Deserts retreat as China plants millions of trees

By 2025, China plans to rehabilitate an additional 6.7 million hectares of desertified land, adding to the 18.8 million hectares the country has rehabilitated over the last decade, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration announced on the occasion of the UN's World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on Friday.

National desert cover has fallen by over 4.3m hectares in the last decade.

"So far, more than half of the desertified land that can be rehabilitated has been dealt with," the administration said, adding that in the past five years, the incidence of sandstorms and dusty weather has decreased by 31 percent compared to the 2006-10 period.

About 30 million hectares of trees have been planted as part of the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, which aims to improve the environment in northwestern, northern and northeastern China.

The administration added that a national push is underway to develop desertified areas, by growing shrub and grass fodder, Chinese medicinal materials and forest and fruit plantations, and developing desert tourism, wind power and biomass energy to help raise the incomes of people living in these areas.