Inner Mongolia: Fighting Deserts in the Steppe

Stopping in the middle of the steppe in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, your gaze is immediately drone to the horizon. It is difficult for the human eye to fully sense the immense distances of green pastures. Charming is the best way to describe it as this huge stretch of land is full of traditional yurt homes, herds of animals, a lake full of fish and tons of wildflowers. Spinning around, you realize that the space surrounding you is not empty, it is seemingly endless greenery unoccupied by anyone in particular. In some places, the solidity of color is only interrupted by a detached white yurt or a small herd of grazing cattle. In the middle of the steppe, you can see sandy bald spots where one laid grass. As it turns out, these sands are not exactly unique to this beautiful landscape. Similar pastures are found in Zhenglan Banner in northern part of Inner Mongolia, where the problem of desertification is especially apparent.

“Do you see the green trees over there? There used to be a bare desert in that place,” pointing into the distance, said Yu Chuang, director of the local Forestry and Pasture Bureau, whom we met in Zhenglan Banner.

Combating Desertification

The Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project in the region combined biological and engineering measures to accelerate the restoration of the environment and forest and grass vegetation.

“Since 2000, we have invested a total of RMB 610 million on green projects for a total of 205,051 hectares, treated 18,081 hectares of the small watershed, built 1,077 water projects and 800 irrigation projects, landscaped 21,210 hectares of farmland, and created forest plantations on an area of ​​1,631 hectares,” Yu said. According to Yu, the area of ​​vegetation has increased by 45 percent.

About 67 percent of the land of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is covered with natural meadows (steppes), pastures cover 87 million hectares and the area of ​​forests is 24 million hectares. Despite the vast area, the ​​fertile land is rather limited. The chernozem layer covers only an insignificant part of most of the pastures, while the rest is sand, which is deficient in organic and mineral nutrients.

By the end of the 1990s, desertification of lands in Inner Mongolia became the primary issue. Drought, overgrazing, underinvestment in construction and pasture conservation have resulted in about 57 percent of the public area being affected by moderate or drastic  degradation. Environmental problems in Inner Mongolia have affected the quality of the environment. To restore degraded pastures, the Chinese central government has passed laws and regulations to protect pastures and curb land conversion activities. Since the turn of the century, several large-scale national programs have been implemented under which the government has invested billions of yuan to create a balanced production of grassy pastures and livestock.

“Since 2017, the reforestation project has been ongoing in the area. The uninhabited land has been planted with herbaceous and trees. The improvement in the environment goes along with the increase of farmers' income”, said Yu Zhuang.

“Golden” Fish of Dalai Nur Lake

Desertification is not the only problem in the region. The interdependence between human activity and the environment forms a delicate balance that is easy to break but difficult to restore. The annual decrease in natural water resources in the region is primarily associated with environmental degradation and overgrazing.

Dalai Nur Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Inner Mongolia. It is located on the Barga Plateau in the north of Inner Mongolia. In the early 2000s, there was a prolonged drought in the north of China. Annual precipitation in the lake area dropped to 100 mm, while evaporation was more than 1000 mm. This led to a sharp reduction in the volume of water, and in 2005, the area of ​​the lake shrank to  300 km. This figure continues to decline.

“Dalai Nur Lake is as big as 228 square kilometers and has approximately 1.3 billion cubic meters of water. The shoreline has shrunk over the past decade. This means that the lake has begun to dry up. In recent years, the local ecology has been restored, and the water reservoir has increased by several millimeters due to restrictions on cattle grazing near the lake, improvement of quality, conservation of water sources and management of salt, and alkaline shoals. Today, the protected area covers more than 1,190 square kilometers,” said Song Dafu, deputy county mayor of Hexigten Banner, who manages  ecological construction.

It is not so easy to approach the lake itself. All pastures are fenced off, livestock does not graze. You can hardly ever see a cattle-breeding farm here. The local population is mainly engaged in fishing. Fishing was a primordial occupation, but later gave way to cattle breeding.

As the locals said, the lake is abundant in fish. About 7,000 tons are caught here annually. It is interesting that more fish is caught in winter, somewhat less in summer. This is explained by the fact that in winter the fish leaves the freezing rivers – Kerulen, which flows into the lake from the south-west, from Mongolia, and Orshon-Gol – from the east – goes into a warmer lake.

Huazi is considered to be the queen of local waters. This fish is rich in many trace elements and amino acids. The protein content is significantly higher than the fat content. And the percentage of sodium and copper is higher than that of other similar fish. “One such fish will replace four ordinary ones in terms of the complex of nutrients,” said Huang He, the deputy head of the Hexigten Banner.

In addition to fishing, which is the main source of income for the people who live here, not so long ago these places began to attract tourists. “Tourism here is seasonal. About 700,000 travelers visit these places annually. More than 25,000 farmers are also employed in the tourism sector, which brings them significant additional income from the sale of jerky meat, which is in great demand, and from accompanying tourists,” said Song Dafu, the deputy county mayor of Hexigten Banner.

It is not hard to guess what attracts tourists. Travelers come here to take a break from the urban rhythm and enjoy nature. Here, indeed, time seems to be dragging on longer. “The nature here is unique, and we want to preserve it. Ecotourism is what people come to see,” said one of the local fish factory workers.

Here, the night sky in the steppe seems to hang low. Everything is strewn with stars, and even the Milky Way is visible in  night. At dinner, the locals treated us to fish. I had two, and then two more over the evening fire.