The name "Jiangnan on the Great Wall" is well deserved! Build a strong ecological barrier at the stroke of the Yellow River!

"The Yellow River flows westwards and breaks through Kunlun, roaring for thousands of miles and touching Longmen." The winding Yellow River rushes into the sea, outlining a big "几" character on the land of China. Ningxia is located at the stroke of the "几" character in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is the only province in the country that belongs to the Yellow River basin. Ningxia is an important ecological security barrier in the northwest region.

In recent years, Ningxia has insisted on integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts, promoted the implementation of a number of major engineering projects, continuously improved the quality of the ecological environment, and built a solid ecological security barrier.

Wetlands are the kidneys of the Yellow River. Ningxia has 3.1 million mu of wetlands, of which river wetlands account for the largest area, reaching 1.47 million mu. The total wetland area in the Yellow River reservoir area of ​​Qingtongxia is nearly 300,000 mu, known as the "Bird Island". Ningxia actively promotes the comprehensive cleanup and rectification of human activity sites, promotes the "returning farmland to wetlands" governance, promotes regional recycled water utilization and ecological protection and restoration, implements comprehensive governance of key drainage ditches into the Yellow River, and promotes water environment improvement. Today, the wetlands have been "lost and recovered". During the migratory period of migratory birds, there are up to hundreds of thousands of birds in the reservoir area, and the ecosystem has been restored as a whole.

File photo: Autumn scenery of Ningxia Shahu Scenic Area taken by drone

Shahu is the largest lake in Ningxia and an important wetland in the Yellow River Basin. In 2023, the Ningxia Farmland Reclamation Dashahu Regional Ecological Environment Oriented Development Project was launched, and multiple sub-projects such as water purification, water ecological management, and agricultural breeding and recycling were promoted simultaneously. As of October 2023, the water purification project of the artificial wetland of the sewage treatment plant on the north bank of Shahu has been completed.

Ningxia is adjacent to Maowusu in the east, Wulanbu in the north, and Tengger in the west. Surrounded by sand on three sides, it is one of the provinces with the most serious land desertification in China. As early as the 1950s, Ningxia creatively used the grass grid to fix sand dunes to prevent the desert section of the Baolan Railway, my country's first desert railway, from being buried by quicksand, ensuring that this section of the railway was safe for decades. Today, at the afforestation site of Baijitan National Nature Reserve in Lingwu, Ningxia, staff members innovatively use sand area hole seeding technology to improve the survival rate of afforestation. On the edge of Maowusu Desert, there is a green barrier 30 kilometers wide from east to west and 61 kilometers long from north to south. It was built by Baijitan at a rate of 20,000 mu of afforestation per year. Baijitan is an important part of the "Three Norths" shelterbelt system. Ningxia's battle to promote sand prevention and control has been ongoing and has never stopped.

"The Yellow River flows from the sky to the East China Sea, and thousands of miles are written in my heart." On the new journey, Ningxia is contributing its strength by carrying out large-scale protection and coordinating the promotion of large-scale governance.

Review expert: Yang Rurong, associate researcher at the Institute of Geography and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Xinhuanet

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