Taklimakan Desert Control Afforestation - China

Taklimakan Desert Control Afforestation - China

Fu Guoxi checks the trees at a green belt built by his father Fu Zhizhou in Hejing County, the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 11, 2025. Over the past four decades, Fu Zhizhou had planted more than 800,000 trees and his son Fu Guoxi took over the cause after his father passed away in 2024. The Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region covers 337,600 square kilometers and its circumference measures 3,046 kilometers, making it the largest desert in China and the second-largest drifting desert in the world. Thanks to decades-long sand prevention and control efforts, the Taklimakan Desert was completely encircled with a sand-blocking green belt on Nov. 28, 2024. In 2025, Xinjiang aims to afforest a land area of about 796,000 hectares, including 562,666 hectares for frontline control in the Taklimakan Desert. These afforestations form a part of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, the world's largest affor

(VistaNingxia)CHINA-NINGXIA-ZHONGWEI-ENVIRONMENT-SAND CONTROL (CN)

(VistaNingxia)CHINA-NINGXIA-ZHONGWEI-ENVIRONMENT-SAND CONTROL (CN)

(240616) -- ZHONGWEI, June 16, 2024 Photo by Xinhua/ABACAPRESS.COM) -- An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 7, 2020 shows workers paving straw checkerboards near a section of an express way in the Tengger Desert, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. In the 1950s, to protect China's first railway that runs through a desert, the city of Zhongwei embarked on a journey of desert mitigation. Scientists at the Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, part of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with local residents, developed straw checkerboards to stabilize the sand and prevent dunes from shifting. Tang Ximing, a senior engineer at a state-owned forestry farm in Zhongwei, crafted a steel tool that differs from regular shovels by featuring two horizontal bars at the front tip. This innovative tool enables the planting of seedling roots 50 centimeters deep into the moist sand layer. This simple tool increases the survival rate of affor

Charity group in Yemen's capital helps patients to see light again

STORY: Charity group in Yemen's capital helps patients to see light again DATELINE: March 30, 2022 LENGTH: 00:03:16 LOCATION: Sanaa CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of the Al-Barraq eye center in Sanaa, Yemen's capital 2. various of ophthalmologists performing surgery on patients 3. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ABDEL-MUGHNI AL-BURRAQ, Ophthalmologist 4. various of doctors conducting examinations 5. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): MUHAMMAD ALI AL-DROUBI, Local resident 6. various of doctors checking the patients 7. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): SALEH MUQBIL, Local resident 8. various of people walking in the Al-Barraq eye center STORYLINE: A charity group in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, launched this week a free medical service campaign for the city's poor citizens suffering from eye diseases. The campaign provides free examination, regular treatment and surgeries for patients. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ABDEL-MUGHNI AL-BURRAQ, Ophthalmologist "The goal of the campaign is to help patients with limited income and who cannot affor