Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China completed on Sunday sand-blocking barriers encircling three major deserts in its Alxa League region, setting a major milestone in the country's decades-long battle against desertification.
The final section of straw checkerboards, a traditional sand-fixing method, was completed Sunday morning on the southeastern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert. With this, a green belt stretching 1,856 kilometers has fully enclosed the Badain Jaran Desert, the Ulan Buh Desert, and the Tengger Desert in Alxa League, which will halt the further sand encroachment.
The sand-fixing method of straw checkerboards involves planting straw in a checkerboard pattern on the desert surface to stabilize sand and prevent wind erosion. Known as desert edge-locking project, this approach was designed to fix shifting dunes by planting vegetation belts along the desert's perimeter, preventing further encroachment.
The Alxa League spans 270,000 square kilometers, with nearly 74 percent of its land classified as desertified. The three deserts together cover over 94,700 square kilometers, more than one-third of the region's total area and over 80 percent of Inner Mongolia's desert land.
Through years' efforts on sand control, local authorities constructed 1,425 kilometers of green barriers along the rim of three deserts at the end of last year. This year, authorities decided to close the final 431-kilometer gap in the sand-blocking belt through both manual and mechanical sand-fixing techniques.
By combining sand control with new energy development, the region has implemented aerial seeding and enclosed ecological restoration tailored to different land types, aiming to boost the survival rate of vegetation in the green belt.
Currently, over 50 percent of sand control operations in Alxa are mechanized, and eight solar-powered sand-control projects have been completed.
Alxa also plans to consolidate its sand-control result and develop desert-based industries such as eco-tourism and renewable energy to promote both environmental and economic resilience.
China completes sand-blocking barriers encircling three major deserts in Inner Mongolia
Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei-Sarraf on Saturday condemned the United States and Israel for attacking Iranian academic institutions and research facilities, saying that more than 30 universities across the country have been directly targeted since the war started in late February.
The official made the condemnation when speaking to reporters at the site of the damaged Shahid Beheshti University in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Simaei-Sarraf said five university professors and more than 60 students had been killed in the strikes so far, describing attacks on Iranian infrastructure as "crimes against humanity."
Those killed include Saeed Shamghadri, an associate professor at the Iran University of Science and Technology. "Since the war started, five university professors, including Professor Shamghadri, and more than 60 university students have been killed. As I mentioned before, more than 30 universities in Iran have been attacked. It is unbelievable that in an era when democratic values, rights, international law, and human rights are being promoted, the most obvious of these rights are being trampled, violated, and attacked," said Simaei-Sarraf.
An U.S.-Israeli air raid hit the laser and plasma research center of the Shahid Beheshti University on Friday, destroying the interior of the entire building and shattering all the windows. The force of the strike also shattered almost all the windows on another building about 100 meters away from the explosion site.
A researcher at the university said it is incomprehensible that such a facility could become a target of attacks.
"You can see that there's neither any military personnel or military activity here. This is a place where only research was being conducted. Why did it become a target of attacks? What was the motive for this crime?" Azimi, the researcher, said in an interview with China Media Group.
Since the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran started, the Iranian government has repeatedly denounced the two countries for targeting the country's academic institutions and research facilities, calling such attacks serious war crimes.
Iranian official condemns U.S.-Israeli strikes on universities
