China plants trees to hold back desertification - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

China plants trees to hold back desertification

By Nick Mulvenney
Sun Jun 17, 8:16 PM ET

DUOLUN COUNTY, China (Reuters) - Until giant sand dunes swallowed his
home, Deng Baogui was a shepherd and wheat farmer in an Inner Mongolian
village where his family had lived for three generations.

Fortunately for Deng, whose plight might have easily been ignored, the
desertification which made it nearly impossible for him to eke out a living
also fuelled the spring-time dust storms that blow through Beijing, leaving
tonnes of sand on the streets.

Seven years ago, with the desert creeping south at the rate of 3 km
(2 miles) a year and the dust storms getting worse, the Chinese government
decided to act and the solution was typical of a country where the Great
Wall stands as the ultimate grand project.

It began building a "Green Great Wall," a 700-km (435 mile) barrier of trees
and enclosed grassland which will stretch across Inner Mongolia, Hebei and
Shanxi provinces by 2010.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070618/sc_nm/deforestation_china_desert_dc

[sam sarrha]

1. greedy bastards over grazed the grasslands above th yellow river, the land eroded and wont hold rain

water so now the yellow river floods then stops flowing ..they are TOTALLY F*CKED!!! cant fix it now or ever

[hogwyld]

2. Let's do the math shall we?

China has about 1.3 billion (with a b)people, and russia has about 150 million and dropping fast due to demographics and short life spans. Lots of fresh water in Siberia. I forsee china going on a resource adventure much like Japan did in the 1930's.

[Javaman]

3. shoveling shit against the tide. nt