Afforestation in North China Helps Harness Desertification and Soil ErosionThe windbreaker belt project in northeast, north and northwest China known as the "No.1 Ecological Project in the World" have entered its fourth construction phase with the trees planted totaling 26 million ha.Spreading out in 551 counties in 13 provinces (autonomous regions and cities) in the three regions the project covers an area of 4.069 million square km, accounting for 42.4 percent of China's total land area. Starting from 1978, the project, divided into three phases and eight large projects with construction period lasting 73 years, is expected to bring to finish in 2050 and to turn 35.6 million ha of land into the woodland. The target of the project is to increase the forest coverage from the current 5.05 percent to 14.95 percent in the three regions with the land desertification and soil erosion brought largely under control, ecological environment and people's living condition greatly improved. So far, the project has fulfilled the first three phases in the construction. After trees are growing into forest, the forest coverage in the three regions will be increased to 10 percent. Windbreakers in Beijing, Tianjin municipalities, and Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces have by and large formed a wind-shelter belt. Ecological environment has been greatly improved, thus promoting the economic development in rural areas along with the raising of the people's living standard. A shelter of 10-million ha from Xinjiang to Heilongjiang has been built up. It is an effective way to curb the sand spouts, sandstorms and land desertification in the two areas, thus greatly reducing the occurrence of sandstorms and damages incurred. In loess plateau and north China hilly areas, soil erosion problem has been curbed. With 12 million ha of trees planted for the prevention of soil erosion a total of 200,000 square km of eroded land has been brought under control, accounting for 40 percent of the land in the area. A total of 2.4 million ha of forest for farmland and 4 million ha for economic forest have been planted, and a batch of fine fruit bases has been set up with total production value topping 25 billion yuan. All these have greatly promoted the economic development in the rural areas and raised the earnings of farmers. By PD Online Staff Member Li Yan |
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