China's action combating desertification

In 1978, China implemented the "three north" sheltered system program, with a planned afforestation area of 35.09 million hectares from 1978 to 2050.

The shelter belt, the largest of its kind in the world and also known as the "Great Green Wall", has succeeded in protecting over 60 percent of China's more than 133 million hectares of cultivated land from being ravaged or damaged by moving sand dunes.

In 2000, a project to control the source of sandstorms around Beijing and Tianjin was launched, with a planned investment of 55.87 billion yuan (US$6.75 billion). When the program is completed in a planned period of 10 years, 205,000 sq km of desert and soil-eroded land will be turned green.

(China Daily 03/24/2008 page5)