Taming the Yellow Dragon

By Chris Gelken

The dramatic beauty of deserts has inspired generations of poets, painters, and adventurers. But experts say the risk of further desertification now poses one of the greatest environmental and ecological threats to sustainable development - not only to China, but also to the whole North East Asian region.

Drifting sand, Kubuqi Desert, Inner Mongolia [Photo: CRIENGLISH. com/Chris Gelken]

According to the latest reliable figures released by the government, a staggering 27-percent of China's total land area is now desert or suffering from land degradation. A decade ago more than 10,000 square kilometers of arable land was being lost to the sand or land degradation every year. The expanding deserts and the effects of climate change spawned ferocious sand storms that reached their peak in early years of the 21st century. Known in China as the Yellow Dragon, they swept eastward every spring, choking cities from Beijing to Seoul in a cloud of gritty dust.

Official sources say afforestation programs-the planting of trees, shrubs and desert grass - has slowed the shifting sands in some regions. In others, large areas of former degraded land or desert has been restored. But permanently halting and even reversing the process is a monumental task, and climate change experts say the clock is ticking.

Qu Haihua, an official with the National Bureau to Combat Desertification (NBCD) says their studies have revealed that the actual land area affected by desertification is contracting, despite evidence that some deserts are still expanding.