Sand control, afforestation efforts in China’s largest desert
By News Desk3 分钟阅读
Source 新华社、《黎明报》、《阿拉伯新闻》、阿纳多卢通讯社与《分钟镜报》
(250414) -- URUMQI, April 14, 2025 (Xinhua) -- An aerial drone photo taken on April 7, 2025 shows oleaster saplings in Hotan County of Hotan Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region covers 337,600 square kilometers and its circumference measures 3,046 kilometers, making it the largest desert in China and the second-largest drifting desert in the world.
Thanks to decades-long sand prevention and control efforts, the Taklimakan Desert was completely encircled with a sand-blocking green belt on Nov. 28, 2024.
In 2025, Xinjiang aims to afforest a land area of about 796,000 hectares, including 562,666 hectares for frontline control in the Taklimakan Desert. These afforestations form a part of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, the world's largest afforestation program, which tackles desertification in northwest, north and northeast China.
Meanwhile, Xinjiang will further widen the sand-blocking green belt and enhance desert-locking efforts to achieve sustainable sand control while improving local livelihoods. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)
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An aerial drone photo taken on April 8, 2025 shows people planting coix at a sand industry experimental base in Yutian County of Hotan Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.(Xinhua/Ding Lei)
The Taklimakan Desert in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region covers 337,600 square kilometers and its circumference measures 3,046 kilometers, making it the largest desert in China and the second-largest drifting desert in the world.
Thanks to decades-long sand prevention and control efforts, the Taklimakan Desert was completely encircled with a sand-blocking green belt on Nov. 28, 2024.
In 2025, Xinjiang aims to afforest a land area of about 796,000 hectares, including 562,666 hectares for frontline control in the Taklimakan Desert. These afforestations form a part of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, the world’s largest afforestation program, which tackles desertification in northwest, north and northeast China.
Meanwhile, Xinjiang will further widen the sand-blocking green belt and enhance desert-locking efforts to achieve sustainable sand control while improving local livelihoods.
People arrange drip irrigation pipes at a sand-control experimental base in Yutian County of Hotan Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 8, 2025.(Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 7, 2025 shows oleaster saplings in Hotan County of Hotan Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.(Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 12, 2025 shows a grassland in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)Volunteer Wang Chengbang checks seedlings at a nursery in Korla, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 11, 2025. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 13, 2025 shows a photovoltaic power project in Xayar County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 9, 2025 shows staff members planting seedlings at a sand-control base in Qiemo County, the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 8, 2025 shows checkerboard sand barriers in Minfeng County of Hotan Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)A staff member sorts cistanche at a cistanche planting base in Qiemo County, the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on April 9, 2025.(Xinhua/Ding Lei)Fu Guoxi checks the trees at a green belt built by his father Fu Zhizhou in Hejing County, the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 11, 2025. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 13, 2025 shows a photovoltaic power project in Xayar County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on April 11, 2025 shows a forest park in Hejing County, the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance,
a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went
back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016,
working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
