Sliver Of Chinese Land Diminishes As Deserts Encroach

Local farmers and government officials alike are searching for a way to prevent the loss of land to encroaching deserts, but hope is diminishing as sands blow in and envelope huge plots of land every year. The naturally arid region's desertification has been unintentionally encouraged for decades by a government-sponsored system of cultivation, deforestation, irrigation and reclamation that has ruined the topsoil and drained the land of essential nutrients. Some environmentalists believe the only option is to halt human interaction with the land and allow the ecosystem to heal itself.

"Chinese leaders have vowed to protect Minqin and surrounding towns in Gansu Province. The area divides two deserts, the Badain Jaran in the northwest and the Tengger in the northeast, and its precarious state threatens to accelerate the spread of barren wasteland to the heart of China."

"The national '937 Project,' set up to fight the encroaching desert, estimated in April that 3,900 square kilometers, or 1,500 square miles, of land turns to sand each year. Nearly all of north central China, including Beijing, is at risk. Expanding deserts and a severe drought also made this a near record year for dust storms carried east in the jet stream."