China builds a green belt to protect a desert highway from sand

Chinese researchers and energy workers created a 436-kilometer green belt to protect the Tarim Desert Highway in the Xinjiang region of northwest China.

The highway, which opened in 1995 to create an energy corridor, faced the risk of being buried by sand and wind.

To combat this, the Tarim oil field and the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography launched a program to select hardy plants capable of surviving in an environment with less than 11 millimeters of annual rainfall and high salt concentrations in the groundwater. The project began in 2003 alongside the creation of the Tazhong botanical garden. Workers introduced nearly 500 plant species, which underwent a three to five year acclimatization process to ensure they could survive the harsh conditions.

Chang Qing, a principal engineer at the institute, stated that the selected plants can be irrigated directly with salt water. By the time the project finished in 2005, the vegetation formed an ecological barrier over 70 meters wide. The belt now features plants with an average height of more than 2 meters. This new habitat has attracted more than 100 bird species and various desert animals like hares, gerbils, and sand foxes.