Weekend Long Read: The 100-Million-Tree Bet to Halt China’s Desert

Published: Aug. 1, 2026 12:49 p.m. GMT+8

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In July, the sun in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region’s Ulan Buh Desert beats down hard enough to scorch exposed skin. Gusts of wind occasionally sweep up grains of sand that strike the face like pellets.

Zhang Wenguo, 63 years old, wears a straw hat and layers of clothing as he kneels on the sand with his co-workers, installing drip-irrigation lines. Zhang has lived and worked in the Ulan Buh Desert for more than four years, working on a desert-restoration project run by the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology Foundation, known as the SEE Foundation.

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What Happened When

Early 1960s：: The eastern fringe of the Ulan Buh Desert was nearly 30 kilometers from Wuda district in Wuhai.

From the 1960s to the 2000s：: Local sayings in Wuhai included 'One windstorm a year, blowing from spring through winter' and 'Sand buries the front and back of the house and covers the asphalt roads.'

From the 1980s to the 2020s：: Alxa treated nearly 16.5 million acres of land for desertification. Forest coverage rose to 8.42% from 2.96% since the 1980s. Grassland vegetation coverage increased to 23.18% from less than 15% in the 1980s.

1990s to 2000s：: Ma Lin, Jiang Zhiyong, and Lian Shibin recall severe dust storms with yellow sand filling the sky and blinding storms common during this period.

By 2000：: Almost one-third of Wuda district in Wuhai had been swallowed by the Ulan Buh Desert.

2004 to 2024：: The area of desertified land in Alxa fell from 168,300 square kilometers in 2004 to 163,300 square kilometers in 2024. Sandy land declined from 204,500 square kilometers to 196,400 square kilometers over the same period.

Until the 2010s：: Nearly 100 million metric tons of drifting sand entered the Yellow River from the Ulan Buh each year.

Since about 2010：: Sun Jing has spent years working on ecological restoration in Alxa.

2014：: The SEE Foundation launched the 100 Million Saxaul Trees project, providing subsidies for planting desert-adapted trees. Herders were offered 100 yuan per mu by the government to plant saxaul trees, with the SEE Foundation adding 40-50 yuan per mu for maintenance.

As of 2019：: Official figures show that 2.57 million square kilometers of land (26.81% of China's territory) had been desertified, and another 1.69 million square kilometers (17.58%) was classified as sandy land.

Late 2010s：: Effects of the saxaul tree planting program began to emerge. Herders started inoculating trees with Cistanche deserticola. Grasslands gradually recovered.

Early 2020s：: Some farmers and herders who had left home for work began returning.

2022：: Zhang Wenguo began working on the desert-restoration project in the Ulan Buh Desert.

Each spring since 2022：: Zhang and his colleagues build sand barriers and plant drought-tolerant vegetation.

For much of the rest of the year beginning in 2022：: Zhang maintains planted areas, lays irrigation pipes, and waters seedlings.

July 6, 2025：: A 1,856-kilometer belt of forests and grasslands encircling the three deserts was completed, preventing their potential 'handshake.'

By the end of 2025：: The 100 Million Saxaul Trees program had planted 106 million desert-adapted trees and shrubs across Alxa, Xilingol, Ordos, and Chifeng, restoring about 324,000 acres of degraded land.

AI generated, for reference only