Recently, good news came from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration that since the 14th Five Year Plan, the Three North Project has achieved remarkable results in desertification control, completing comprehensive desertification control of over 200 million acres and writing a magnificent chapter in China's desertification control.

The situation of desertification in China was once very severe, with 257 million hectares of desertified land, accounting for 27% of the national land area, mainly distributed in the northwest, northeast, and north China regions. However, in recent years, China has achieved remarkable results in desertification control, with the area of desertification and desertified land continuously decreasing. The key control areas have also achieved a historic transformation from sand entering and people retreating to green entering and sand retreating, and have taken the lead in achieving the goal of zero growth in land degradation worldwide.

From specific data, the area of desertified land in China has continuously decreased for four monitoring periods. At the end of the 20th century, the annual expansion of desertified land was 340000 hectares, but now it has transformed into an annual reduction of 670000 hectares. The total amount of soil wind erosion in the eight major deserts and four major sandy areas has decreased by about 40% compared to 2000, and the average vegetation coverage has reached 20.22%, an increase of 2.6% compared to 10 years ago. The frequency of sandstorms in the past decade has decreased by 30% compared to the previous decade. These data intuitively demonstrate the tremendous progress in China's desertification control work.

Huang Caiyi, Director of the Desert Department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, introduced that the Three North Project is a hero in desertification control. Since the 14th Five Year Plan, the project has continued to make efforts, not only achieving breakthroughs in ecological governance, but also actively exploring the win-win path of ecology and economy. By developing high-quality forage, economic forests and fruits, traditional Chinese medicine, desert tourism and other sand industries according to local conditions, the economic development of sand areas has been revitalized. The annual production of dry and fresh fruits in the sand area is 48 million tons, accounting for about 1/4 of the total national output, with an annual total output value of 120 billion yuan. The income from forest fruits in key areas accounts for more than 50% of the net income of farmers, truly achieving the goal of promoting green prosperity.

The success of the Three North Project is a vivid practice of China's adherence to the concept of green development, demonstrating the wisdom and determination of the Chinese people in ecological protection and construction. It not only builds a solid barrier for domestic ecological security, but also provides valuable Chinese experience for global desertification control. Editor/Cheng Liting