China accomplishes 70 pct of annual desertification, rocky desertification control tasks

(ECNS) -- As of the end of June, China has completed a total of 9.79 million mu (around 650 thousand hectares) of desertification control projects and 3.67 million mu (around 240 thousand hectares) of rocky desertification control projects, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the country's annual control tasks.

Since this year, China has implemented a differentiated investment policy for sand prevention and control and rocky desertification control. It has raised the investment subsidy in western regions and launched sand fixation measures. Small water conservation facilities were also built in the Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm source and karst rocky desertification areas.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China plans to control 100 million mu (6.67 million hectares) of desertified land, set 30 million mu (2 million hectares) of closing areas for the protection of desertification land, and control 19.5 million mu (1.3 million hectares) of rocky desertification land. 

The country's sandification land control mainly relies on three major ecological protection and restoration projects, namely, the northern sand control belt, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecological barrier area, and the Yellow River key ecological barrier area.

The control of rocky desertification land in karst areas mainly relies on two major ecological protection and restoration projects in the key ecological areas of the Yangtze River and the southern hilly and mountainous areas.