It Takes Chifeng City: Restoring Land on a Grand Scale

China

Chifeng City, in Inner Mongolia, China, may not ring a bell. But it bears the title of “the first Chinese village” and is home to the excavation site of the first jade dragon and is the land of the famous Genghis Khan. Back then, it was lush and green. But how times change!

Until 60 years ago, a third of the arid lands of Inner Mongolia was desertified, forest cover was only 5 percent, and drought was frequent. Animal husbandry was difficult, crop returns low, and people lived in poverty. But the tide is turning. Today, forests cover nearly 35 percent of land and the sand is retreating. Through scientific policy planning and mass mobilization, Chifeng’s government has rehabilitated 750,000 hectares of degraded land. Each hectare of shelterbelt forest prevents 10 tons of soil loss each year on average. The area of desertified land is now declining at a rate of 150,000 hectares per year. The government and the people have worked together to turn Chifeng into a model for desertification control in China.

County governments sign a “responsibility contract” with local municipalities, which produce two positive outcomes: first the job of combating desertification becomes a priority across all levels of government, and second, it is integrated into local development planning.

The aim of the municipal government is to improve policies and encourage innovation for sustainable land management. The bottom-up approach emphasizes afforestation efforts led by companies, households and professional teams. Every year, the peoples’ congress holds a debriefing on desertification. The government reports on the progress and the people give feedback.

The Chifeng government has invested in strengthening a scientific approach to land restoration by training 65,000 technicians and 50,000 local farmers and paying special attention to the ecologically sensitive areas. To learn from and track these efforts, Chifeng has documented over 100 afforestation technologies. As a result, the forestry industry, animal husbandry, and agriculture have all experienced economic growth, and the surrounding environment has improved.

Chifeng City government is a model in China on combating desertification, and has received the top 10 national awards for teams combating desertification.

Web site: www.cfly.gov.cn