On the Khorchin sand, the biggest sand in China, wind and sand prevention and control workers began to get busy in the early spring every year.
The plot under Zhao Xueyong’s feet is green with plants
The testing field built up by the team led by Zhao Xueyong
In the early years, affected by the increasingly frequent human activities such as overgrazing, there appeared deteriorated vegetation degradation, frequent droughts, and serious soil erosion on Khorchin sand.
From 2011 to 2014, Zhao Xueyong and his team have raised rainwater utilization rate in Khorchin sand by 40%-50%, the water retention rate of soil by 20%-40%, and the survival rate of trees by 40%-50%, by applying vegetation restoration and reconstruction techniques for efficient water use in sandy areas. Nowadays, it is very hard to find migratory dunes in villages that have been hit by winds and sand, such as Yaoledianzi Village of Naiman Banner, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, and east of Khorchin sand.
The new materials for the desertification prevention and control developed by Qu Jianjun and his team
The effect that Qu Jianjun and his team have achieved
The desertification prevention and control mode in China has achieved a “gorgeous transformation” from a simplified mode in the past to a new integrated wind and sand protection system combining biological and engineering measures. These technical achievements have stepped out of the “ivory tower” into the decision-making reservoir of Chinese government departments, and also to the world, which have been promoted and applied in Mongolia, Egypt, Tunisia and other countries. (Forestry.gov.cn - Xinhua)