Jiuquan city, located in Northwest China's Gansu province, has adhered to a policy of promoting desertification prevention and control, writing a new chapter in ecological governance.

As a result, the area of desertification land and sandy land in the city's Suzhou district has decreased to 231,013 hectares and 106,133 hectares, respectively, from 258,013 hectares and 133,133 hectares in 2019, according to Yan Jun, head of the district's forestry and grassland bureau.

With the continuous updating of sand prevention and stabilization technologies, there has been a significant impact in recent years from desert edge locking, preventing the expansion of deserts, particularly by stabilizing the shifting dunes and green belts along their perimeters.

With the help of unmanned aerial vehicles, the dissemination of engineered sand fixation has also extended to the desert hinterland that is not easily accessible by vehicles.

Yuze Lake Park in Yumen city, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jiuquan. [Photo/Jiuquan Integrated Media Center]

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Jiuquan has completed 92,033 hectares of forest planting and restored 340,840 hectares of degraded grasslands, improving the ecology of key treatment areas.

From sand often filling the spring air to lush greenery, Jiuquan has improved the quality of the region's ecosystem and the living standards of its residents through great ecological governance.

In response to the decline in water conservation functions and threats to biodiversity in the Qilian Mountains, Jiuquan implemented a water conservation and ecological protection restoration project for the northern foot of the mountains between 2022 and 2024.

The project significantly increased the coverage of degraded grassland areas, curbed the degradation trend of damaged forests and also played a role in windbreak and sand fixation.