China wraps up world's longest tree wall project around massive desert
China just finished planting trees around its biggest desert - a project that took almost half a century. The green ring spans 3000 km and aims to stop desert growth and reduce sandstorms
In a ground-breaking eco-project China has wrapped-up its massive tree-planting campaign around the Taklamakan Desert. The last 100-meter stretch was completed yesterday making it the worlds longest green-belt (stretching about 3000 km)
The project which started back in 78ʼ is part of the countries Three-North Shelterbelt initiative; workers have planted over 30 million hectares of trees to fight desert expansion. The long-term effort shows good results: Chinas forest coverage jumped from just 10% in the late 40s to more-than 25% by last winter
Zhu Lidong a local forestry expert explains future steps: “Weʼll keep adding plants along the desert edge and use flood-water to restore poplar trees on the northern side“. The project team had to test many tree types to find ones that dont die in harsh conditions; theyʼre now planning new forest networks to shield farms on the western edge
Despite some doubts about low tree survival rates and sandstorm prevention the green-belt shows progress. The countrys desertified land dropped from 27.2% to 26.8% in past decade; while Xinjiangs forest coverage went up from 1% to 5% in last four decades
