Magical Ordos reaps rewards from new relationship with surrounding deserts

Surrounded by a loop of the mighty Yellow River, the 87,000-square-kilometer city in the southwest of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region had rich pasture and was thickly covered with luxuriant vegetation in ancient times.

Yet as primeval forests shrank due to droughts and human activity, the environment deteriorated.

As a result, the Maowusu and Kubuqi deserts now take up 48 percent of the city’s total area. “The severely damaged ecosystem did not only hinder Ordos’ healthy and sustainable socioeconomic development, but also affected the ecological safety of the regions of North China and the Yellow River’s lower reaches,” Gong said.

“To improve the environment, the people of Ordos have long made determined efforts,” he said. “In response to growing environmental awareness, the city government has prioritized environmental protection, focused on comprehensive treatments and sought an innovative working mechanism.”

Its green efforts have clearly paid off. Government data show forests have expanded to 2.32 million hectares in Ordos, accounting for 26.7 percent of the city’s total area and enabling its green coverage to surpass 75 percent.

The city’s desert-covered areas have reduced by about 387,200 hectares over the past decade, with 70 percent of the Maowusu Desert and a quarter of the Kubuqi Desert now under control.

Human activities are a primary factor in land degradation, Gong said. “So we have changed our attitudes toward nature from exploitation to protection.”

The Qixing Lake scenic site in Ordos. The holiday resort serves as the venue of the Kubuqi Forum, a biennial event for international cooperation in desertification control.[Provided to China Daily]