WHAT
CAN WE LEARN FROM THE
DESERTIFICATION
IN DUOLUN
By Chen Jiqun Original Chinese
I.
Historical Background of Duolun County
Duolun
is situated in the southern part of Xilin
Gol
League, 180 kilometers north of Beijing. It has
an
agricultural population of 100,000 and an annual
average
rainfall of 400 millimeters. With an area of
3700
square kilometers, less than 2% of the total
area
of the Xilin Gol League, Duolun has over half
of
the League's surface water resources with 47 rivers
and
more than 60 lakes, which are the major
headstream
of the Luanhe River and the Miyun Reservoir
in
Tianjin and Beijing.
Duolun
County previously was an important
political
district with the best grassland in the
League.
About 200 years ago during the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911),
the grassland was reclaimed for
growing
crops. The nomads gradually left the
grassland,
and the forest in the south of the county
gradually
disappeared, causing the sandy land in the
north
to move southward. After the founding of the
People's
Republic of China, the county was assessed
as
a national key county of poverty alleviation.
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nature
had caused pain and loss to the herdsmen,
they
still loved her, for all they had come from
nature.
In the long term search of a way to live in
harmony
with nature despite all of those conflicts,
the
herdsmen gained much knowledge that could
not
be found from books. This knowledge has been
passed
down from generation to generation till today.
Why
does the pasture decline day by day in
modern
times? The herdsmen can not find the
answer.
The quality of the grass is going from bad
to
worse, while the types of forage grass are becoming
fewer
and fewer. The water level lowers in the
river.
Many lakes have disappeared. They see all
this
happening, but have no way to stop it.
In
recent years, two banners in Wuzhumuqin
have
caught a fever of getting prosperous by
Duolun
County previously was an important
political
district with the best grassland in the
League.
About 200 years ago during the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911),
the grassland was reclaimed for
growing
crops. The nomads gradually left the
grassland,
and the forest in the south of the county
gradually
disappeared, causing the sandy land in the
north
to move southward. After the founding of the
People's
Republic of China, the county was assessed
as
a national key county of poverty alleviation.
industrialization.
All kinds of investors, such as
miners,
manufacturers, and cow raisers, seem to turn
up
in my homeland overnight. I don't know what the
industrial
exploitation will bring to us. Before industry
enhances
our financial income, we have already
seen
the damage it causes to our pasture. What will
the
dying pasture become under the pressure of the
so-called
industrial revolution? No one knows.
In
search of answers, I came to attend this
seminar,
and I learned from it what is happening to
our
grassland is desertification. Our primary concern
is
the condition of the pasture. Our economic
gains
are decided by the pasture's quality. To develop
a
sustainable economy, we must protect the
pasture
and water. We must protect the environment.
By
Chen Jiqun
FOCAL
ISSUE
(Translated
by Chen Yinan)
3
WWW.fon.org.cn
FOCAL
ISSUE
II.
Deterioration of the Environment and its Causes
Among
all counties in Xilin Gol League,
Duolun
has the best natural conditions, but suffers
the
most from desertification and sandstorms.
In
the mid 1990s, the ecological environment
of
Duolun drastically deteriorated. 70% of its land
turned
into desert, forming large areas of moving
dunes
and becoming one of the sources of sandstorms
that
threatened Beijing and Tianjin. To imagine
how
much topsoil is brought from Duolun to
Tianjin
and Beijing each year by sandstorms, visualize
1.7
million trucks, each with a capacity of ten
tons,
traveling to the two cities, loading and unloading
sand
throughout the year.
What
has caused such serious environmental
deterioration
on the best grassland of Xilin Gol? A
tentative
conclusion can be drawn from the experience
of
Zhao Chengxiang, a farmer who used to live
in
the town of Heishan.
Case
study: (References: The Beijing News,
September
28, 2005)
A
shabby house with only half of its tile roof
remaining
stands where Zhao's home once was.
Behind
the house, weeds grow along the sand-dune
that
almost reaches the roof. Formerly, the house
sheltered
three generations of Zhao's family, who
primarily
depended on farming for a living. Twenty
years
ago, Zhao contracted to be responsible for 36
mu,
or 2.4 hectares, of land.
"At
the end of the 1980s, the government called
on
us to make money through raising livestock," said
the
72-year-old Zhao. He said that his family had
about
a dozen sheep at first, and then the number
gradually
increased until it reached 170. However,
the
small patch of land Zhao owned could hardly
feed
all the sheep, which consumed not only all the
grass
but even the grass roots. A villager explained
that
was why the surface of the earth was destroyed
and
sands were exposed. When strong winds blew,
sandstorms
would occur.
"There
had been winds before, but not as
sandy
as in the following years," said Zhao. He
said
that since fodder was in short supply, he had
no
choice but to sell his sheep in exchange for
about
a dozen cattle. However, the cattle quickly
increased
to 70, needing as much grass as 350
sheep,
or as much as nearly 7,000 mu (467
hectares)
of grassland could provide. With only
ited
vegetation on his lot and the nearby area,
which
led to the deterioration of the ecology.
F
R I E N D S O F NAT U R E 4
2.4
hectares of land, Zhao over-exploited the lim-
What
was the main reason for serious desertification
of
this purely agricultural county? After various
investigations
including talking with households
who
left their hometown because of the worsening
environment,
we found that the environmental problems
in
the 1990s were caused by the policy of the
III.
Combating Desertification in Duolun and its Implications
The
ten-year project to combat desertification
in
Duolun was started in June 2000. According to
data
provided by the Duolun government, the country
invested
a total of 137 million yuan (about 17
million
US dollars) in the county from 2000 to 2005.
Sand
dunes diminish after combating desertifi-
"reforesting
on cultivated land" and about 1.6 million
US
dollars for subsidies for banning grazing.
Most
of the investment was used to plant trees and
grow
grass, about 1,375 US dollars for each
household.
The financing will be provided gratis
until
2008. At present, the proportion of vegetation
covering
the treated areas has risen from less than
30%
in 2000 to 70%.
Reflecting
on the present combat against the
desertification
in Duolun, we must ask the following
questions:
1.
How will Duolun manage to continue the
effort
without free financing after 2008?
2.
Duolun accounts for 1.9% of the total area
of
Xilin Gol but uses over 50% of the League's water
resources.
Is the analysis of the causes for its
desertification
and its experience of banning grazing
applicable
to the northern dry grassland?
3.
Could such problems have been avoided if
the
local governments had taken the environment
into
consideration when planning economic
development?
We
welcome readers to view the map of Duolun
at
http://www.cy.ngo.cn/map_xilin_duolun_en.GIF
Chen
Jiqun is Director of the Echoing Steppe
website
and project manager of the FON
Project
to Protect Grassland. Of the total, about 11 million US dollars was
spent
cation
in Duolun
on
controlling the source of sand storms, about 4.4
million
US dollars for subsidies for the project of
FOCAL
ISSUE
local
government that encouraged farmers to raise
more
livestock for income. As local statistics show,
livestock
raised in the county in 1999 totaled 600,
000,
about 30 times that of 1950. Such a leap led to
serious
desertification. In conclusion, desertification
in
Duolun was a result of wrong policy decisions.
(Translated by Wang Xiuqiong)
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