LensToLens | Chinese desert control edge helps build "Great Green Wall" of Africa

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Africa's Sahara Desert may be thousands of miles apart, but they share common challenges in combating desertification. 

As one of the countries most severely affected by desertification, China has actively advanced desertification control and major ecological projects, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program. It has become the first country to achieve simultaneous reduction in both desertified and sandy land areas. The completion of a 3,046-kilometer green ecological barrier around the Taklimakan Desert is a notable example of these efforts. 

Over the years, Xinjiang has developed an effective model for desertification control which has gained recognition from African countries. In 2017, the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pan-African Agency for the Great Green Wall on improving the ecological environment in Africa. China's experience, particularly that of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, is now being applied to Africa's Great Green Wall Initiative. Launched by 11 African countries, including Mauritania, the initiative aims to curb the southward expansion of the Sahara by building a forest barrier over 7,000 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide. 

From the Taklimakan to the Sahara, China and Africa share a common vision for a greener future. Their cooperation in combating desertification is helping transform vast stretches of barren land into green landscapes.