The Great Green Wall

"To tackle the immense problem of environmental degradation and the ever increasing loss of natural resources, since 1978, the Government of China has started the implementation of the Three-North Shelterbelt Programme, namely the “the Great Green Wall”, which is composed of the network of shelterbelts and tree plantations across the entire region in the north of China....The Three-North Shelterbelt Programme in the north of China covers an area of 4.06 million km2, up to 42% of the country's total land area... [and] is the largest afforestation programme in the world. It aims to establish 35 million ha of shelterbelt forests between 1978 and 2050... So far, over 13 million ha of plantations have been established; 4.33 million ha of mountainous and highly degradable land were closed and protected from grazing and fire and 0.4 million ha of forests were established by aerial seeding."