Desertification reversed in Inner Mongolia: survey

The trend of desertification has been reversed in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to the latest survey.

The regional government on Thursday published desertification monitoring results, which shows deserts in the region now cover 609,200 square km, about 51.5 percent of the region's territory.

This is a reduction of 4,169 square km compared to a previous survey in 2009, translating into an average decrease of 834 square km of desert areas annually over the past seven years.

Meanwhile, desertified land, which is on the verge of becoming desert, was reduced by 3,432 square km to 407,800 square km.

Expanding deserts are a global problem. It is estimated that one-third of the earth is exposed to desertification, affecting millions of people worldwide.

China has spent decades curbing desertification through greening.

China shared its experience in stopping the spread of the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia on the sidelines of the Paris Climate Conference in December last year.

The "Kubuqi Model" in the seventh largest desert in the country and the nearest to Beijing was recommended by experts from the UN Environment Programme and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as an example to help people in other parts of the world combat desertification.

Despite the success, Inner Mongolia regional government pointed out that based on the latest survey, the tendency of ecological degrading in the region has yet to be "basically contained." Problems ranging from a shortage of funding, difficulties in land treatment and vegetation protection are all challenging. Endi