New goals for the encircled Taklimakan Desert

On November 28, 2024, a significant milestone was reached in the southern Taklimakan Desert in Yutian County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The final rose seedling planted marked the completion of the green belt on the southern rim of the desert.

Nevertheless, efforts to combat desertification along the desert's perimeter have not ceased. Work continues to widen and reinforce the "green belt." Bulldozers are being used to level dunes, fill large pits and smooth over more than 530 hectares of sandy land in Yutian County.

The saxaul and the salt cedar, both common local plants, are key to stabilizing the sand. At a nursery in Lop County, workers store bundles of red willow branches in underground cellars, covering them with soil to protect them over winter.

These willows will be transplanted in spring to cover more than 400 hectares of desert. Meanwhile, in a silverberry garden in Yutian, workers collect saxaul seeds from a sand-covered area.

In addition to biological sand control preparations, numerous photovoltaic projects are underway in the Taklimakan Desert. Workers are busy installing solar panels.

By spring, sand-stabilizing plants such as the medick and the Chinese fountain grass will be planted beneath the panels.

This integrated project, which combines photovoltaic and biological sand control, is poised to become a new model for Xinjiang, demonstrating how ecological governance and economic development can go hand in hand.

(Cover: The green belt is placed in the Taklimakan Desert in Yutian County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, November 27, 2024. /CFP)