China will invest over 200 million yuan (US$24 million) in the next
10 years in building China's first large-scale oasis for settlers
in the southern rim of Alxa, in north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region.
Over 20,000 herdsmen needing protection from sand storms in the
world's fourth largest desert will move to the settlement
oasis.
Yang Gensheng, biologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told
Xinhua on Monday that building the oasis was like "transplanting a
'biological lung' in Alxa Desert, one of China's four major sources
of sand storms."
He
said the oasis is expected to reduce by 10 percent dust storm days
in the autonomous region's neighboring areas and return part of
Alxa desert back to life.
The settlement oasis will cover 70,000 hectares, equating to two
thirds of Hong Kong's total space. Irrigation water will come from
the upper reaches of the Yellow River, 44 kilometers away from the
oasis.
The local government plans to plant 4,700 hectares of wind and
sand-proof trees and reclaim 10,000 hectares of farmland in the
oasis. It will resettle a total of 25,000 herdsmen from the nearby
desiccated pastures.
Half the total number of herdsmen in the Alxa League will to be
moved to the oasis.
The Chinese government has already invested more than 100 million
yuan (83 million U.S. dollars) in building irrigation networks and
power installations for the oasis.
About 5,000 herdsmen have already settled there and are growing
some 5,000 hectares of crops, vegetables and lucerne -- a kind of
forage grass that is also environmentally friendly.
Xinhua reporters at the oasis on Monday saw full irrigation
channels and green lucerne and wheat seedlings, which formed a
sharp contrast with the yellow sand beyond the farmland.
Dozens of shops and inns have opened along a one kilometer-long
"town center" in the oasis.
The Alxa League covers 270,000 square kilometers of land, including
80,000 square kilometers of desert.
Due to decreasing rainfall and over-browsing by domestic animals,
the amount of desiccated land in Alxa increases by 1,000 square
kilometers each year. About one quarter of the dust brought by sand
storms that sweep China come from the Alxa Desert.
Wu
Jingliang, head of the Alxa League, said: "If the situation there
deteriorates, herdsmen could not survive in that desert area any
longer. "
Chinese biologists believe that without water resources, trees and
grass cannot grow on a large scale in deserts. The only option is
to settle scattered herdsmen and let arid pastures revive.
The southern rim of the Alxa Desert has thin sand layers and the
climate there is suitable for farming. The local government opted
to build the settlement oasis to let the overused pastures "have a
rest."
Experts here say that without successive droughts and without the
impact of people shrubs and grass could regrow on the dessicated
pasture after five years.
He
Yulong, 45, moved to the oasis with three other family members from
another part of the Alxa Desert two years ago. "In the past, when
the grass was covered by sand my sheep were too thin and weak to
walk around," he said.
He, like all the other people resettled, was provided with a
40-square-meter house, a 60-square-meter sheep pen and 2 hectares
of farmland, all without charge.
The herdsman raises 50 sheep in his pen and grew maize and
vegetables last year, doubling the per capita income of his family
from that of the previous year.
Chen Lijie, top official of Gargol Saihan Town, where the oasis is
located, says the settlement oasis is not only an environmental
project but also an aid project.
He
claimed that, so far, 60 percent of the resettled herdsmen had
doubled their annual incomes and over 90 percent of the settlers
had visibly improved their living conditions.
He
emphasized that the average annual flow capacity of the Yellow
River in the past few years stood at 56 billion cubic meters while
the 10,000 hectares of irrigable land in the oasis would use less
than 80 million cubic meters of river water. "So the water
consumption of the oasis will not influence the flow in the lower
reaches of the river."
China has one of the world's worst desertification problems and the
total area of deserts in China is over 2.6 million square
kilometers.
After years of planting trees and grass, 10 percent of at-risk land
has been controlled and the Chinese government will invest 300
billion yuan (34 billion U.S. dollars) in ecological protection in
the next decade.
The Australian government and the Washington-based Adventist
Development and Relief Agency (China) have helped with building the
oasis.
Mary Felley, a biologist from Australia, said: "The building of the
resettlement oasis could mobilize the enthusiasm of the settlers.
It is a successful trial, which offers a new model for China's
desert control."
(Xinhua News
Agency April 23, 2002)