China Hopes 'Straw Checkerboards' Will Keep Desert at Bay

For half a century, millions of workers have repeated a task across the deserts in northern China: inserting forearm-length sticks into shifting sand, first in a row, then in an intersecting line, gradually forming a grid. Then saplings are planted at the center of each small square. The technique, known as "straw checkerboards," is a simple yet widely used method to stabilize sand dunes against the wind and help plants take root by using water supplied through an irrigation system. The widespread lattice it has created across the sand has become the iconic image of China's decades-long campaign against the spreading of desert conditions, known as the Three-North Protective Forest Program, or the "Green Great Wall," per the AP.

The generations of work have yielded measurable progress, but scientists caution that preserving the gains will require decades of continued effort. For a long time, drought, overgrazing, and farming removed vegetation, harmed the soil, and made areas vulnerable to wind and sandstorms. That kind of degradation of the land over time is known as desertification. The area of desertified land in northern China peaked in 2000, and it has been reduced by more than 400 square miles each year since, per data published by state media.

The Chinese government said the initiative launched in 1978 has played a crucial role in transforming vast regions covering nearly half of China from "the desertification advancing and people retreating" to "greenery advancing and the desertification retreating." Forests planted by the program now cover a cumulative 200,000 square miles. The progress is the result of the efforts of front-line sand-control workers, along with top-level planning and substantial state investment, says Zhu Jiaojun, a scientist at the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He added that increased rainfall in recent years in some areas has made vegetation restoration easier.

According to long-term monitoring data by Zhu's team, China's desertified land has shrunk by around 10% overall since 2000, and areas of severely or extremely desertified land have decreased by more than 40%. Forest cover in the program area has risen from around 5% in 1978 to 14% in 2022. Elsewhere, efforts to combat desertification have included a project launched in Africa in 2007 to plant trees across a number of countries to hold back the Sahara Desert. More here.