Desertification Threatens Ancient Chinese Town

Nov. 20, 2007 -- Towering sand dunes loom over the ancient Chinese city of Dunhuang like giant waves about to break, and they are already lapping at Ma Wangzhen's onion farm.

She points a rough finger at a line of dead trees, half-buried in sand, planted years ago as part of her 20-year losing battle to halt the once-distant dunes which now threaten to spill into her onion crop.

"It moves very fast, much faster than anything I can do to stop it," said Ma, 60.

Ma is on the front lines of a national struggle against a relentless foe: desertification.

An ancient oasis in destitute Gansu province along the historic Silk Road, Dunhuang is in danger of being swallowed by the sands of the adjacent Kumtag desert, which are creeping closer at a rate of up to 13 feet a year.

The city's plight starkly illustrates the threat of desertification and the hard choices it presents to tens of millions of people living across northern and western China.

About one million square miles were classified as desert wasteland in the most recent government survey in 2004, up more than 50 percent in a decade and challenging China's ability to feed its 1.3 billion people.

The problem stems from centuries of unsustainable grazing and farming practices and overuse of already slim and strained water resources.

The government has attempted to blunt the spread through reforestation, incentives and other means, said Greenpeace China climate change campaigner Li Yan.

But the hotter, drier climate due to global warming poses a renewed threat, she adds.

"This is already a serious problem for China, and Greenpeace is extremely worried that climate change will worsen it," she said.

Once a welcome oasis for Silk Road travelers thanks to an ancient store of groundwater, Dunhuang is drying up.