Build a strong green Great Wall in northern Xinjiang

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Located on the edge of the Mu Us Desert, Baijitan National Nature Reserve in Lingwu City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Peng

On April 10, at the sand control point of the eye socket sand control site of the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, the sand control people watered the vegetation. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua

On March 27, in Dalin Town, Horqin District, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, sand control workers were planting Pinus sylvestris. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lian Zhen

On April 11, tree planters drilled holes in the Kubuqi Desert in the Dalat Banner of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to plant Salix seedlings. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liang Wanshan

On June 6, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping 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, and delivered an important speech, emphasizing that the implementation of the "Three Norths" project is a major national strategy, and issued a great call to fight a tough battle for the "Three Norths" project and strive to create a new miracle of China's desertification prevention and control in the new era. On April 3 this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized when participating in the voluntary tree planting activities in the capital that the Three North region is the main battlefield of land greening, and it is necessary to concentrate more forces on the construction of the "Three Norths" project and build a green Great Wall in northern Xinjiang.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration recently said at the regular press conference in the second quarter that the "acceleration" formed by the three northern parts of the country following last year's tough battle, the spring will be dry, and the offensive field will gradually open from North China to the northwest and northeast, showing a good trend of "people working hard, helping by heaven, making rapid progress and many bright spots". At present, 40 projects have been started in the "Three Norths" project area, and more than 20 million acres of afforestation and grass planting have been completed.

Make every effort to advance the battle

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the member units of the coordination mechanism have coordinated and cooperated, conscientiously implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, resolutely shouldered the political responsibility for the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths", and promoted all localities to seize the favorable opportunity to fully promote the battle and strive to turn the grand blueprint drawn by General Secretary Xi Jinping into a beautiful reality.

Since June 2023, all member units have made overall plans and worked together to tackle key issues such as "what", "where" and "how" of the "Three Norths" project. The Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Office of the State Council issued opinions on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths". The State Council has established a coordination mechanism for the "Three Norths" project and formulated and issued a "1+N+X" work plan to clarify the key tasks and division of responsibilities of relevant departments. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, revised the overall plan of the "Three Norths" project and issued the "Sixth Phase Plan of the "Three Norths" Project, planning and laying out 68 key projects, of which the three landmark battle areas involve 328 counties and 35 key projects.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration held on-site promotion meetings in the three major battle areas, discussed and solved practical problems on the front line of desertification control, planned key projects such as system governance and photovoltaic desertification control, organized relevant provinces and autonomous regions to promote cross-regional joint prevention and management of desertified land, and comprehensively launched the three landmark campaigns. In conjunction with the National Energy Administration and other relevant departments, we will study and compile photovoltaic desertification control plans and related technical standards, and scientifically lay out photovoltaic desertification control projects. In conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, we will support and guide the Three Gorges Group, Zhonglin Group and other central enterprises to participate in the construction of the "Three Norths" project in a variety of ways. The "Three Norths" Engineering Research Institute was specially established, seven major scientific and technological action plans were implemented, the "Three Norths Project Key Technology Research and Development" was announced, and 15 pilot science and technology highlands were established to fully support the "Three Norths" project.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration has organized 39 research teams to go to more than 300 counties in the core areas to investigate and publicize policies, and compiled and reported two special training projects, answering questions and clarifying doubts for more than 2,000 people online and offline, and effectively opening up the "last mile" of the implementation of the task of tackling tough problems. Since this spring, 15 working groups have also been organized to go to various provinces and regions in the north to carry out package squatting and promote the construction of the project.

The construction site is full of highlights

Zhang Wei, director of the Ecology Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that on the basis of last year's high-level promotion of the battle, the provincial (regional) party committee and government of the "Three Norths" project area held mobilization meetings one after another this spring to launch the general mobilization order for the spring battle, and the enthusiasm for tackling the tough problems continued to heat up. Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other provinces and autonomous regions have all issued a general forest chief order on fighting the tough battle of the "Three Norths" project, and redeployed and strengthened the work of tackling tough problems. Inner Mongolia put forward the goal of completing the comprehensive management of 15 million mu of desertified land throughout the year, establishing a working mechanism for the Baolian area, and clarifying 10 leaders of the autonomous region, each of whom will contact 1-2 league cities, on-site supervision, continuous follow-up, and the end of the work. Hebei requires that 6 million mu of afforestation and 500,000 mu of degraded grassland restoration tasks be completed with high quality throughout the year. Gansu requires the completion of afforestation, grass planting, and sand control of 9.45 million mu throughout the year. Ningxia has made it clear that 1.5 million mu of afforestation and grass planting will be completed throughout the year, and 900,000 mu of desertification will be controlled.

The battle field is full of highlights. All localities have seized the good soil moisture brought by many rain and snow weather this spring, lived up to the time of the day, did not miss the time of the forest, and planted greenery and rejuvenated the green. All localities along the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia quickly organized the erection of grass squares, and there were construction sites in counties and counties. The construction of two bordered forest and grassland belts on the northern and southern edges of the Kubuqi Desert in Ordos City started at the same time. In Gansu Province, from the Qianli Hexi Corridor to the Mangmang Loess Plateau, a battle of sand fixation, sand locking, and water and soil conservation has been launched one after another. Longzhong and Longdong Loess Plateau voluntary tree-planting activities have come and gone. Xinjiang has promoted the implementation of key projects in an orderly manner, and has completed afforestation of 287,200 mu, an increase of 86% over the same period last year.

Photovoltaic desertification control opens up a new path. Inner Mongolia issued the "Desertification Prevention and Control and Wind Power and Photovoltaic Integration Project Promotion Plan", and this year plans to control 2.3 million mu of desertified land through new energy construction. Ordos has fully launched the 400-kilometer "Photovoltaic Great Wall" project in the Kubuqi Desert, starting construction in the east and west sections of the desert at the same time, moving in the opposite direction. The introduction of central enterprises in Xinjiang has opened the curtain on the construction of 200,000 mu of photovoltaic sand control projects in Hetian, 200,000 kilowatts in Jimo County and 500,000 kilowatts in Luopu County, opening the magical transformation of "yellow + blue = green".

Steady progress has been made in joint prevention and management. The awareness of joint prevention and management in various localities has been further strengthened, and joint governance has shifted from concept to implementation. Liaoning and Inner Mongolia provinces reached a consensus to work together to build a cross-provincial border forest and grassland belt on the southern edge of the Horqin Sandy Land. The four provinces and five municipalities involved in the Mu Us Sandy Land have jointly compiled and completed the layout plan for key projects of joint prevention and joint management, and all the key projects newly started this year are moving closer to the border and the upper and lower wind outlets. Inner Mongolia Alxa League, Ningxia Zhongwei and Gansu Minqin started the construction of 102,000 acres of "engineering sand fixation + artificial grass planting" sand blocking ecological defense line at the provincial border of the Tengger Desert.

Deep integration of ecological industries. All localities will integrate the battle into regional economic and social development, and stimulate new momentum for tackling tough problems. Pingshan and other counties in Hebei Province have promoted the planting of about 13,000 acres of ecological and economic forests such as jujubes, providing about 2,400 jobs for the local people. Shaanxi Weinan focuses on the development of the desert tourism industry, driving the surrounding people to increase their income, and the Shayuan Scenic Area will receive 115,000 tourists during the Spring Festival holiday in 2024. Baiyin City, Gansu Province introduced social capital to build a 200,000-mu planting base on desertified land in the form of a consortium to build a demonstration park for the whole industrial chain of Wenguan fruit. Shaya County, Xinjiang has introduced sand control enterprises, using shallow underground brackish water to plant more than 20,000 acres of Haloxylon and inoculating 17,000 acres of Cistanche.

Reform and innovation to solve problems. In view of the problems of blockages and stuck points in engineering construction, all localities have boldly explored and reformed and opened the way. The Alxa League of Inner Mongolia adopted the method of "national design company + central enterprise + local enterprise" to form an EPC consortium, and the Xilin Gol League adopted the method of "work for relief" to carry out the war of annihilation of the Hunshandak sandy land, so that farmers and herdsmen directly benefited in the process of governance. Baiyin City, Gansu Province actively explores the financing model of "forestry and grassland project + policy loan + social capital", implements the afforestation model of "three-year planting and five-year management", and submits it to the government for unified management and protection after 8 years of acceptance. Xinjiang has set up a water resources management committee to upgrade the allocation of ecological water and do everything possible to solve the problem of ecological water use for forests and grasslands.

The industry project has been transformed into a "first-in-command" project

The "Three Norths" project has been transformed from an industry project led by the forestry and grassland department in the past to a "first-in-command" project that the party committee and government attach great importance to and promote at a high level.

Zhang Wei introduced that on the whole, the construction of the "Three Norths" project in the new era has shown five trend changes.

In terms of organizational leadership, it shows a transformation from industry departments to party committees and governments. Party committees and governments at all levels in the Sanbei region have generally set up leading groups or coordination mechanisms for tackling tough problems headed by principal responsible comrades of the party and government, and have issued implementation plans and relevant documents. A special meeting on the "Three Norths" project was held, and the main responsible comrades of the party and government of the provinces and regions attended and delivered speeches, held a groundbreaking ceremony, and deployed the tasks of tackling tough problems. Since the beginning of this year, eight provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia have issued orders to the chief forester, put forward task requirements, and urged the construction of key projects.

In terms of development concept, it shows a transformation from single governance to systematic governance. The six-phase planning of the "Three Norths" project adheres to the concept of systematic governance and plans to lay out 68 key projects. When compiling the implementation plan for key projects, all localities should closely combine local conditions, coordinate the ecological protection and restoration of forests, grasslands, wetlands, and deserts, formulate project texts in a unified manner, reasonably determine goals and tasks, and implement policies by zoning and classification. Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Xinjiang have broken the boundaries of the project, coordinated the implementation of a number of landmark comprehensive projects such as mountain protection and land reconstruction, water conservation and lake protection, afforestation and grass increase, and sand control and sand use, so as to promote the transformation of sand prevention and control from "single element" to "all element" governance.

In terms of governance, it has changed from decentralized governance to joint prevention and management. Change the way of fighting alone in the past, firmly establish the idea of "a game of chess", and implement overall planning for the edge of the desert and the hinterland, the upwind outlet and the downwind outlet, and the sand source area and the path area. Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia provinces (autonomous regions) and five cities (cities) in the Yellow River's "several bends" have carried out joint prevention and management around the Mu Us Sandy Land. Gansu and Inner Mongolia jointly built four major blocking lines to prevent the "handshake" between the Badain Jaran Desert and the Tengger Desert. Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang prefectures and cities have deployed blocking points around their main wind and sand mouths to build a new pattern of locking edges, consolidating sources, and consolidating forces in the same direction.

In terms of growth mode, it shows a shift from increasing green increment to paying equal attention to green enhancement and quality improvement. While focusing on the comprehensive management of desertified land, we should focus on the problem of ecological construction, attach great importance to the consolidation of achievements, scientifically carry out the restoration of degraded forests and grasslands, implement the tending of young and middle-aged forests and the precise improvement of forest quality, and strengthen the management and protection of new afforestation.

In terms of development momentum, it has shown a transformation from factor-driven to innovation-driven. Actively explore new mechanisms and models such as photovoltaic desertification control, cash-for-work, unveiling the leader, and cooperation with central enterprises, and continuously release endogenous power. Inner Mongolia issued the "Desertification Prevention and Control and Wind Power and Photovoltaic Integration Project Promotion Plan", which clearly states that enterprises participating in photovoltaic power generation must bear the responsibility for ecological management in accordance with the ratio of 1:3; Ordos City launched the Kubuqi Desert "Photovoltaic Great Wall" project, of which the 2 million kilowatt photovoltaic sand control project in Mengxi Base, after more than a year of governance, the sand control project has completed more than 3,000 acres of green planting, 10,000 acres of grass squares, and more than 10,000 acres of reed sand barriers. (Reporter Yan Bing)