Kubuqi Model: Turning a Desert Green

Kubuqi is the seventh largest desert in China, covering an area of 18,600 square kilometers. Extending across Ordos in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Kubuqi was once an environmentally vulnerable region, and one of the three sources of the sandstorms plaguing Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province to the southeast.

The most urgent problems included a lack of roads, rainfall and vegetation, the meager incomes of local farmers and herdsmen, frequent sandstorms, poor conditions for all types of work, and a harsh living environment.

To tackle these problems, the local authorities have made eco-environmental conservation their biggest wellbeing project. The Kubuqi model of desertification control is one that is supported by effective government policies, private investment, market-oriented engagement of farmers and herdsman, and advanced technologies. Eco-environmental restoration projects and husbandry, eco-tourism, solar power generation, and eco-friendly industry have formed a complete eco-environmental economic system in the desert.

As a result, the environment has seen remarkable improvements, eco-environmental resources have been restored, and one-third of the desert has been turned green, while the locals have a growing desert economy. This is a historic turnaround from past when humans retreated under the threat of the sand, to present when expanding greenery pushes back the desert. There have been ecological, economic and social benefits. Kubuqi has been designated by the UN as "a global eco-environmental economic pilot zone."

Kubuqi's desertification control is yet another example guided by Xi Jinping thought on eco-civilization. This model has been replicated in other deserts in China, and introduced to Saudi Arabia, Mongolia and other countries and regions under the Belt and Road Initiative. 

It is now said that China has created a model of desertification control, and that Kubuqi is the best exemplar of the China model, as it has succeeded in turning yellow sands into green banks. The China model represented by Kubuqi demonstrates the success of the Chinese method in halting land degradation and achieving sustainability for humanity.

庫布其沙漠治理

庫布其沙漠，蒙古語中意為“弓上之弦”，是中國第七大沙漠，總面積約為1.86萬平方公里，主體位于內蒙古自治區鄂爾多斯市杭錦旗境內，曾是內蒙古自治區中西部生態環境極度脆弱的地區之一，也是京津冀地區三大風沙源之一，一度被稱為生命禁區。庫布其沙漠治理方面存在亟須解決的問題，如缺植被、缺公路，降水少，農牧民收入少，沙塵暴頻發等，沙區生態環境和生產生活條件十分惡劣，改善生態與發展經濟的任務十分繁重。

為改變這一惡劣的生態環境，破解庫布其沙漠治理難題，當地黨委、政府將生態建設作為全旗最大的基礎建設和民生工程來抓，大力推進中國北疆生態安全屏障建設，探索出“黨委政府政策性主導、社會產業化投資、農牧民市場化參與、科技持續化創新”四輪驅動的“庫布其沙漠治理模式”，構建了“生態修復、生態牧業、生態健康、生態旅游、生態光伏、生態工業”一、二、三產融合發展的沙漠生態產業體系。庫布其沙漠區域生態環境明顯改善，生態資源逐步恢復，沙區經濟不斷發展，三分之一的沙漠得到治理，實現了由“沙逼人退”到“綠進沙退”的歷史性轉變，形成了“守望相助、百折不撓、科學創新、綠富同興”的“庫布其精神”，實現了生態效益、經濟效益和社會效益的有機統一，被聯合國確認為“全球生態經濟示范區”。

庫布其沙漠治理，是習近平生態文明思想的生動實踐。這一治理模式不僅在中國各大沙區成功落地，而且已走入沙特、蒙古國等“一帶一路”合作國家和地區，成為“世界治沙看中國，中國治沙看庫布其”的樣板和典范，實現了從“黃色沙漠”到“綠洲銀行”的蛻變。以庫布其治沙為代表的中國荒漠化治理，為世界荒漠化防治開出了中國藥方，為實現土地退化零增長的目標提供了中國方案，為推進人類可持續發展貢獻了中國經驗。