Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) — China has made significant progress in combating desertification, turning 365 million mu (about 24.3 million hectares) of desertified land into greenery since 2012, according to data released by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration.
Over the past 13 years, about 27.94 million mu of land (1 hectare = 15 mu) have been protected from desertification, the above-mentioned department announced on World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which is celebrated annually on June 17.
Official data also showed that the total amount of soil loss due to wind erosion in the country’s major desert and sandy areas fell by 40 percent from 2000 to 2019, making China the first country in the world to achieve the zero-growth target for land degradation.
In 1978, China launched the world’s largest shelterbelt project in northwest, northeast and north China, known as the Three Norths Program, to prevent and combat desertification. The program has planted and preserved a total of 480 million mu of forest and restored 1.28 billion mu of degraded grassland.
In the regions covered by the Three Norths program, the forest coverage rate has increased from 5.05 percent in 1977 to 13.84 percent today, with more than 61 percent of the area of soils susceptible to water and wind erosion effectively controlled and over 450 million mu of agricultural land effectively protected.
China has also actively implemented its obligations under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), establishing an international knowledge management center to combat desertification in cooperation with the UNCCD Secretariat, and joining forces with other countries such as Mongolia and Russia to combat desertification, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration said. -0-