Desert | National Geographic

the farmland of Wang Yong Thanh and
Hebei province lies abandoned over the
last century sand has devoured the rich
pastures as sand dunes edged closer to
Beijing each year
northern China is rapidly turning to
desert but you know just don’t say that
Beijing this ship Xiang Shao Qiang the
director of Beijing’s forestation Bureau
says sandstorms have been harmful to
people and disastrous to the environment
more than 17 percent of China’s landmass
is now desert each spring Beijing
usually has at least one sandstorm some
experts believe the country’s problem is
a result of his fast-paced development
China’s meteorological Bureau has
launched a monitoring system predicting
sandstorms up to three days in advance
professor shoes Wang says the system is
vital to combatting the often crippling
effects of the storm the sandstorms of
Phegley visibility preventing planes
from taking off and landing and thus
causing delays reduced visibility on the
roads brings accidents so they are a
major inconvenience for commuters and
travelers the dust from the storms also
gets into people’s lungs and creates
serious health problems but the
forestation bureau’s work to build a
green great wall of trees across the
desert of northern China seems to be
paying off
according to officials there has been a
marginal shrinkage in desert since 2001
due in part to a large tree planting
effort despite these advances the
possibility of northern China turning
into a veritable desert still looms