Plan
Introduction
1 Desertification in China
2 Causes of desertification
3 Basic principles
4 Structural reform of forestry
5 Achievements
Bibliography
Introduction
Green Wall of China (Chinese 绿色长城, pinyin Luse Changcheng) is a project designed to prevent the expansion of deserts in the territory of the People's Republic of China. The official English name of the project is The Three-North Shelterbelt Development Program .
The name of the project is taken by analogy with the Great Wall of China, which runs parallel to the future plantation belt. Their functions are also similar: if the ancient structure protected China from northern barbarians, the new project is designed to protect it from sandstorms.
The Green Wall is the largest landscaping project in the history of mankind, according to what parameters?. This is the best opportunity to stop the desertification of northern China, which has an arid climate and is fairly densely populated.
1. Desertification in China
In recent years, Asian dust storms have caused increasing concern in Beijing, which primarily affect the northern regions of the country, adjacent directly to the deserts. Every year, China loses about 1,300 km² of useful territory from the onset of deserts. Desertification affects 400 million people in one way or another. From the heat of the deserts, the average annual temperature in Beijing has already risen by several degrees. China and Japan also suffer from Chinese dust storms, where they lead to mud rain and clogged rivers. Dust storms, poetically called "yellow dragons" by the Chinese, are so intense that dust from China has even been found on the West Coast of the United States.
2. Causes of desertification
As in many countries of the world, desertification is a consequence of human activity. Rapidly developing agriculture uses soils beyond their capacity, disrupting their structure and depriving them of nutrients. The scarce vegetation cover is further reduced by grazing and deforestation, and the soil becomes less resistant to erosion. Over time, the vegetation layer is either washed away by precipitation, or dries up and is blown away by the wind.
The development of industry also affects the process of desertification. At the time of the founding of the PRC in 1949, 8% of the country's area was covered with forests. However, with industrialization, there was a need for fuel, and the problem was solved by increasing deforestation.
Another problem is the growing consumption of water by industry, agriculture and a growing population. It is solved, among other things, through the construction of new artesian wells and dams, which leads to a decrease in the flow of rivers (sometimes the river dries up before it reaches the sea) and a drop in the groundwater level. For example, the second longest river in China, the Yellow River, remains dry in its lower reaches for about six months.
3. Basic principles
The construction of the Green Wall began in the 1970s. after the Cultural Revolution and will continue until 2050. At the same time, 350,000 km² of the country's area will be planted, which is approximately equivalent to the area of Germany.
The regions affected by desertification (including the deserts themselves) occupy an area of about 2.6 million km², which is approximately 28% of the area of the entire PRC.
The forest is the best suited for such purposes as reducing wind speed and resisting soil erosion. To this end, a real green wall will be planted in China - a protective belt of trees, grasses and shrubs, passing through 13 provinces, more than 4,500 km long and about 100 km wide. Trees will delay the movement of wind and sand, and roots will strengthen the soil structure and prevent its erosion. In such conditions, fast growth and resistance to sandstorms are important for plants - and this despite the fact that the average annual rainfall in these regions is only 100-200 mm. It is mainly planned to plant poplars and tamarisks, which are unpretentious to the environment and at the same time are characterized by rapid growth. In the future, genetically modified or cloned poplars will also be planted.
Since monocultures are characterized by increased vulnerability to pests and diseases, mixed forests are planted primarily. But the Green Wall also includes arable land.
The entire Chinese people is involved in the project. So, according to the law, every Chinese citizen from 11 to 60 years old is obliged to plant three to five trees during the year or pay the appropriate tax.
There are various types of landscaping. The traditional method involves removing sand dunes and leveling the ground with excavators and bulldozers, after which plants are planted, mostly by human hands. Another method is sowing seeds using airplanes; from a flying plane, seeds are dropped that are at the first stage of ripening and wrapped in balls of loam. More than 1000 km² have already been planted in this way. During the Green Wall project, this method was brought to the market level by China.
4. Structural reform of forestry
In 2003, China launched a structural reform of the forestry industry. During the reform, forest areas were leased to peasants, and their rights were legally certified; now the peasant is considered the owner of those trees that he himself has planted. In addition, peasants were given the right to cultivate taxable land or transfer their right of use to other persons or firms. This reform gave farmers an incentive to invest in planting forests.
5. Achievements
At the moment, the Green Wall is located on the territory of 13 provinces, covering an area of about 220,000 km² - this corresponds to the area of \u200b\u200bGreat Britain. In some areas, the results of the project are already clearly visible: areas where residents were forced to clean sand from their houses every day are once again livable, and dust storms have become much less destructive. It is estimated that already planted forests retain about 200 million tons of sand per year.
From the 70s. China's forest area has almost doubled. In the new millennium, a law was passed completely prohibiting grazing in endangered areas. Despite all efforts, in some regions the desert is still expanding. However, in 2000-2004 the territory of annual desertification for the first time decreased to 1300 km², which is comparable to the area of a city like Los Angeles. China has over 1,750,000 km² of forests (2008 data). This figure includes the world's largest reforested area.
Bibliography:
1. Holding Back the Sands. China International Business (10.02.2009). (English)
2. http://archiv.rural-development.de/fileadmin/rural-development/volltexte/2006/04/ELR_dt_16-19.pdf (German)
3. Belsky expanses
4. China's progress in the fight against desertification. Xinhua News Agency (17.06.2008).
The Gobi Desert drowns vast areas in northern China in the sands. Every spring, clouds of sandstorms even reach Canada and the United States. The rate of natural desertification in China, according to various estimates, is up to about 200 thousand hectares per year.
According to the Center for Development Research under the State Council of the People's Republic of China, the annual cost of soil drying in China is $8 billion. To combat desertification, a green belt more than four thousand kilometers long grows parallel to the famous Great Wall - from trees, grass and shrubs. The project called "Green Wall of China" was launched back in 1978.
In recent years, the initiative has been criticized by environmentalists, who called the "green wall" an expensive and inefficient project. The author of the column "Ecology" of the American newspaper "New York Times" John Luoma writes that up to 85 percent of seedlings simply do not take root.
A new study by Beijing geographers from China's Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research suggests otherwise. It was published on the scientific Internet portal ScienceDirect. According to GEO lead author of the study and Ph.D. And the researcher calls the “green wall” the main reason for the improvements.
Conclusions by Beijing geographers were made on the basis of satellite images, air quality index and dust index in the regions adjacent to the forest belt. They also analyzed the dynamics of the vegetation cover and its condition.
Tan agrees with many of the criticisms of the project. “There are mistakes with the choice of plant species,” she notes. “In some areas, tree mortality is really high.”
Tan adds that the green wall is a work in progress and a massive project. “Today, in the particularly dry regions of the north, farmers are paid to plant bushes and trees. The expansion of the forest belt is not finished yet,” Tan says. Beijing geographers plan to continue the study and cover the period from 2000 to 2010.
Last month, during the Sixth World Congress on Protected Areas, the United Nations and the China Elion Foundation agreed to work together to plant an additional 1.3 billion trees along the Silk Road. It is expected that in this way it will be possible to restore more than 130,000 hectares of land in ecologically vulnerable areas. And reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in these areas.
Passing parallel to the future planting strip. Their functions are also similar: if the ancient structure protected China from northern barbarians, the new project is designed to protect it from sandstorms.
The Green Wall is the largest landscaping project in human history [as?] . Its main goal is to stop the desertification of northern China, which has an arid climate and is quite densely populated.
Desertification in China
Causes of desertification
As in many countries of the world, desertification is a consequence of human activity. Rapidly developing agriculture uses soils beyond their capacity, disrupting their structure and depriving them of nutrients. The scarce vegetation cover is further reduced by grazing and deforestation, and the soil becomes less resistant to erosion. Over time, the vegetation layer is either washed away by precipitation, or dries up and is blown away by the wind.
The development of industry also affects the process of desertification. At the time of the founding of the PRC in 1949, 8% of the country's area was covered with forests. However, with industrialization, there was a need for fuel, and the problem was solved by increasing deforestation.
Another problem is the growing consumption of water by industry, agriculture and a growing population. It is solved, among other things, through the construction of new artesian wells and dams, which leads to a decrease in the flow of rivers (sometimes the river dries up before it reaches the sea) and a decline in groundwater levels. For example, the second longest river in China, the Yellow River, remains dry in its lower reaches for about six months.
Basic principles
The construction of the Green Wall began in the 1970s. after the Cultural Revolution and will continue until 2050. At the same time, 350,000 km² of the country's area will be planted, which is approximately equivalent to the area of Germany.
The regions affected by desertification (including the deserts themselves) occupy an area of about 2.6 million km², which is approximately 28% of the area of the entire PRC.
The forest is the best suited for such purposes as reducing wind speed and resisting soil erosion. To this end, a real green wall will be planted in China - a protective belt of trees, grasses and shrubs, passing through 13 provinces, more than 4500 km long and about 100 km wide. Trees will delay the movement of wind and sand, and roots will strengthen the soil structure and prevent its erosion. In such conditions, fast growth and resistance to sandstorms are important for plants - and this despite the fact that the average annual rainfall in these regions is only 100-200 mm. It is mainly planned to plant poplars and tamarisks, which are unpretentious to the environment and at the same time are characterized by rapid growth. In the future, genetically modified or cloned poplars will also be planted.
The entire Chinese people is involved in the project. So, according to the law, every citizen of China from 11 to 60 years old is obliged to plant three to five trees during the year or pay the appropriate tax.
There are various types of landscaping. The traditional method involves removing sand dunes and leveling the ground with excavators and bulldozers, after which plants are planted, mostly by human hands. Another method is sowing seeds using airplanes; from a flying plane, seeds are dropped that are at the first stage of ripening and wrapped in balls of loam. More than 1000 km² have already been planted in this way. During the Green Wall project, this method was brought to the market level by China.
Structural reform of forestry
In 2003, China launched a structural reform of the forestry industry. During the reform, forest areas were leased to peasants, and their rights were legally certified; now the peasant is considered the owner of those trees that he himself has planted. In addition, peasants were given the right to cultivate taxable land or transfer their right of use to other persons or firms. This reform gave farmers an incentive to invest in planting forests.
Achievements
At the moment, the Green Wall is located on the territory of 13 provinces, covering an area of about 220,000 km² - this corresponds to the area of \u200b\u200bGreat Britain. In some areas, the results of the project are already clearly visible: areas where residents were forced to clean sand from their houses every day are once again livable, and dust storms have become much less destructive. It is estimated that already planted forests retain about 200 million tons of sand per year.
Since the 1970s China's forest area has almost doubled. In the new millennium, a law was passed completely prohibiting grazing in endangered areas. Despite all efforts, in some regions the desert is still expanding. However, in 2000-2004 the territory of annual desertification for the first time decreased to 1300 km², which is comparable to the area of a city like Los Angeles. China has over 1,750,000 km² of forests (2008 data). This figure includes the world's largest reforested area.
see also
- The Stalin plan for the transformation of nature is a program for the scientific regulation of nature in the USSR, carried out in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The program, in particular, included the creation of state forest belts with a total length of over 5,300 kilometers.
- The Great Green Wall is an African project similar to the Green Wall of China
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Notes
An excerpt characterizing the Green Wall of China
- Girl, girl, who are you girl?! Oh, ba-a-tyuski, what a big mi-i-ska !!! And quite creepy! Mama, mama, can I take him home?His wide-open blue eyes enthusiastically caught every new appearance of the “bright and unusual”, and his happy face shone joyfully - the baby accepted everything that happened in a childish way, as if that was how it should have been ...
The situation was completely out of control, but I did not notice anything around, thinking at that moment only about one thing - the boy saw!!! I saw it just as I saw it!.. So, it was still true that such people exist somewhere else?.. And it means that I was completely normal and not at all lonely, as I thought at first!. So, it really was Dar? .. Apparently, I was too dumbfounded and looked at him intently, as the confused mother blushed a lot and immediately rushed to “calm down” her little son, so that only no one could hear what he was talking about ... and immediately began to prove to me that “he just invents everything, and that the doctor says (!!!) that he has a very violent fantasy ... and you shouldn’t pay attention to him! ..”. She was very nervous, and I saw that she would very much like to leave here right now, if only to avoid possible questions ...
“Please don't worry! I pleaded softly. - Your son does not invent - he sees! Same as me. You must help him! Please don't take him to the doctor again, your boy is special! And the doctors will kill it all! Talk to my grandmother - she will explain a lot to you ... Just don’t take him to the doctor anymore, please! .. - I couldn’t stop, because my heart ached for this little, gifted boy, and I wildly wanted what it would be no need to "save" it!..
“Look, now I’ll show him something and he will see - but you don’t, because he has a gift, but you don’t, and I quickly recreated Stella’s red dragon.
“Oh-oh-oh, what a hundred-oh is this?! ..” the boy clapped his hands in delight. - It's a dlaconsik, right? Like in a fairy tale - dlakonsik? .. Oh, how beautiful he is!
“I also had a gift, Svetlana ...” the neighbor whispered softly. “But I won’t let my son suffer the same way.” I have already suffered for both ... He must have another life! ..
I even jumped in surprise!.. So she saw?! And I knew?! .. - here I just burst out of indignation ...
"Didn't you think he might have the right to choose for himself?" It's his life! Just because you couldn't handle it doesn't mean he can't either! You have no right to take away his gift from him even before he realizes that he has it! .. This is like murder - you want to kill a part of him that he has not even heard of yet! .. - hissed indignantly at I am her, but inside I just "stand on end" from such a terrible injustice!
I wanted to convince this stubborn woman to leave her wonderful baby alone! But I clearly saw from her sad, but very confident look, that it’s unlikely that at the moment I will be able to convince her of something at all, and I decided to leave my attempts for today, and later talk with my grandmother, and perhaps together come up with what could be done here ... I just looked sadly at the woman and asked again:
“Please don’t take him to the doctor, you know he’s not sick!”
She only smiled tightly in response, and quickly taking the baby with her, went out onto the porch, apparently to get some fresh air, which (I was sure of it) she really lacked at the moment ...
I knew this neighbor very well. She was a rather pleasant woman, but what struck me the most at one time was that she was one of those people who tried to completely "isolate" their children from me and poisoned me after the "lighting the fire" accident! .. (Although her eldest son, we must give him his due, never betrayed me and, despite any prohibitions, still continued to be friends with me). She, who, as it now turned out, knew better than anyone else that I was a completely normal and harmless girl! And that I, just like she once, was just looking for the right way out of that “incomprehensible and unknown” into which fate had so unexpectedly thrown me ...
Without a doubt, fear must be a very strong factor in our lives if a person can so easily betray and so easily turn away from someone who needs help so much, and whom he could easily help if not for the same one, so deeply and reliably settled in him fear ...
Of course, it can be said that I don’t know what happened to her and what made her suffer an evil and ruthless fate... But if I knew that someone at the very beginning of life has the same gift who made me suffer so much, I would do everything in my power to somehow help or guide this other gifted person on the right path so that he would not have to “wander in the dark” blindly and also suffer greatly... And she, instead of helping, on the contrary, tried to “punish” me, as others punished, but these others at least did not know what it was and tried to honestly protect their children from what they could not explain or understand.
And now she, as if nothing had happened, came to visit us today with her little son, who turned out to be exactly the same “gifted” as me, and whom she was wildly afraid to show to someone, so that God forbid, someone I didn’t see that her cute baby was exactly the same “curse” that, according to her “ostentatious” concept, I was ... Now I was sure that it didn’t give her much pleasure to come to us, but she didn’t refuse either she could very well, for the simple reason that her eldest son, Algis, was invited to my birthday party, and there was no serious reason on her part not to let him in, and it would have been too rude and “not according to neighborly,” if she would go for it. And we invited her for the simple reason that they lived three streets from us, and her son would have to return home alone in the evening, therefore, naturally realizing that the mother would be worried, we decided that it would be more correct to invite her also along with her little son to spend the evening at our festive table. And she was “poor,” as I now understood, she was just tormented here, waiting for the opportunity to leave us as soon as possible, and, if possible, without any incidents, to return home as soon as possible ...
- Are you okay, honey? - sounded near the gentle mother's voice.
I immediately smiled at her as confidently as possible and said that, of course, I was perfectly fine. And I myself, from everything that was happening, was dizzy, and my soul was already beginning to “go to the heels”, as I saw that the guys were gradually starting to turn around at me and, like it or not, I had to quickly pull myself together and “set "iron control" over my raging emotions ... I was thoroughly "knocked out" of my usual state and, to my great shame, I completely forgot about Stella ... But the baby immediately tried to remind herself.
“But you said that you don’t have friends, and how many of them are there?! ..” Stella asked, surprised and even a little upset.
“These are not real friends. These are just the guys I live next to or study with. They are not like you. But you are the real one.
Introduction
1 Desertification in China
2 Causes of desertification
3 Basic principles
4 Structural reform of forestry
5 Achievements
Bibliography
Introduction
The Green Wall of China (Chinese: 绿色长城, pinyin Lüse Changcheng) is a project designed to prevent the expansion of deserts in the People's Republic of China. The official English name of the project is The Three-North Shelterbelt Development Program.
The name of the project is taken by analogy with the Great Wall of China, which runs parallel to the future plantation belt. Their functions are also similar: if the ancient structure protected China from northern barbarians, the new project is designed to protect it from sandstorms.
The Green Wall is the largest landscaping project in the history of mankind, according to what parameters?. This is the best opportunity to stop the desertification of northern China, which has an arid climate and is fairly densely populated.
1. Desertification in China
In recent years, Asian dust storms have caused increasing concern in Beijing, which primarily affect the northern regions of the country, adjacent directly to the deserts. Every year, China loses about 1,300 km² of useful territory from the onset of deserts. Desertification affects 400 million people in one way or another. From the heat of the deserts, the average annual temperature in Beijing has already risen by several degrees. China and Japan also suffer from Chinese dust storms, where they lead to mud rain and clogged rivers. Dust storms, poetically called "yellow dragons" by the Chinese, are so intense that dust from China has even been found on the West Coast of the United States.
2. Causes of desertification
As in many countries of the world, desertification is a consequence of human activity. Rapidly developing agriculture uses soils beyond their capacity, disrupting their structure and depriving them of nutrients. The scarce vegetation cover is further reduced by grazing and deforestation, and the soil becomes less resistant to erosion. Over time, the vegetation layer is either washed away by precipitation, or dries up and is blown away by the wind.
The development of industry also affects the process of desertification. At the time of the founding of the PRC in 1949, 8% of the country's area was covered with forests. However, with industrialization, there was a need for fuel, and the problem was solved by increasing deforestation.
Another problem is the growing consumption of water by industry, agriculture and a growing population. It is solved, among other things, through the construction of new artesian wells and dams, which leads to a decrease in the flow of rivers (sometimes the river dries up before it reaches the sea) and a drop in the groundwater level. For example, the second longest river in China, the Yellow River, remains dry in its lower reaches for about six months.
3. Basic principles
The construction of the Green Wall began in the 1970s. after the Cultural Revolution and will continue until 2050. At the same time, 350,000 km² of the country's area will be planted, which is approximately equivalent to the area of Germany.
The regions affected by desertification (including the deserts themselves) occupy an area of about 2.6 million km², which is approximately 28% of the area of the entire PRC.
The forest is the best suited for such purposes as reducing wind speed and resisting soil erosion. To this end, a real green wall will be planted in China - a protective belt of trees, grasses and shrubs, passing through 13 provinces, more than 4,500 km long and about 100 km wide. Trees will delay the movement of wind and sand, and roots will strengthen the soil structure and prevent its erosion. In such conditions, fast growth and resistance to sandstorms are important for plants - and this despite the fact that the average annual rainfall in these regions is only 100-200 mm. It is mainly planned to plant poplars and tamarisks, which are unpretentious to the environment and at the same time are characterized by rapid growth. In the future, genetically modified or cloned poplars will also be planted.
Since monocultures are characterized by increased vulnerability to pests and diseases, mixed forests are planted primarily. But the Green Wall also includes arable land.
The entire Chinese people is involved in the project. So, according to the law, every Chinese citizen from 11 to 60 years old is obliged to plant three to five trees during the year or pay the appropriate tax.
There are various types of landscaping. The traditional method involves removing sand dunes and leveling the ground with excavators and bulldozers, after which plants are planted, mostly by human hands. Another method is sowing seeds using airplanes; from a flying plane, seeds are dropped that are at the first stage of ripening and wrapped in balls of loam. More than 1000 km² have already been planted in this way. During the Green Wall project, this method was brought to the market level by China.
4. Structural reform of forestry
In 2003, China launched a structural reform of the forestry industry. During the reform, forest areas were leased to peasants, and their rights were legally certified; now the peasant is considered the owner of those trees that he himself has planted. In addition, peasants were given the right to cultivate taxable land or transfer their right of use to other persons or firms. This reform gave farmers an incentive to invest in planting forests.
5. Achievements
At the moment, the Green Wall is located on the territory of 13 provinces, covering an area of about 220,000 km² - this corresponds to the area of \u200b\u200bGreat Britain. In some areas, the results of the project are already clearly visible: areas where residents were forced to clean sand from their houses every day are once again livable, and dust storms have become much less destructive. It is estimated that already planted forests retain about 200 million tons of sand per year.
From the 70s. China's forest area has almost doubled. In the new millennium, a law was passed completely prohibiting grazing in endangered areas. Despite all efforts, in some regions the desert is still expanding. However, in 2000-2004 the territory of annual desertification for the first time decreased to 1300 km², which is comparable to the area of a city like Los Angeles. There are over 1,750,000 km² of forests in China (data for 2008). This figure includes the world's largest area of reforested areas.
Plan
Introduction
1 Desertification in China
2 Causes of desertification
3 Basic principles
4 Structural reform of forestry
5 Achievements
Bibliography
Introduction
Green Wall of China (Chinese) 绿色长城 , pinyin Luse Changcheng) is a project designed to prevent the expansion of deserts in the territory of the People's Republic of China. The official English name of the project is The Three-North Shelterbelt Development Program.
The name of the project is taken by analogy with the Great Wall of China, which runs parallel to the future plantation belt. Their functions are also similar: if the ancient structure protected China from northern barbarians, the new project is designed to protect it from sandstorms.
The Green Wall is the largest landscaping project in the history of mankind, according to what parameters?. This is the best opportunity to stop the desertification of northern China, which has an arid climate and is fairly densely populated.
1. Desertification in China
In recent years, Asian dust storms have caused increasing concern in Beijing, which primarily affect the northern regions of the country, adjacent directly to the deserts. Every year, China loses about 1,300 km² of useful territory from the onset of deserts. Desertification affects 400 million people in one way or another. From the heat of the deserts, the average annual temperature in Beijing has already risen by several degrees. China and Japan also suffer from Chinese dust storms, where they lead to mud rain and clogged rivers. Dust storms, poetically called "yellow dragons" by the Chinese, are so intense that dust from China has even been found on the West Coast of the United States.
2. Causes of desertification
As in many countries of the world, desertification is a consequence of human activity. Rapidly developing agriculture uses soils beyond their capacity, disrupting their structure and depriving them of nutrients. The scarce vegetation cover is further reduced by grazing and deforestation, and the soil becomes less resistant to erosion. Over time, the vegetation layer is either washed away by precipitation, or dries up and is blown away by the wind.
The development of industry also affects the process of desertification. At the time of the founding of the PRC in 1949, 8% of the country's area was covered with forests. However, with industrialization, there was a need for fuel, and the problem was solved by increasing deforestation.
Another problem is the growing consumption of water by industry, agriculture and a growing population. It is solved, among other things, through the construction of new artesian wells and dams, which leads to a decrease in the flow of rivers (sometimes the river dries up before it reaches the sea) and a drop in the groundwater level. For example, the second longest river in China, the Yellow River, remains dry in its lower reaches for about six months.
3. Basic principles
The construction of the Green Wall began in the 1970s. after the Cultural Revolution and will continue until 2050. At the same time, 350,000 km² of the country's area will be planted, which is approximately equivalent to the area of Germany.
The regions affected by desertification (including the deserts themselves) occupy an area of about 2.6 million km², which is approximately 28% of the area of the entire PRC.
The forest is the best suited for such purposes as reducing wind speed and resisting soil erosion. To this end, a real green wall will be planted in China - a protective belt of trees, grasses and shrubs, passing through 13 provinces, more than 4,500 km long and about 100 km wide. Trees will delay the movement of wind and sand, and roots will strengthen the soil structure and prevent its erosion. In such conditions, fast growth and resistance to sandstorms are important for plants - and this despite the fact that the average annual rainfall in these regions is only 100-200 mm. It is mainly planned to plant poplars and tamarisks, which are unpretentious to the environment and at the same time are characterized by rapid growth. In the future, genetically modified or cloned poplars will also be planted.
Since monocultures are characterized by increased vulnerability to pests and diseases, mixed forests are planted primarily. But the Green Wall also includes arable land.
The entire Chinese people is involved in the project. So, according to the law, every Chinese citizen from 11 to 60 years old is obliged to plant three to five trees during the year or pay the appropriate tax.
There are various types of landscaping. The traditional method involves removing sand dunes and leveling the ground with excavators and bulldozers, after which plants are planted, mostly by human hands. Another method is sowing seeds using airplanes; from a flying plane, seeds are dropped that are at the first stage of ripening and wrapped in balls of loam. More than 1000 km² have already been planted in this way. During the Green Wall project, this method was brought to the market level by China.
4. Structural reform of forestry
In 2003, China launched a structural reform of the forestry industry. During the reform, forest areas were leased to peasants, and their rights were legally certified; now the peasant is considered the owner of those trees that he himself has planted. In addition, peasants were given the right to cultivate taxable land or transfer their right of use to other persons or firms. This reform gave farmers an incentive to invest in planting forests.
5. Achievements
At the moment, the Green Wall is located on the territory of 13 provinces, covering an area of about 220,000 km² - this corresponds to the area of \u200b\u200bGreat Britain. In some areas, the results of the project are already clearly visible: areas where residents were forced to clean sand from their houses every day are once again livable, and dust storms have become much less destructive. It is estimated that already planted forests retain about 200 million tons of sand per year.
From the 70s. China's forest area has almost doubled. In the new millennium, a law was passed completely prohibiting grazing in endangered areas. Despite all efforts, in some regions the desert is still expanding. However, in 2000-2004 the territory of annual desertification for the first time decreased to 1300 km², which is comparable to the area of a city like Los Angeles. China has over 1,750,000 km² of forests (2008 data). This figure includes the world's largest reforested area.
