Thousands gather to plant trees in Alshaa, Inner Mongolia

The second phase of the comprehensive desert governing project and the integrated wind power and photovoltaic project to prevent and control desertification kicked off in Alshaa League of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Tuesday, the 46th National Tree Planting Day.

About 2,000 representatives from the government, army and companies, farmers and herders gathered on the same day to participate in tree planting.

Alshaa, at the westernmost part of Inner Mongolia, borders the main sand source area in East Asia, Mongolia. It is one of the country's most ecologically fragile, severely desertified, harshest and most challenging areas for governance.

The league is strengthening comprehensive desertification control and promoting the construction of key ecological engineering projects.

By the end of 2023, the league restored the ecology of 118,800 hectares of forests and grasslands. The goal for this year is 367,700 hectares.