Volunteers earn 'green passports' by planting trees in yellow sand

LANZHOU — In the Zhonglin ecological public welfare forest base of Minqin county, Wuwei, Northwest China's Gansu province, volunteers water newly planted saxaul trees while showing off their service credit points on their smartphones.

"Planting saxaul trees to earn points and enjoying discounts at tourist attractions — these green seedlings have become a 'green passport'," says one volunteer at the site.

Minqin, sandwiched between the country's third- and fourth-largest deserts — the Badain Jaran and the Tengger — has 94 percent of its land area covered by sand and desertified land. As a result, it is one of the country's major sources of sandstorms.

Confronted with pressing survival challenges and the daunting task of desert control, the county has blazed a new trail by using novel "credit points" as an incentive tool. This approach connects volunteer services with tangible cultural and tourism consumption benefits.

The innovative approach makes every drop of sweat spent on desert control and every act of integrity "quantifiable and perceptible", turning the passion for protecting the oasis into tangible "green benefits", according to the authorities at the Zhonglin forest base.