Improving Grassland Desertification Governance in Inner Mongolia

XILINHOT (May 21, 2015) – The Global Environmental Institute (GEI) and the Wulijitu Gazha village committee jointly held an exchange meeting on ‘Grassland desertification governance and controlling sources of sandstorms’ in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia.

GEI’s Program Officer Ms KONG Linghong leads the discussion – GEI 2015

The exchange focussed on enabling a wider range of herdsmen to fully understand desertification governance technologies and techniques, promoting government and other organizations to attach importance to effective desertification governance, and enabling the sources of sandstorms to be governed and controlled as soon as possible.

Herders from Inner Mongolia participated in the Workshop – GEI 2015

A total of 20 participants attended, including experts from National Geographic Air and Water Conservation Fund, Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology, EcoPeace Asia and Inner Mongolia University, along with government leaders and herdsmen from Xilinhot and Wulijitu.

Experience Sharing for Improved Grasslands

After introducing the desertification governance projects and experience of their respective organizations, the experts took the opportunity to inquire about the circumstances surrounding desertification in Wulijitu and the governance processes with the government officials and herdsmen leaders. The participating herdsmen expressed great interest in the governance methods and results introduced.

Following the exchange, the experts also visited GEI’s desertification governance project site in Wulijitu to conduct a site inspection.

The Site Inspection allowed the team to assess the project’s progress – GEI 2015

The exchange meeting and site inspection held in May allowed herdsmen to understand a range of techniques and methods for controlling desertification, increased the important that government attaches to grassland desertification governance, while also strengthening confidence in such control measures.

About Wulijitu Gazha Grassland

Wulijitu Gazha – GEI 2015

Wulijitu Gazha is located in Xilin Gol league, Inner Mongolia, and consists of 55,400 hectares of grassland, 12,000 (21.6%) of which is degraded and over 13,300 (24.1%) which is has already suffered desertification. At present, localized desertification in the grassland is critical. Although these areas have not joined to form one larger area yet, their appearance represents the initial stages of widespread desertification and the local herdsmen are very concerned about the grassland turning into a desert.

About GEI’s Inner Mongolia Project

Beginning in 2011, with the support of the village committee and in cooperation with the local herdsmen, GEI introduced the grassland conservation agreement mechanism and began a desertification governance demonstration project in the area.

Under expert guidance, in 2012 GEI purchased over 80,000 Korshinsk Peashrubs in order to control desertification across an area of 15 hectares. Over 90% survival rate was achieved once the shrubs were planted, and local herdsmen installed protective fences themselves. However, some areas were hit hard by strong winds in the spring time, which exposed the roots of the Korshinsk Peashrubs in these areas to the elements and puts their survival in danger.

In 2014, following the financial support provided by the National Geographic Air and Water Conservation Fund, GEI was able to implement comprehensive physical and biological measures to govern desertification in an area covering 66.6 hectares.