22/10/2008 12:00 (UTC)
CHINA FEATURE PACKAGE ENVIRONMENT DESERTIFICATION
epa01527497 Workers build biological barriers using hay to create grid patterns that stabilize sand dunes and prevent desertification in the Tengger Desert, Minqin, Gansu province, China, 20 October 2008. Located in the arid northwest, Minqin county is surrounded by the encroaching Tengger and Badain Jaran deserts in the east, west and north. The county is one of the major sources of China's sandstorms and groundwater levels are dropping about one meter every year. The Chinese government has spent billions of euros since 2001 trying to prevent further invasion of the desert in Minqin by introducing vegetation and planting trees. Threatening an estimated 400 million people in China, desertification has been exacerbated by land reclamation, environmental degradation and overgrazing of livestock. An estimated sixty-six per cent of China's water consumption is mostly used for agricultural irrigation and the northern part of the country alone has over 100 million sheep. About one-quarter of China's landmass is desert and the nation has nearly 25 per cent of the world's population with just 7 per cent of the world's arable land. Desertification has been noted by experts as a major obstacle to economic growth and is partly responsible for China's enormous income disparity. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS
