Located in the western part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Mu Us Desert is the second largest desert in the mainland, covering an area of about 42,000 square kilometers, which is larger than the area of Hainan Island. It used to be one of China's famous deserts, but in recent decades, 80% of the desert area has been transformed into oases. The Mu Us Desert is slowly disappearing over time, and it is expected to become the first large desert in China to be cleaned up.
The main body of the Mu Us Desert runs east-west, from the east to the junction with the Keshiketeng Gobi, and the west to the junction of the Ejina Banner and the sandy land. The desert is dotted with uneven sand dunes, the highest reaching more than 200 meters. The climatic conditions in the desert area are harsh, with high temperature, little rain and little water, with an average annual temperature of 8.8 °C, an extreme maximum temperature of 40 °C, and an average annual precipitation of only 100-150 mm.
Before the 50s of the 20th century, the Mu Us Desert had remained in a pristine state, with frequent severe weather such as sandstorms. The people living on the edge of the desert are living in a very difficult situation and often have to fight to the death. In order to change this predicament, the local government began to organize experts, military and civilians to systematically manage the desert in 1955, and adopted a series of methods such as reclamation and afforestation, enclosure and grazing, and water conservancy construction, and carried out a long-term and long-term struggle against the desert.
After more than 60 years of painstaking management, 80% of the Mu Us Desert has been transformed into an oasis, leaving only about 600 square kilometers of desert landform untransformed. This is a huge change for the desert ecosystem. At present, the Mu Us area has become one of the most important commercial grain production bases in China, and its cattle and sheep inventory and meat output are also among the top in the country. The living environment and living conditions of more than 200,000 farmers and herdsmen around the oasis have also been greatly improved.
The successful governance of the Mu Us Desert has provided valuable experience for China's ecological civilization construction, and its governance model is considered one of the most successful desert governance paradigms in the world. In the process of managing the Mu Us Desert, experts adopted the ecological engineering method of "closing mountains for afforestation and enclosing fields for pastures", established a shelterbelt network at the edge of the desert, and used water resources to cultivate forage plantations, forming a stable ecological "three-north" shelterbelt system, which effectively improved and protected the ecological environment. This ecological governance model, which combines prevention and control, emphasizes respect for natural laws, gives full play to the self-healing ability of regional ecosystems, and adopts organic and supporting ecological, economic, social and other comprehensive management measures according to local conditions, and has achieved remarkable results.
Looking ahead, there are still more than 600 square kilometers of desert to be managed in the Mu Us Desert. The task of eradicating this desert once and for all remains daunting. In 2020, the state will launch a three-year action to implement the comprehensive management of the Mu Us Desert, and plans to invest about 2 billion yuan to basically complete the remaining desert ecological restoration tasks. By 2035, the Mu Us Desert will disappear and be replaced by an ecological oasis, becoming China's first clean desert.
With the increasing trend of global warming and ecological degradation, many places in China are still affected by sandstorms. The successful management of the Mu Us Desert has given us confidence and valuable experience. Through the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, it is believed that the problem of desertification in other parts of China can be effectively curbed in the future. Let's wait and see the birth of China's first clean desert.