Beijing turns back the tide of sand

China has announced it has slowed the rate at which desertification is eating up farm and other land, a remarkable achievement in a country where the desert already covers one-third of its land mass.

To the disbelief of many who endure the sandstorms that sweep the country every year, officials also expressed confidence that the 2008 Olympics in Beijing would not be affected by them.

China would never completely tame the sandstorms, the officials said, but they did promise China would step up efforts to control the problem.

Desertification of western China and the Mongolian steppes has made spring sandstorms worse in recent years, reaching as far away as South Korea and Japan. A persistent drought in northern parts of China has only added to the problem, sucking moisture from the soil and making it more easily picked up by the wind.

Population growth and an increase in livestock had led to a rapid expansion of desert at an annual rate of 10,400sq km.

Imported European cattle such as the friesian and simmental varieties, which eat more than Asian breeds, has made things worse.

But Zhu Lieke, the deputy head of the State Forestry Administration, said that the rate of desertification had slowed to about 3000sq km a year.

"China's anti-desertification work has made major progress," Zhu said. "It has improved agricultural production conditions."

He warned, however, that the levels of desertification were still very serious. "Disadvantageous climatic reasons, especially the influence of drought on speeding up desertification, cannot be underestimated. Overplanting, overgrazing and overuse of water are also issues yet to be totally resolved," he added.

China's State Council said its schemes would ensure that by 2020, half of all land that had been destroyed by desertification would be "rescued".

But a UN study issued last year warned that a deteriorating environment, including encroaching deserts, could drive 50 million Chinese from their homes by 2010.

Beijing has embarked upon a massive tree-planting scheme to hold back the deserts, as well as banning the grazing of domestic animals on fragile soil and trying to improve irrigation.

An enormous "green wall," is now being built. It will eventually stretch more than 5700km in length - nearly as long as the Great Wall of China - to protect so-called "sandy lands", or deserts believed to have been created by human activity.

Oases and farmlands in windy regions are also protected by planting tree fences and grass belts. The sand that manages to pass through the grass belts is caught in strips of trees, which have been planted and act as wind breaks 50 to 100m apart, adjacent to the belts.

Dune and dusted

* Desert covers a third of the landmass of China.

* Areas affected by desertification were expanding at an annual rate of 10,400sq km at end of last century.

* China claims this has slowed to about 3000sq km a year.

* China has embarked upon a massive tree-planting scheme, banning the grazing of domestic animals on fragile soil and trying to improve irrigation.

- INDEPENDENT