Snow, if it falls, can begin as early as september. Nursery and afforestation practices in inner mongolia, china. Contraction of the gobi desert, 20002012 article pdf available in remote sensing 72. In academic literature, five distinct ecoregions are considered to. The eastern gobi desert steppe extends from the inner mongolian plateau china, situated at 1,000 to 1,500 m elevation, northward into mongolia. Nursery and afforestation practices in inner mongolia. Hazards and humanenvironment systems in the gobi desert, asia. Futureoriented developments and explorations with the aid of greening and desert camps for all types of deserts or barren landscapes, also for deserts and desert explorations on the desert planet mars.
Jul 27, 2017 nevertheless, the kubuqi desert project was born of business necessity rather than altruism. Turning the into a forest sisters of charity of seton hill. Gobi has one of the worlds most extreme climates, featuring rapid temperature changes, both seasonally and daily. Troy sternberg school of geography, south parks road, oxford, ox1 3qy, uk. Apr 27, 2015 china is building a great wall of trees to fight climate change and the encroaching gobi desert. Northeastern china is a key region for chinas threenorth protective forest program, designed to hold back the expansion of the gobi desert. Effects of afforestation on water resource variations in. Get gobi deserts weather and area codes, time zone and dst. Fighting desertification with reforestation planting. January is the coldest month, and average january low and high temperatures range between 24 and 11 degrees celsius 11 to 12 degrees fahrenheit. Climate hazards are a significant challenge for human and environmental systems in the gobi desert, asia.
Most of the soil is graying brown rich in carbon and coarse gravel. As the gobi desert expands further south engulfing an average of 3,000 square kilometres every year entire communities are. Reforestation can be used to rectify the effects of deforestation or improve the quality of human life by soaking up pollution and dust from the air, rebuild natural habitats and ecosystems, mitigate global warming since forests. China is one of the countries worst affected by desertification. Afforestation means establishing the stand of trees or a forest in a particular open area where no one had established a tree in past reforestation means reestablishment of the area under forest, it can be done by natural means like seeding, root suckers or coppice or by artificial efforts by planting or direct seeding. In recent years the midwestern united states has seen a significant level of reforestation. Drought and extreme cold events frame ecological productivity and livelihood viability in.
It covers parts of northern and northwestern china and southern mongolia, crossing the govialtai, bayankhongor, zavkhan, uvs, dundgovi, dornogovi, and umnugovi aimags provinces of mongolia. The threenorth shelter forest program, also known as the threenorth shelterbelt program,green great wall or great green wall, is a series of humanplanted windbreaking forest strips shelterbelts in china, designed to hold back the expansion of the gobi desert, and provide timber to the local population. Sep 23, 2019 the gobi desert and similarly arid regions in china are expanding as processes such as overgrazing deplete vegetation on their borders, allowing wind and gravity to erode soil. Desertification is a process that turn fertile land and soil into desert areas. As the tengger expands, it is merging with two other deserts to form a vast sea of sand that could. Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees forestation in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Nevertheless, the kubuqi desert project was born of business necessity rather than altruism. Use the text box tool to create label for the countries of mongolia and china, the city of beijing, and the gobi desert. Inner mongolia is a narrow region of northern china. The gobi encompasses some 1,295,000 km 2 500,002 sq mi 1, making it the largest desert in asia and the fifth largest in the world. Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees forestation in an area where there was no previous tree cover many government and nongovernmental organizations directly engage in programs of afforestation to create forests, increase carbon capture sometimes special tools, such as a tree planting bar, are used to make planting of trees easier and faster. Afforestation along the gobi deserts margin, northern. Apr 10, 2020 there are efforts in the gobi desert in china and the sahara in africa to use afforestation to prevent the desert from claiming more land area.
The gobi desert and similarly arid regions in china are expanding as processes such as overgrazing deplete vegetation on their borders, allowing wind and gravity to erode soil. A first draft of the master plan and financial plan budget was prereleased in october, the complete business plan in december 2017. What makes this case stand out is there has been a net increase in forest cover despite a significant increase in. China is building a great green wall of trees to stop. The gobi is the largest desert in asia at approximately 1. Afforestation projects in japan started after the rebuilding that followed world war ii, when large areas of forest were clearcut for timber and to create pastures to attract immigrant farmers. There are two large environmental threats to the gobi desert.
It is very useful to animals and nomads traveling in the desert, since water is easily obtained by squeezing the bark, and the wood can be used to build a fire. There are now dunes forming just 44 miles from beijing, and some estimates put the gobis crawl south toward the capital at a. Basically, add tonnes and tonnes of organic material aka humus to the soil. Gobi desert is very dry due to the himalayas which prevent rainfall from coming towards the region. China is building a great wall of trees to fight climate change and the encroaching gobi desert. Inner mongolia is a narrow region of northern china immediately south and east of the country of mongolia. Respondents indicated the most important reasons for afforestation. Though it has gaping temperature extremes and very little water, the gobi desert plays host to an ecosystem full of animals and plant life suited to live in such a. The new master plan, business plan and financial plan for the greening deserts projects is ready after months of work. This paper investigates how these afforestation projects both challenge and. It stretches from east to west about 2,000 km, equivalent to the. The desertification of the gobi desert and its effect on. The green wall is a massive, approximately 2,800 mile long treeplanting effort to prevent this.
As a result, china currently has the highest afforestation rate of any country or region in the world, with 47,000 square kilometers of afforestation in 2008. Boundaries are determined to the east and north by the relatively moist grasslands of mongolia and manchuria, and to the west and south by the extensive semideserts of the. It would also displace the people who make the desert their home in order to set up machines and drill. The desertification of the gobi desert and its effect on beijing.
This is the largest afforestation program ever undertaken. There are now dunes forming just 44 miles from beijing, and some estimates put the gobis crawl south toward the capital at a pace of almost 2 miles per. Across the gobi desert in china and mongolia, millions of newly planted trees struggle to survive amid adverse ecological conditions. A law promulgated in 1981 requires that every citizen over the age of 11 plant at least one tree per year. It is very useful to animals and nomads traveling in the desert, since water is easily obtained by squeezing the bark, and the. Afforestation along the gobi deserts margin, northern china. One recent estimate said china had 21,000 square miles more desert than what existed in 1975. Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands forestation that have been depleted, usually through deforestation.
Afforestation and reforestation in the clean development. Nursery and afforestation practices in inner mongolia, china in midoctober 1999, i visited inner mongolia at the request of the forestry and agriculture organization to evaluate nursery practices and afforestation programs designed to protect the soil and provide wood products. They were planted by a wide variety of actors in an attempt to protect, restore, or modify the local environment, despite evidence of their negative consequences upon local ecosystems. This paper investigates how these afforestation projects both. Apr 25, 2017 the gobi desert is a vast stretch of desert and semi desert region in central asia, with its expanse covering large portions of southern mongolia and north and northwestern china. Replacing the desert in the conservation landscape. The vicinity around tongliao is heavily farmed, as is most of eastern inner mongolia, and this has resulted in major soil conservation problems. The desert basins of the gobi are bounded by the altai mountains and the grasslands and steppes of mongolia on the north, by the tibetan plateau to the southwest, and by the north china plain to the southwest. The first, and probably most potent threat would be desertification. Nursery and afforestation practices in richard tinus deceased was a research plant physiologist at the forest sciences laboratory, usda forest service, 2500 south pine ffioll drive, flagstaff, arizona, 8600 1. In an effort to combat the loss of its grassland to the gobi desert, the chinese government started the threenorth shelterbelt project, also known as the great green wall in 1978. Further good ideas and innovations can be found throughout the concept and on the official pages.
The gobi is a large desert region in northern china and southern mongolia. The desert is largely situated in a high basin with the altai mountains and mongolian steppes to the north and the tibetan plateau and north china plain to the south. Afforestation means establishing the stand of trees or a forest in a particular open area where no one had established a tree in past reforestation means reestablishment of the area under forest, it can be done by natural means like seeding, root suckers or coppice or by. Effects of afforestation on water resource variations in the. Unlike most plants in the gobi, the saxaul can grow up to 12 feet, and is the only plant that can grow in all the ecoregions of the gobi, usually on rock outcrops and gravel. Afforestation and reforestation in the clean development mechanism 325 3 social and environmental impact under a laissez faire approach i argue in this section that fast growing industrial plantations are likely to dominate under a laissez faire approach and that their environmental and social implications are likely to be highly variable.
Explore gobi deserts sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset. China and mongolia are currently trying to get approval to mine the gobi desert for gold and copper. There is great concern regarding the rate of expansion of this desert in recent history. It covers parts of northern and northeastern china and of southern mongolia. The gobi desert mostly collects its moisture water from the winters. The desert basins of the gobi are bounded by the altai mountains and the grasslands and steppes of mongolia on the north, by the taklamakan desert to the west, by the hexi corridor and tibetan plateau to the southwest and by the north.
The effect of afforestation on soil moisture content in. In china, at least 3,600 square kilometers of land is taken over by sands from the gobi desert every year. This would disrupt the natural ecosystem and harm the soil, plants, animals. In midoctober 1999, i visited inner mongolia at the request of the forestry and agriculture organization to evaluate nursery practices and afforestation programs designed to protect the soil and provide wood products. The gobi desert spans portions of both northern china and southern mongolia, covering a total area of 0. The gobi and the taklamakan desert in the northwest of china regularly blow sandstorms west, shrouding the countrys capital, beijing, in a cloak of sand. Sep 18, 2017 around 27% of china is covered in desert. Located in northern china, the gobi desert spans 1. Afforestation in the midwestern united states lcluc. What are the temperature patterns of the gobi desert.
Summer months bring temperatures of up to 122f 50c whilst. In this study, using pairwise sampling of 757 afforested and control plots, we first quantify the effect of largescale afforestation on smc across northeastern china. Mongolia is hit hard by desertification 78 % of its territory is desertified dust and sandstorms dss from the desert adversely affect the northeast asian region. Afforestation of agriculture land as a tool of rural. In the following pages, i focus on the practice of afforestation planting trees where they did not previously grow in the gobi desert in northern china and southern mongolia see figure1.
An effective intervention for sustainable development of fragile desert ecosystem chapter pdf available june 2017 with 455 reads how we measure reads. The gobi has several alternative chinese names, including. The massive afforestation effort being conducted along the eastern margin of the gobi desert is known as the green wall of china. China is building a great wall of trees to fight climate. The gobi is bounded by the grassland and steppes of mongolia and the altai ranges to the north, the da hinggan range and north china plain to the east and northeast. I present three miniaturized scenes, each an independent case study of an afforestation site, ordered. There are efforts in the gobi desert in china and the sahara in africa to use afforestation to prevent the desert from claiming more land area. Yes, theyve been working on it for years in israel. The chinese government is executing it in order to limit the effects of dryland degradation and thereby stop the expansion of the gobi desert into arable.
Nov 19, 20 yes, theyve been working on it for years in israel. Dalanzadgad is 41 miles from gobi desert, so the actual climate in gobi desert can vary a bit. Chinas treeplanting drive could falter in a warming world. Below freezing temperatures can occur as late as july. It is caused by humans cutting down forests, plants or cutting up the prominent rock in the areas. What makes this case stand out is there has been a net increase in forest cover despite a significant increase in population. I learned from thousand yearold methods and improved them with the groasis waterboxx plant cocoon system. The second threat is the potential mining of the desert. The expansion of the desert is also a product due in part to the massive deforestation china had done over the years to make room for advancements in both farming and mining.