Almost one third of China’s land is desert—a process that has accelerated due to development and human activities.
In fact, the deserts of China have also become a tourist attraction.
One strategy to slow the spread of the deserts is to create a grid of plant growth that will hold the sand in place. Trees have been planted too — all to stop the sand from spreading.
This project started years ago. Together with other planting strategies, this slowed the process of spreading deserts and has reversed the trend.
However, due to natural resources needed to fuel China’s growth and a huge population, northern China has become a boomtown and is attracting millions because of the opportunities to earn better money.
Herders have also been restricted from allowing their animals to graze on the areas that are being reclaimed from the desert.
This has caused a reduction in the size of herds such as sheep and goats.
China has no choice but to win this battle with the desert since there is a shortage of land to use for food production.
More than 40% of China is mountainous.
This leaves only 15% of the land that can be cultivated for food crops but only 75% of that land is used for that purpose.
Yet China produces more food than any nation.
Learn about Food and China’s Eating Culture
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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