China's longest inland river the Tarim River, in the southern part of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has been diverted to flow across the world's largest desert poplar forest as part of an ecological restoration campaign.

The sluices along the Tarim River are being opened gradually during the high-water season to channel water across some one million hectares of desert poplar forest in the river's basin.

This is the fifth year of the ecological restoration project, which is designed to nurture the drought-resistant plant that serves as a major greening force in south Xinjiang's deserts.

A total of nearly 8.2 billion cubic meters of water has flowed into the forest since 2016, and another inflow of 1.86 billion cubic meters of water is expected this year.

The region is seeing marked increases in vegetation and waterfowl. The biological diversity had almost doubled in the river's downstream area in the past four years, data from the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed.

(All images via VCG)

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