【Ecological Focus】
The "Great Green Wall" locks the yellow sand
-- Xinjiang has launched a war to prevent and control desertification
Guangming Daily reporter Shang Jie and Zhao Minghao
Flipping through the map of China, a slender yellow sand line starts from the Badain Jaran Desert in Inner Mongolia in the east, and goes west through the Hexi Corridor to the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang. In this narrow area that runs thousands of kilometers from east to west, the climate is arid and rainless, the desert and the Gobi are widely spread, and two-thirds of the country's wind-blown sand mouths are concentrated.
In June 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected and presided over a symposium on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths" in Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, stressing that it is necessary to highlight the key points of governance and make every effort to fight the three landmark battles. These three landmark battles were the Yellow River "Bend" Battle, the Horqin and Hunshandak two major sandy annihilation battles, and the Hexi Corridor-Taklamakan Desert Edge Blocking Battle.
On the journey of wrestling with people and sand, Xinjiang once again sounded the clarion call for a charge. In the spring, the reporter went to the edge of the Taklamakan Desert to visit the new practices and explorations of desertification prevention and control among cadres and people of all ethnic groups.
In Gaizi Kumu Township, Shaya County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, tens of thousands of acres of Suosuo forest were grafted with Cistanche, and the masses became rich in sand control. Photo by Liu Yuzhu/Guangming Pictures
Hard work + continuous drying, weaving a green "scarf"
Before arriving at the Hedong Ecological Desertification Control Base in Jimo County, the reporter saw at a glance that there was a sign erected on the side of the road, "Dare to ask for benefits from the desert and vow to ask for an oasis from the desert".
Desertification control has never been a slogan here. Located in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert, Jimo County is surrounded by sand and is like a desert island. Everyone in the county is familiar with a smooth saying: "One wind a year, blowing from spring to winter." The wind buries the village, and the wind rolls the stones. ”
Since 1998, the county has set up a workstation on the east bank of the Cherchen River, kicking off the prelude to wind prevention and sand control.
"On the first day of work, the stationmaster gave each of us a shovel, brought naan and water, and began to cut reeds to make anti-sand grids. Patigul Yasin is one of the first female sand control workers in Jimo County, and has been working at the sand control station for 19 years.
Trees are planted in the desert, and the dry and hot wind and sand blow people can't open their eyes, and their mouths, ears, and nostrils are full of sand. When it comes to the tree-planting season, men, women and children go into battle together, day and night. No one shouted that they were tired or retreated, because everyone knew that "if we don't control the sand, the desert will swallow our homeland".
One term after another. After more than 20 years of continuous efforts, an ecological corridor with a width of 1 km to 7 km from east to west, a length of about 23 km from north to south, and a total area of 129,000 mu has been built on the edge of the desert. Benefiting from this, the annual average number of days of sandstorms and floating dust weather in Moxian County has decreased significantly, forcing the pace of the desert to move to the county seat.
"We have adapted measures to local conditions and explored a sand control model in Hedong that is in line with the reality of the end. Yilamujiang Yasheng, member of the Standing Committee of the county party committee and head of the United Front Work Department, said that in particular, he created a desertification control model of using forests to raise forests and ecological industries to raise ecological projects, realizing "people entering and retreating from the sand".
Although the results have been remarkable, there is still a long way to go in the prevention and control of desertification in Jimo County. At the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Forestry and Grassland Bureau, Wang Gang, deputy director of the Desertification Prevention and Control Division, unfolded the map: around the 3,046-kilometer sand line surrounding the Taklamakan Desert, a 2,761-kilometer-long green sand barrier has been formed, but there is still a "gap" along the southern edge of the desert from Hotan City to Ruoqiang County. This is the area with the deepest wind and sand hazards and the worst natural conditions in southern Xinjiang, and it is also the main battlefield and decisive place of the resistance battle on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert - and Moxian is in the gap section.
"Now, as long as we make up the last 285 kilometers, we can weave a green 'scarf' around the Taklamakan Desert and lock the 'Sea of Death' firmly in it. Wang Gang said.
Thanks to the continuous efforts of cadres and people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, the edge of the desert has been dressed in green. Photo by Liu Yuzhu/Guangming Pictures
Brackish water + reclaimed water to solve the problem of water shortage
Water is a big problem to be solved when planting greenery on the edge of the desert. The long transportation distance, tight water supply, and high water cost are like roadblocks, standing in front of those who prevent and control desertification. However, during the interviews in Shaya County and Awati County in Aksu Prefecture, the reporter made a new discovery.
On March 23, more than 1,300 cadres and people carried shovels and saplings of Suosuo trees in Gaizikumu Township, Shaya County, fighting at the tree planting site. They followed the laid drip irrigation belt, dug pits, planted seedlings, and cultivated soil at the outlet holes, and soon, rows of saplings took root in the sea of sand.
"As long as the water can keep up, the survival rate of these saplings can be more than 85%. Wang Kaiyan, deputy director of the Poplar Forest Conservation Center in Shaya County, said that the water used for planting is brackish water from the desert underground, which is suitable for the growth of Saxon. "In the first five years of planting, it needs to be artificially fed with water, and after the root system is rooted in the deep layer, it can achieve self-supply of water, which has a very good sand fixing effect. ”
The reporter noticed that the well of the water supply was not connected to the power grid, but to two rows of photovoltaic panels. "This year, we have innovatively adopted a new model of photovoltaic power generation for water intake and desertification control. Pan Wanfeng, secretary of the Shaya County Party Committee, introduced that according to the design of a well per 2,000 acres of sandy land, and replaced the power with distributed photovoltaic power generation, after on-site construction and calculation, each well can save 130,000 yuan in construction costs. More importantly, one-time investment and multi-year use can save 160,000 yuan in electricity bills every year.
"There is no shortage of seeds in the sand, and the main thing is to solve the problem of water use. We used reclaimed water to make this sand nest what it is today. Standing at the site of a desertification control project in Awati County, looking in the direction pointed out by Jiang Lili, deputy director of the county's Forestry and Grassland Bureau, the sand dunes have been covered with plants such as sand dates, Saxon, and Populus euphratica, and tender green shoots have emerged on the branches of S. amonx swaying in the wind.
This area, called Aciman, was once the largest source of wind and sand in the Aksu Oasis. In 2021, the ecological restoration and desertification control project was launched in the region, which is also the fifth million-mu desert greening project implemented in Aksu. One of its highlights is the use of urban reclaimed water and agricultural drainage for desertification control.
"We will concentrate on the treatment of urban domestic sewage in Aksu City and Wensu County, form reclaimed water resources and transport them for irrigation, plus ecological water during the flood season, nearly 100 million cubic meters of water can be used every year. Jiang Lili said that this year it is planned to build two more reservoirs to expand the green coverage area.
In the process of desertification prevention and control, Xinjiang has broken through the rigid constraints of water resources, insisted on determining greenery, land, people and production with water, and maximized the utilization efficiency of every drop of water. At the same time, a five-level water conservancy, agriculture, forestry and grassland linkage water transfer mechanism has also been established to ensure that more vegetation can drink ecological water.
At the end of March, cadres and masses in Xinjiang participated in planting greenery and protecting greenery. Photo by Liu Yuzhu/Guangming Pictures
Striped fields + terraced fields, breaking out of a new road of sand control
Due to the different sand conditions and wind damage, the measures taken to prevent and control desertification on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert vary from place to place. In the Hotan area, this reporter has seen two different modes of sand control: striped fields and terraced fields.
In the northern part of Hanggui Town, Luopu County, cars bump along the cobblestone road. The sand dunes of various sizes have been bulldozed by large machines and then divided into patches of patches about 400 meters long and 100 meters wide. On both sides of the path, local cadres and people planted saplings.
"We follow the idea of 'big grid, small field' to explore a new model of embedded development of agriculture and forestry. Jiang Peng, secretary of the party group and deputy director of the Luopu County Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said that the desert is located on the edge of the oasis, and last year launched the implementation of 16,600 acres of grain production capacity improvement projects, and the forestry and grassland departments cooperated with the construction of 1,733 acres of shelterbelts.
After repeated experiments, the forestry and grassland department decided on a detailed implementation plan: a 20-meter-wide shelterbelt was built on the periphery of the entire desert, with 13 rows of mixed trees of Xinjiang poplar, Populus euphratica and S. japonica, and an 11-meter-wide shelterbelt was designed to be planted with seven rows of Xinjiang poplar and S. japonica on the periphery of the entire desert.
"The shelterbelt is expected to be planted by the end of April this year, and it will take another two to three years to plant crops such as oats and alfalfa, and the soil will be turned into reserve arable land after improvement, consolidating and expanding the achievements of desertification prevention and control. Jiang Peng said.
At the same time, in the comprehensive demonstration area of sand prevention and control in eastern Khotan, Yutian County, busy crowds are treating a 5,000-acre sandy land with the cooperation of large engineering vehicles. However, they have adopted a new model of terraced desertification.
The reporter saw at the scene that the rolling sand dunes reached more than 20 meters at the highest point, and were divided into terraced shapes from low to high. The slope of the dunes is fixed by grass squares, and people have planted Saxony and Populus euphratica on the level of the dunes.
"If all of them are bulldozed, the amount of work is large, the capital investment is high, and the sand control of terraces can greatly reduce costs. According to Jia Cunpeng, secretary of the party group of the Yutian County Forestry and Grassland Bureau, if the sand dunes in the area are bulldozed, the cost per mu is about 10,000 yuan, while the cost of terraced sand control is only 1,800 yuan per mu. Yutian County also plans to plant landscape trees such as wild apricots in the treatment area to create a terraced desertification control landscape area with functions such as sand prevention and control, and eco-tourism.
If it is suitable for forest, if it is suitable for grass, if it is suitable for sand, if it is suitable for sand, if it is suitable for barrenness, it will be barren. In the process of desertification prevention and control, all localities in Xinjiang have scientifically selected vegetation restoration modes according to local conditions, rationally allocated the types and densities of forest and grass vegetation, and adhered to the combination of trees, shrubs and grasses, and the simultaneous development of "sealing and repairing", so as to maximize the quality and efficiency of "expanding greenery, revitalizing greenery, and protecting greenery".
[Reporter's Notes]
"Green and rich are prosperous": to control desertification, we must also get rich
During the visit, the reporter's biggest impression was that the government should not sing a "one-man show" in the prevention and control of desertification. Under the premise of moderate utilization, through the development of characteristic planting, characteristic breeding, desert tourism and other industries, mobilize more social forces and social capital to join, and achieve a win-win situation for all parties, so that desertification prevention and control can be sustainably promoted.
In Gaizi Kumu Township, Shaya County, 39-year-old Huang Tongtong has been planting more than 20,000 acres of Suosuo forest in the barren land full of yellow sand for more than 10 years. In recent years, he has begun to try to graft Cistanche, a Chinese medicinal material with the scientific name of Daru, also known as "desert ginseng", in the roots of Saxonin, with a yield of 200 kilograms per mu and an average benefit of 2,000 yuan per mu. After tasting the sweetness, he successively grafted 17,000 acres of cistanche, making the desert "gold".
In the Puhui Farm deep in the poplar forest of Korla City, 52-year-old Gong Qin led the members of the Jamai Aisha Agricultural Planting Professional Cooperative to build a 5,000-acre native grass seed base of Luobu Ma under the guidance of scientific researchers. This perennial root-based herbaceous plant is not only resistant to salinity and alkali, wind and sand, but also can be processed and utilized by stems and leaves, and has high economic value. At present, two new varieties cultivated in the base have passed the approval of grass varieties in the autonomous region, and are expected to be put on the market this year, providing excellent native grass seed guarantee for desertification prevention and control in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture.
In the town of Kekeya in Aksu City, white flowers emerge from the branches of apple trees, giving the air a sweet fragrance. Half a year later, the ripe apples will be shipped from here to all over the world. Of the 1.2 million mu of artificial afforestation completed in Aksu Prefecture, 60% are economic forests. Through the development of apple, red dates, walnuts and other forest fruit planting industries, the local area has produced more "sweet fruits" while preventing and controlling desertification.
It is precisely because of the path of ecological enrichment that Xinjiang has done a solid job in desertification prevention and control, and has achieved remarkable results. In 2022, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration released the results of the sixth national desertification and desertification monitoring report, showing that Xinjiang has achieved a "double reduction" in desertification and desertification land area, ending the history of the only province in the country with desertified land expansion, and making positive contributions to the construction of the ecological security barrier in northwest China.
The relevant person in charge of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region told reporters that around the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang has laid out 7 key governance projects and 13 sub-projects, involving 46 counties (cities and districts) in 7 prefectures and cities, with a comprehensive treatment scale of more than 25.92 million mu, which will last until 2030 to further build the ecological barrier of the northern Xinjiang of the motherland.
Guangming Daily (2024-04-20 09 edition)
Source: Guangming Net-Guangming Daily