Advancing Nature and Development Through Innovation: China’s Great Green Wall

By Penny Arcos

A technician controls a drone to sow seeds at the Kubuqi Desert, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, July 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Peng Yuan) Photo credit: Tianshannet About Xinjiang

Development, or the environment? China chooses both.

While Western politicians and media argue whether we should sacrifice human development to protect the environment, sacrifice the environment in the name of development, or sacrifice both in the name of profits, China’s Great Green Wall project proves there is another way: protecting the environment by advancing human development. 

Since its launch in 1978, China’s  Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP), also referred to as the Great Green Wall, has planted 32 million hectares of trees, restored 85 million hectares of grassland, and benefited 30 million hectares of farmland. The TSFP stretches 4,400 km (2,734 mi) east to west, and 1,450 km (901 mi) north to south. According to statistics, TSFP has not only curbed desertification but has lifted approximately 15 million people out of poverty through forestry and fruit cultivation. By 2050, TSFP is projected to restore over 4 million square kilometers across 13 provinces in China, or 42.4 percent of the entire country.

Meanwhile, in the US and the West, the recent Los Angeles area wildfires are just the latest in a series of frequent environmental catastrophes. As Europe deindustrializes and switches to dirtier and more expensive energy, as California continues to be plagued with increasingly frequent fires, and as farmers across the West increasingly protest supposedly ‘environmental’ agricultural policies that reduce output, we should be asking: what can we learn from China?

China’s Environmental Goals

Reforestation efforts in the Loess plateau have restored a massive area of land. Credit: John D. Liu

“Man and Nature need to coexist in harmony. When we take care to protect Nature, Nature rewards us generously; when we exploit Nature ruthlessly, it punishes us without mercy.” - Xi Jinping, President of China

Part of the reason China has taken reforestation so seriously is that it has dealt with tremendous amounts of deforestation and desertification. When the current Chinese government came to power, forests covered only 8.6% of the country’s land area. By 2021, however, this had increased to 23% due to massive planting programs. Meanwhile, in 2017, nearly a quarter of China’s total land area was desertified by human action due to deforestation, overgrazing and overuse of water, affecting 400 million people. Desertification also creates “climate refugees” who leave their homeland to seek better jobs in the city.

NASA data indicates that China and India are the top two nations in the last twenty years to contribute to a greener planet. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory

However, the problem is already far better than it was 20 years ago – the percentage of grasslands experiencing desertification has dropped from 52% to 37% since 2000. In fact, the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP) has restored 53 percent of China’s treatable desertified land since 1978. Now, the TSFP is the world’s largest tree planting program. Since 1978, nearly 32 million hectares of trees have been planted in the deserts north of China. These efforts help to restore degraded land and create employment and business opportunities for innovative engineers, as well as for local shepherds whose livelihoods were threatened. How has China turned these problems around?

Returning Life to Horinger County

Mixed landscape in Inner Mongolia, China. Credit: Climate Diplomacy

Horinger County in Inner Mongolia shows a microcosm of the issue. “Horinger” means 20 houses, so named because land degradation turned this once thriving city in northwestern China that dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) into a county of only 20 houses. Deforestation to sustain rapid development of agriculture and cattle ranching for a thousand years as well as changes in climate created water insecurity, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. From the mid-20th century to the mid-21st, continental monsoons and ferocious spring dust storms from Siberia ravaged Northern China and decimated the economy, leaving only 20 households to eke out a meager existence in the unforgiving desert.  

Then in 2010, Horinger County initiated a project to plant Mongolian Scots pine, Manchurian red pine, Korshinsk peashrub, apricot tree and seaberry. The Horinger Forest is now home to 3.3 million trees and covers more than 2,500 hectares of previously barren, dusty land. One resident, Yang Shuantao, says that there used to be more than ten days of sandstorms every year. Now there are only three or four. This forest is expected to fix 220,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere in the next 30 years. As global temperatures rise, afforestation can be an important tool to boost biodiversity, improve quality of life and reduce mass migration.

Beating the Desert in Zhongwei

Students learn to pave straw checkerboards in the Tengger Desert in Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, May 31, 2024. (XINHUA)

Several decades ago, the city of Zhongwei, at the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. was plagued by deadly violent sand storms threatening to engulf the city. In 1958, when a railway was built through the desert city, scientists and local residents began a journey to stabilize the sand and prevent dunes from shifting. Now, Zhongwei has reclaimed 1.5 million mu (about 100,000 hectares) out of its total 1.68 million mu of desert through the TSFP. Vegetation coverage has increased from less than 1 percent to 42 percent, thereby pushing back the Tengger Desert by 25 kilometers.

Tang Ximing, 60, a senior engineer at a state-owned forestry farm in Zhongwei, vividly remembers the sand storms that once wracked his area. He is now a forestry engineer and dedicates his life to using his expertise to fortify the “Green Great Wall”. He has developed an innovative tool with two horizontal bars at the front tip to enable workers to plant seedling roots 50 centimeters deep. This tool has increased the survival rate of seedlings from 25 percent to over 85 percent, and is now used in other desert regions of Northern China.

Tang Ximing introduces his invention(Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)

Tang is reaching retirement age, but he plans to use his desert control skills to assist Inner Mongolia, South China and Mongolia. Today, as China’s top desert tourism spot, Zhongwei hosts a premium hotel in the middle of the desert that draws international tourism. Visitors can enjoy sand surfing, sand sliding and stargazing.

More Local Success Stories

Workers plant straw checkerboard sand barriers in Aksu prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Photo: VCG Global Times

Horinger County and Zhongwei are not anomalies: China’s massive land restoration programs have brought life back to many small towns and rural areas just like it.

• In northwest China's Gansu Province, massive solar farms combined with afforestation programs and herding at the southern edge of the Tengger Desert have developed into an ecosystem that generates electricity, restores degraded land and boosts the local economy.  Villagers find employment cleaning the photovoltaic panels, adjusting sprinkler irrigation systems or cultivating the sand plants beneath the panels. "I never would have imagined that as a farmer, I could find work in the sand dunes," said Qin Zhaoping, a resident of Hengliang Township in Gansu's Gulang County.

• In the Horqin Sandy Land, northeast of Beijing, China is planting trees along roadways. A road network of 400 km surrounded by a green shelterbelt has become an ecotourism favorite for self-driving tours. In 2023, 1.6 million tourists generated a total revenue of 1.76 billion yuan (nearly 243 million U.S. dollars). 

• The Taklimakan Desert, known as the "Sea of Death," is  completely encircled by a sand-blocking green belt that stretches more than 3000 kilometers in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In stark contrast to Western claims that China disregards Uyghur minorities, these massive investments in the greatest reforestation project in history benefit everyone and bring harmony between humans and nature. 

• Because dry and well-ventilated conditions reduce the incidence of diseases among cows, a thriving cattle ranch producing 330 tons of milk daily has become an essential source of income for 20,000 rural households in 54 local villages.

• In Baiyantu village, Inner Mongolia, 65-year-old Li doesn’t care about afforestation or climate change or carbon sequestering discussions. But he does care about his local forest: He explains that the birds are coming back and even foxes and badgers. Li explains, “The villagers take good care of their forest. On Tomb-Sweeping Day this year, while some were burning offerings to their ancestors on the hillside, a team of villagers set out to ensure no forest fires started… There’s no doubt that the forest has improved the environment, and I hope those trees grow big and strong,”

Constantly Improving Techniques

About 400 km north of the Chinese capital Beijing, workers build neat rows of square-shaped sand barriers in an endless stretch of desertified land, into which they plant tree seedlings. Photo credit: English.gov.cn

In the early years of China’s reforestation project, survival rates for saplings were as low as fifty percent or less. As research and innovation improves, the survival rate has increased to 90 percent. Pine tree seedlings are planted in deep pits within the straw grids and lightly covered with soil. Drones plant seeds with scientifically developed nutrient packs to help saplings thrive in harsh conditions. 

M-Grass Ecological Environment (Group) Co., Ltd. developed a sand-fixing machine that weaves weeds and straw into grass mats for use as sand barriers where trees and shrubs are planted. This machine enables workers to install up to 30,000 meters of sand barriers daily, according to Yu Dongjiang, who is also the project manager for the comprehensive management of the northern central Horqin Sandy Land. 

According to Zhang Xudong, director of the forestry and grassland bureau of Aohan Banner (county), the city of Chifeng, each worker can lay up to 4mu (o.27) hectares of dried straw grids per day throughout the spring and summer months. With over 500 workers planting over 4,000 mu each month, this area will be transformed in seven or eight years into a forest and grassland barrier to protect Beijing from sandstorms.

Lu Qi, chief scientist of the Chinese Academy of Forestry and founding president of the Institute of Great Green Wall has dedicated forty years to reforestation in China. In the past, he explains, sand control might have been mainly driven by government investment, but now, the participation efforts of research institutions, enterprises, and local governments achieves the best results.

Energy Generation

Herdsmen driving sheep at Talatan Photovoltaic Park. Photo credit: China Daily

Another financial benefit of investing in TFSP reforestation is the development of new agrovoltaic energy companies. Today, in Inner Mongolia, large wind and photovoltaic power facilities combined with agricultural production are achieving significant milestones in energy production. 

In Talatan Photovoltaic Park, more than 200 sheep roam among the sparkling “silver-blue sea”. Grass seeds are planted beneath the panels to prevent erosion and damage to the panels from wind gusts that stir up the sand. Water used to clean the panels irrigates the grass and manure serves as fertilizer. As the grass grows, so do weeds, which can create shade induced malfunctions or fuel wildfires in winter. The sheep serve as living lawn mowers that are essential for maintaining operations at the plant. 

As part of a government project in 2006 to promote solar power among locals, shepherds were given solar panels to include in their gear for their six-month shepherding journeys. Yehdor, a 48-year-old herder from Xaghelesi Village in Tiegai Township, rides his motorcycle behind his flock of sheep into the solar power plant owned by Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. These panels produce enough energy to power his lights and small appliances during the night. Because the land had been barren for many years due to overgrazing, he used to spend six months away from home in search of green pasture. Now his flock has doubled. His sheep are bigger and fatter and earn him 100,000 yuan annually. Other villagers earn income cleaning photovoltaic modules, mowing grass and handling cargo in the solar park. 

To date, twelve photovoltaic sheep farms have been built in the Talatan plateau, which sits at 3,000 meters above sea level and is bombarded with solar radiation that inhibits plant growth. This model of photovoltaic farming has enabled herdsmen to sell 13,000 “photovoltaic sheep”, earning a total of 11 million yuan in 2023 alone, according to the department of publicity of the prefectural government.

China’s largest nuclear power operator, China General Nuclear Power Corporation, has reached full-capacity production and grid connection of its wind power facility in Inner Mongolia, able to supply more than 10 billion kWh of electricity per year. China Three Gorges Corporation is partnering with Inner Mongolia Energy Group to build a mega solar and wind facility in the Kubuqi desert. With a capacity of 16 GW, this will be equal to China’s second-largest hydropower station in Baihetan. A new 11.5 billion yuan photovoltaic base is being constructed in Shuofang that will produce 13 GW annually. Local authorities will promote agricultural development with suitable cash crops under the panels. 

Longyangxia Dam Solar Park was the world’s largest photovoltaic power plant at the time of its construction in 2017. The park generates 8,430 megawatts of power, 54% of the energy generated in its home province of QingHai. This solar park also creates economic opportunities and supports ecological conservation.

Addressing Criticisms

As with any ambitious project, there are always criticisms — particularly by countries unwilling to make such investments themselves. Though China claims that TSFP has absorbed 5% of its industrial carbon dioxide since 1978, critics note that as trees mature, they absorb less carbon. Not all trees are created equal — in some places, expanses of original forest have been felled to be replaced by denser, commercial tree plantations. Non-native trees planted in areas better suited for grassland as well as a lack of supply of high quality seedlings can create challenges such as low survival rates. Also, the project has a top down approach, which is not always agreed upon by local residents. In the most impoverished regions of China, banning logging and open grazing without offering alternative livelihoods risks creating more poverty.

Even ‘green’ technologies like solar panels create their own waste.

As China seeks to reduce its carbon output through alternative energy sources such as wind and solar, the problem of solar panel waste must be addressed. Recycling costs are not included in production costs, as they have been in Europe since 2012. The toxic components of solar panels are not recycled after the 25-year lifespan. According to Inkwood Research, the global solar panel recycling market was valued at $162.02 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $539.61 million by 2032, by 12.82% during the forecast period 2023 to 2032. There is huge potential for China to invest in photovoltaic recycling. 

These and other issues will need to be addressed to ensure full environmental protection. Fortunately, considering China’s massive investments so far in addressing environmental degradation through the TFSP (Great Green Wall) and other programs, there is no reason to assume China will not take a similarly proactive approach in dealing with future issues.

Contrast with the West

“In Africa, if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got air conditioning, and everybody has got a big house, well, the planet will boil over.” – Barack Obama, 2013

Sadly, the Western approach could hardly be more different. While China develops its economy and protects its environment simultaneously, many Western efforts degrade both. These contradictions have led to widespread farmers’ protests across Europe, gathering steam in 2024 and already continuing into 2025, as green regulations stifle agricultural productivity. 

Photo credit: Expose News

Photo credit: AFP News Agency

For those who say stifling productivity is the only way to advance environmental goals, China’s example should serve as sufficient rebuttal. But for yet more examples, look to the energy industry. In 2021, the Indian Point nuclear facility in New York shut down in the face of environmental protestors decrying nuclear energy – and what was the result? An increase in emissions as a clean energy source was replaced by fossil fuels. Similarly, Germany closed its last three nuclear plants in 2023, not only replacing clean energy with dirty but also leading to declining manufacturing capacity as energy prices grow too high for the private sector to bear. Meanwhile, the Ukraine War and the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline (an environmental catastrophe in itself) have left Europe increasingly dependent on LNG exports from across the Atlantic ocean – hardly green and efficient. Who benefits from higher energy prices and more carbon emissions? Not the environment, and not the population – only the private companies who Western governments protect at all costs.

Meanwhile, China’s land restoration initiatives are not solely limited within its own borders. While farmers in the United States and Europe are being forced out of business by drought and economic policies that favor degrowth, China is partnering with other countries in West Asia, Africa and Latin America to fund innovative agroforestry solutions that restore the land and create economic opportunities for their citizens. Chinese President Xi Jinping urges other nations to share China’s core spiritual value of harmony,  to coexist harmoniously among civilizations  and to forge closer cultural exchanges between nations.

Conclusion: The Need for Real Solutions

Image credit: Vera Kratochvil, publicdomainpictures.net

The United States of the America has some of the most beautiful natural environments in the world, but our government’s approach to environmental protection leaves much to be desired. As global temperatures rise and severe droughts persist, the false, anti-human environmental narratives promoted in the West stymie the creation of actual climate and land restoration solutions the world desperately needs today. The imperialist/globalist means of production where profit is in command leaves the masses subject to abject poverty and desperation. It also leads to desecration of the land, forcing millions of people every year to leave their homelands in search of a better life, only to face discrimination and shame. Denying the problem or funneling subsidies to private businesses who take advantage of vulnerable families, as occurred during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, only exacerbates the problem. 

Fortunately, China’s Great Green Wall has shown the world that another way is possible: humanity and its natural environment can grow together. As ecological and economic crises loom, exacerbating issues like mass migration and energy shortages, we at the Center for Political Innovation want to show the people of America that they do not have to choose between different types of poverty. Afforestation and agroforestry projects are just one more way a government of action that fights for working families can push back profiteering corporations and bring back life to the people and their environment.

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