Green plants shield sandy lands

Over the past decades, Inner Mongolia has dedicated itself to combating desert and sandy lands though planting drought-resistant grass and trees. 

Stastistics imply that the region has accomplished forestry ecological construction of over 100 million mu (6.7 million hectares) of area, ranking first in afforestation areas among national provinces. 

Initiated in 1979, the Three North Shelterbelt Program, also known as Green Great Wall, is the largest artificial ecological construction project in China. 

The project is carried out in three northern regions, the North, Northwest and Northeast China. It covers a land of 406.9 square kilometers, approximately 42.4 percent of China’s land area. 

It’s expected that the plantation rate will increase to 15.95 percent in 2050, compared to 5.05 percent of forest coverage in 1977 in northern areas.   

A car runs through scots pines (pinus sylvestris) Ejin Horo Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Sept 7, 2017. Pinus sylvestris is a species of pine usually grow in Eurasia, ranging from Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia. [Photo/Xinhua]