Sand tamer

Shi Guangyin, an NPC deputy from Shaanxi Province. Liu Xiao

More than six decades ago, a sandstorm blew Shi Guangyin some 15 km away while he was on his way to herd goats. Shi was lucky enough to be rescued by local herdsmen but his friend lost his life.

Hailing from the city of Yulin, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, located on the edges of the Maowusu Desert, Shi, now 69, shares wearily familiar grief with many others living in the area. Maowusu, one of China's major deserts, stretches from Ordos in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Yulin in Shaanxi Province. Climate change and human activity had led to the desertification of Maowusu. According to local chronicles, in June 1949, the forest and grass coverage rate in Yulin was only about 1.8 percent.

In the 1950s, China began to promote forest conservation nationwide and started large-scale afforestation. In 1981, the local government of Yulin allocated wasteland including barren hills, sandy areas, slopes and ditches to individuals for long-term use and promised that the trees they planted on the wasteland belonged to them. Shi was in the prime of his life and took the lead in becoming China's first contractor to plant trees in the barren desert to curb sandstorms and possibly make a fortune if he got lucky. 

After selling almost all of his properties to raise money for his planting career, Shi also encouraged more than 300 fellow villagers to move to Maowusu for a greener future. In the spring of 1988, more than 80 percent of his trees survived the harsh environment in Maowusu. In a few years, Maowusu saw its first oasis.

By the end of 2004, more than 16,000 hectares of sand and alkali areas that Shi had leased were brought under control, with the total afforestation area exceeding 23,000 hectares. Statistics show that about 440,000 farmers in Yulin have leased more than 600,000 hectares of wasteland over the decades. After these desertification prevention and control efforts, the city's forest coverage has increased from 0.9 percent to 34.8 percent. Over 570,000 hectares of quicksand have been fixed or semi-fixed, while large areas of exposed sand can barely be spotted now.

"By following scientific forestation plans, we will see a more beautiful countryside decorated in green all year round," Shi said.