Taming Yellow River deserts

The desertified land along the Yellow River in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has shrunk by 351,800 hectares over the past decade thanks to the region’s ecological restoration campaign, local authorities said on Monday.

The autonomous region has launched a spate of ecological projects in recent years to curb desertification in the Yellow River basin, with the average vegetation coverage of the pastures in the basin’s “seven leagues” and cities rising to 29 percent this year from 20.6 percent in 2013, according to the regional development and reform commission.

The river basin has also seen continuous improvement in water and air quality. The Yellow River, China’s second-longest, flows 830 kilometers through Inner Mongolia, home to several deserts such as Badain Jaran, Tengger and Ulan Buh. The region’s success in taming desertification has been credited for the decrease in sandstorms in the northern China.