Satellite imagery has showed that China's effort to contain the expansion of the extra-large Taklimakan Desert by encircling it with a sand-blocking green belt has paid off.
The Taklimakan Desert, located in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, covers 337,600 square km and its circumference measures 3,046 km, making it the largest desert in China and the second-largest drifting desert in the world.
The project to fully enclose the desert with a green belt spanned over 40 years, and its completion was achieved at the end of 2024.
On the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert lies the Aiximan Lake area, located in Awat County, Aksu Prefecture.
Previously plagued by desertification, soil erosion and wetland degradation, this lake area in the western part of the Aksu River basin was once a major source of windblown sand in the basin's oasis.
Today, it is a lush landscape, with expansive forests standing tall and lucid rivers meandering along the forest's perimeter.
This transformation began in 2021 with the implementation of Aksu's ecological restoration and desertification control project. Harnessing recycled water resources from Aksu and Wensu County, the project utilized artificial irrigation as its central strategy to establish an ecological protection forest. This was complemented by the cultivation of economic and timber forests.
The region regenerates approximately 50 million cubic meters of water annually, supporting the irrigation needs of around 500,000 mu (about 33,333 hectares) of ecological restoration forests.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Aiximan achieved ecological restoration across 788,500 mu (approximately 52,567 hectares). The forest coverage rate in the region jumped from 4.5 percent to 45 percent, and the wetland vegetation coverage rate rose to 82 percent.
Qiemo County on the southeastern edge of the Taklimakan Desert also undertook a desert control project at the same time, including the planting of 150,000 suosuo tree saplings across 800 hectares of previously desertified land.
Moving farther south to the edge of the Taklimakan Desert, one can witness a burgeoning green energy sector.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, photovoltaic stations were constructed along the desert's southern edge, and large plantations of vegetation such as Alfalfa emerged on the outskirts of this vast desert, effectively halting the desert's expansion.
Satellite imagery shows China's achievements in combating desertification in Xinjiang
