Not a single straw used to grow in the barren desert, today 66 billion trees have grown, China has again surprised nature!

China is a country whose achievements often surprise the world. Now China has surprised people by growing more than 66 billion trees in the barren desert. We are talking about the Taklamakan Desert, which is located in the north-west of China and is known as the ‘Sea of ​​Death’.

There were never any signs of life here, the sand dunes kept moving, but today a green circle has formed here. China’s ‘Great Green Wall’ or ‘Three-North Shelterbelt Program’ has made this possible. This mega project, started in 1978, aimed to stop the spread of deserts like Gobi and Taklamakan by 2050. The Taklamakan Desert is spread over about 3,37,000 square kilometers, which is as big as the state of Montana. The sand here kept rotating more than 95%, which caused sand storms in the surrounding areas. But looking at this place today no one can say that it was once a desert.

changed face
After 1950, the desert spread further due to urbanization and farming. But to stop this, China started the ‘Great Green Wall’, in which billions of trees were planted. According to latest reports, more than 66 billion trees have been planted in North China so far. In November 2024, China announced that the 3,046 km long green ring around the Taklamakan Desert was completed. Desert-resistant trees like red willow, saxaul, desert poplar etc. have been planted in this circle. The last 100 meters of work was done in Yutian County. Due to this project, the sand dunes have become stable and the desert has now become a carbon sink, that is, it absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere than it releases.

surprised people
Reports like Live Science and Reuters suggest that this project could increase China’s total forest cover from 10% in 1949 to more than 25% in 2024. In Xinjiang province itself, forest cover increased from 1% to 5%. The spread of desert has stopped and dust storms have reduced, especially in cities like Beijing. The project has planted trees in an area of ​​more than 30 million hectares, which is an area larger than Britain. This work was not easy. In the initial years, many trees used to die because there is less water in the desert and the soil is poor. But China used drone seeding, satellite monitoring, AI and intelligent robots. Drought-tolerant species were selected. Trees were planted in clusters so that they support each other. Now this area is becoming a center of biodiversity, where birds and animals have returned.

project successful
Scientists say that this is the world’s largest ecological engineering project. It is making a big contribution in fighting climate change. Although some experts believe the impact on sandstorms is debatable, the success in carbon sequestration and desert stabilization is clear. China is now planning to plant another 34 billion trees.