China's ongoing fight to combat desertification and drought
中國努力應對干旱和荒漠化

Wednesday is the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. For China it's an ongoing fight, but one where there's some light at the end of tunnel. In some areas, efforts have managed to reverse the effects of desertification, and brought the land back to life.

Sandstorms were a familiar sight in Kangbao County, 260 kilometers north of Beijing. They would even blow into the capital.

Dong Shengcai is the former chief of the county's Forestry Bureau. A veteran in the fight against sand, he remembers well just how serious the storms were.

"Farmers came up with little rhymes that said households must turn on the light, or when sandstorms rolled in it would be pitch black inside," Dong said.

In 2000, China launched a project to stem sandstorms at the source in Beijing and Tianjin. And the solution was to plant trees.

Species with strong resistance to the cold and drought were chosen to adapt to the high altitude and dry lands. One of these was the Caragana korshinskii.

"It has high drought tolerance and well-developed roots. The root of the Caragana can reach two meters deep in the ground and absorb underground water," Dong said.

It took over a decade of efforts. Now the once sandy lands are covered with green. But there's still an insatiable need for more.

In this Beijing-Tianjin project, the state subsidizes 400 yuan for every Mu, or about 670 square meters of forest. But that's not enough.

And there's also loose implementation of environment protection laws in some regions, where economic development is the only thing that's prioritised, and land is excessively exploitated. But still, by and large, the nation is reclaiming its lost land.

"China is seeing an annual reduction of 1,700 square kilometers of desert land, while there are 50 to 70 thousand square kilometers added to the world," said Hu Peixing, from State Forestry Administration.

Other ecological projects undertaken include establishing green belts and returning farmland to forest.. locking up the sand with the power of greenery.