[Commentary] Early in the morning on May 28, the herdsman Renman Dahu was about to go out to the water pond to look after his crabs. Narenmandahu lived near the Kubuqi Desert in Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where it was once called a "sea of ​​death" because of the lack of grass and the wind and sand.

　　Today, after the local "drainage of the Yellow River into the sand", the Kubuqi Desert hinterland presents an ecological landscape of joyful fish, bushes, cattle foraging, and waterbirds soaring in the sky. In addition to becoming a local cattle farmer, the herder Narenmandah also flowed through the water in his Kubuqi Desert "aquatic ecology", doing what he used to "dare not even think about"-raising crabs in the desert .

　　[Same period] Local herder Narenmandah

　　In the past we were also deserts, and the yellow sand was also large. Now that we are raising cattle, we have never imagined raising so many cows, grass, water, and even no crabs in the desert.

　　【Explanation】 The Kubuqi Desert, located in the Hangjin Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is the seventh largest desert in China. Its hinterland lacks water all year round and its ecology deteriorated once. The Yellow River flows through Hangjin Banner with a total length of 249 kilometers. It is the longest flowing Qi County in the Yellow River Basin of China. However, during the annual flood season, the high currents will endanger the surrounding fields and cause water damage. For this reason, the official of Hangjinqi decided to turn the harm into a profit and "introduce the yellow into the sand." At this point, a battle to dye the green Kubuqi desert officially began.

　　[Same period] Liu Haiquan, Director of the Ordos Hangjinqi Water Conservancy Bureau

　　So one side is water damage and the other side is sand damage, so how to turn the damage into profit? Starting in 2015, an innovative model of diversion of the Yellow River's Lingshui water and sand was proposed to bring the harmful water of the Yellow River's Ling flood to the Kubuqi desert to provide ecological water resources support for the Kubuqi desert.

　　【Explanation】 Since 2016, Hangjinqi has built a flood diversion sluice with a diversion of 38 kilometers and a total of 245 million cubic meters of diversion from the Yellow River. Nearly 100 square kilometers of wetlands have been formed in the Kubuqi Desert. More than 20 kinds of plants have naturally resumed growth, and more than 10 kinds of waterbirds have long-term habitat.

　　[Same period] Liu Haiquan, Director of the Ordos Hangjinqi Water Conservancy Bureau

　　After the project "introducing the Yellow River into the sand" was completed, it effectively relieved the problem of desert ecological water shortage. In the next step, we will form a 5 km wide "green barrier" on the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert in order to create the northern border of the motherland The beautiful scenery adds luster to the sky.

　　(Reporter Li Aiping Chen Feng Niu Yuxi Ordos reports)

Editor in charge: [Chen Haifeng]