Yulin Off The Beaten Path

The Ordos desert extends to the north of Yulin for a whole day's driving until the floodplains of the Yellow River are reached. It was once all pasture and farmland, but climate change and overfarming has created a desert.

One of the most interesting aspects of this area is the remarkably successful anti-desertification programmes carried out by national, provincial and local governments, but also by local people: it has been a 50 year battle against the huge sand dunes, but increasingly successful. There is a huge amount of research continuing to discover the best species of dune-fixing and revegetation species and also the best methods of replanting. Small aircraft are used extensively to seed the ground with 'seed bombs'.
The local rural people have adapted to the conditions and have a good understanding of the crops to grow, how to grow them and how to slowly move back over the desert, advancing only as much as the ecosystem can cope.

The photo shows an area where the sand dunes either side of a river valley have been fixed, so protecting the agriculture and communities below. The vegetation on the left shows how dense the cover can be created. Out of sight are populus simonii varieties and salix flavida which both help to stabilise the sand, add organic matter and form an economic crop for local people (timber, silage and wicker).