Establishment of “Green Belt” to Combat Desertification Project in Inner Mongolia

Year Started	2001
Name of Coordinator	Mr. Kuroda Yunoshin
Activities	Massive tree planting activities involving the locals and Japanese volunteers to cover an area of 800 km x 14 km and establish a “Green Belt” where the locals can secure sustainable lives. The established Ecology Institute of OISCA in Alashan is conducting research and experiments on the effective means to cope with the desertification problem of the area. The innovative techniques are incorporated in the implementation of project. Such technique includes random spreading of 500 kg seeds in the 73 ha land using airplane. The seeds are indigenous species which are securely covered with soil.
Project Impact	With an area of 270,000 square kilometers, an annual precipitation of only 150 millimeters and at the rate of 1,000 square kilometers of desertification every year, Alashan is believed to be the source of the 40% of blown yellow sand in China and its neighboring countries including Japan. The less than 500 hectares area covered by OISCA from the massive reforestation activities somehow helped in mitigating the said problem.
Number of Hectares	493 Hectares
Project Location	Alashan, Inner Mongolia, China