Desertification control benefits green Silk Road development

The Kubuqi Desert now is a paradise for birds. [Photo: Guangming Daily]

The desertification control of Kubuqi Desert in Erdos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has caught worldwide attention during an international desert forum in Erdos on July 27.

More than 300 government officials, business people and experts from over 30 countries attended the event and shared their thoughts on green economic cooperation along the Belt and Road, desertification control and poverty alleviation, as well as the development of green industries and economy.

The Kubuqi Desert is the seventh-largest desert in China. Over the past 30 years, local government, enterprises and habitants have afforested more than 6,000 square kilometers of desert area through close cooperation.

Nowadays, the rainfall in the region has markedly increased and the number of sandstorms has decreased by a large margin. The biodiversity of the region has also gradually recovered. These efforts have made the Kubuqi Desert the first whole desert in the world to have been afforested.

Deserts account for about 25 percent of China's territorial area, of which 90 percent is located on the Silk Road Economic Belt.