Story perspectives

China’s Checkerboard Reforestation Slashes Desertified Land 10%

7/13/2026

Summary

Story summary

China’s “straw checkerboard” sand-stabilization, inserting sticks before saplings, defines the Green Great Wall.
The Three-North Protective Forest Program, launched in 1978, expanded forest cover to 500,000 sq km and reduced desertified land by 1,000 sq km.
Zhu Jiaojun’s monitoring shows desertified land fell roughly 10% since 2000 and severely desertified areas dropped over 40%.
Over 300 million rural workers, including veteran Yin Yuzhen, tend the checkerboards daily and tie tree-planting to local livelihoods.

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Story summary

China’s “straw checkerboard” sand-stabilization, inserting sticks before saplings, defines the Green Great Wall.
The Three-North Protective Forest Program, launched in 1978, expanded forest cover to 500,000 sq km and reduced desertified land by 1,000 sq km.
Zhu Jiaojun’s monitoring shows desertified land fell roughly 10% since 2000 and severely desertified areas dropped over 40%.
Over 300 million rural workers, including veteran Yin Yuzhen, tend the checkerboards daily and tie tree-planting to local livelihoods.