LANZHOU— Once armed only with bundles of straw and boundless determination, communities in China’s arid northwestern regions are now leveraging cutting-edge technology in their fight against desertification. Scientists have moved far beyond the straw checkerboards that first kept the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway clear of encroaching dunes in the 1950s. Today, their arsenal includes advanced biotechnology and ingenious recycling methods that are redefining what’s possible in the race to reclaim the desert.
At the forefront of this transformation is the North-west Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources. Researchers there have reimagined the straw checkerboard technique by introducing biological soil crusts, what they call a “living carpet” of cyanobacteria. This innovative approach stabilises drifting sands much faster than traditional methods, laying the groundwork for shrubs and other vegetation to thrive.
Supercharged Crusts Cut Reclamation Time
“The crust acts like glue, locking sand in place while blocking invasive plants,” explained Li Xinrong, a researcher leading the effort at the institute. By cultivating drought-resistant cyanobacteria, Li’s team has cut crust formation time from over a decade to just two to three years.
This dramatic acceleration has paid dividends: shrub survival rates have climbed by up to 15 percent while overall costs have plummeted. Already, more than 4,000 mu, around 267 hectares of sandy land in Ningxia, has been treated with the method. Li emphasised that this technology not only shortens construction periods and improves stability but also delivers “high sand-fixing efficiency, excellent desertification control outcomes, broad applicability, and ease of operation.”
“It is a powerful tool for China’s efforts in combating desertification and represents one of the most advanced sand-fixing and near-natural ecological restoration technologies both domestically and internationally,” Li noted.
Wind Turbine Blades Repurposed to Halt Advancing Sands
Even more unexpected is China’s newest weapon against desertification: retired wind turbine blades. At the Dunhuang Gobi Desert Research Station, scientists have devised a way to transform these massive fibreglass structures, once symbols of renewable energy, into formidable sand barriers.
Traditional organic sand fences made of straw or reeds often fail in China’s extreme desert climates, breaking down under scorching heat and relentless UV exposure. But the retired blades, after rigors testing for UV ageing, thermal cycling, erosion, and flexural strength, have proven to be vastly superior.
The researchers found the barriers’ bending strength to be 14 times greater than wood composites, along with outstanding resistance to thermal stress and UV degradation. These characteristics make them ideally suited to China’s punishing desert environments, where durability is paramount.
Protecting Infrastructure and the Environment
This turbine blade innovation has immediate and practical applications. Scientists are optimistic it will better shield vital infrastructure like highways and railways from shifting sands. Field trials are currently underway in the hyper-arid region around Dunhuang City, where sandstorms threaten transport routes and the communities they connect.
Moreover, by repurposing blades from decommissioned wind turbines, the project simultaneously tackles two environmental problems: desertification and the mounting waste from renewable energy infrastructure.
A Science-Driven National Strategy
These technological leaps are part of China’s comprehensive strategy to reverse desertification. According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, these efforts have already protected 538 million mu of fragile land and reclaimed 118 million mu of desert nationwide.
Lu Qi, a prominent desertification expert at the Chinese Academy of Forestry, believes that scientific innovations like these are reshaping how the nation views ecological restoration. “These scientific concepts are increasingly gaining deep-rooted acceptance and effectively guiding the ecological construction in desert areas,” Lu observed.
Looking ahead, Lu is confident technology will continue to play a decisive role. “Technology, as the engine, booster, and accelerator of ecological construction, will further propel the development of sand and desert control efforts and contribute Chinese strength to global desertification governance,” he added.
As China continues its decades-long battle against the relentless advance of deserts, the fusion of advanced biotechnology and creative engineering solutions offers new hope not just for stabilising the sands at home but for sharing these hard-won lessons with the rest of the world.
