxia.
