Desertification Area Extends in China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 28, 2002

Desertification Area Extends in China

Desertification, resulting from climate variations or human activities, has affected a total of 2.7 million square kilometers of land in China, or 27.9 percent of its total territory by the end of 1999, according to a latest national survey.

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Desertification Control Seeing Initial Effect

The area of China's territory hit by desertification has increased although the environment has been improved in some areas, according to a national survey.

More areas hit by deserts

Feng Jiaping, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, released the results of the second national survey on desertification Monday.

Desertification, resulting from climate variations or human activities, has affected a total of 2.7 million square kilometers of land in China or 27.9 percent of its total territory by the end of 1999.

Feng said the figure is higher than that of the first desertification survey in 1994.

Tree Belt Built Along World's Longest Desert Highway

Desert-hit areas saw a net increase of 52,000 square kilometers between 1995 and 1999.

According to the latest monitoring results, desertification mainly affects 471 counties and prefectures in north and west China, including the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as the provinces of Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi and north China's Hebei and Shanxi provinces.

Mostly created by human activities

Worse still, China's sandy lands -- deserts believed to have been created by human activities -- covered more than 1.74 million square kilometers by the end of 1999, affecting 18.2 percent of the country's total land territory.

Fortunately, sandy lands have been reduced by 57,000 square kilometers in some areas with the aid of protective forests, such as those planted along areas by the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

In addition, the survey discovered that about half of 17,000 square kilometers of cultivated land that had been reclaimed in permanent desert areas turned into moving dunes or sandy soil between 1995 and 1999.

Most dry lands in China have been degraded by over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation practices as well as abnormal weather changes such as persistent droughts.

China fights against desertification

China Adopts Law on Desertification Prevention

China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, has adopted a law on desertification prevention and treatment, and amendments to the criminal law.

China's Main Grain Producer Combats Desertification

Heilongjiang Province, a major grain producer in China, is taking precautions to combat expanding desertification at its western border with Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

NPC Deputies Call for Bolder Moves to Curb Desertification around Beijing

The Chinese government should take bolder measures to check the amounting threat of desertification around Beijing, deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) from neighboring Hebei Province said.

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