China News Agency, Qinghai Haiyan, September 25th, title: Sand Control by Qinghai Lake: Building China's Second Saihanba
China News Agency reporter Zhang Tianfu
Will Qinghai Lake become the second Lop Nur?
In the first few years of the 21st century, this question about the "destiny" of Qinghai Lake, the largest saltwater lake in inland China, is thought-provoking.
At that time, experts predicted that Qinghai Lake was facing an increasingly serious threat of desertification. If its ecological environment is not effectively managed, it will disappear in 200 years.
The Qinghai Lake Basin is an international migratory bird migration channel and an internationally important wetland, and a natural barrier to control the eastward spread of desertification in the west.
The quality of its ecological environment not only affects the watershed, but also plays a pivotal role in controlling and regulating the surrounding areas.
The above predictions are not alarmist.
At that time, the water level of Qinghai Lake, known as the sapphire of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, continued to decline, the desertification of the land continued to expand, the plague of rats and insects in the grasslands was frequent, the fishery resources were depleted, the wetland area was shrinking, and rare wild animals were on the verge of extinction.
"In winter and spring, sand can be buried at the door of the house." Many years ago, an old man in the Ketu and pastoral area on the north bank of Qinghai Lake introduced to Ma Wenhu, a senior engineer at the Bureau of Natural Resources, Forestry and Grassland, Haiyan County, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
Ma Wenhu said that after the co-pastoral area was degraded into lakeside sandy land, since the 1980s, the local area of about 60,000 mu of Ketu sandy area has been controlled by a combination of sealing and nurturing methods. Just like a cage, lock the sand area and prevent it from spreading to the surrounding area. Then, push forward to the hinterland of the sand area, hoping that the speed of sand control will be faster than the speed of desertification.”
Ice grass, Artemisia, sea buckthorn, Jinlumei, Qinghai spruce, Pinus sylvestris... Now, on the viewing platform of Ketusha District, dozens of herbs, shrubs and trees have built a green ocean.
Ketusha District is also known as Saihanba by Qinghai Lake.
"But sand control in the Ketu sand area may be as difficult as Saihanba." Ma Wenhu said, "The local sand area belongs to the alpine and dry sand area. Frost began to fall at the end of September, and it can freeze at the end of October. In addition, it is extremely dry. It is not conducive to the planting and growth of seedlings.”
In Ma Wenhu's view, "sand control people have to endure loneliness, and no effect can be seen in a year or two, not even in more than ten years. People have worked in Ketusha District for 40 years. People work hard and God helps. If Without a significant increase in precipitation, it may not reach the current scale, which is not easy."
In the past, when talking about the discoloration of "sand", Ma Wenhu realized that today, advocating the concept of a life community of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, local sand control has been transformed into sand prevention, combining comprehensive protection with key management.
Looking west from Ketusha District, it is Shadao, an ace scenic spot on the shore of Qinghai Lake, famous for its sand.
Reporters were allowed to enter the sand island, which had been closed for many years, black-necked cranes chirped in the freshwater wetlands, and bar-headed geese flew in flocks.
Near the lakeshore, the once popular tourist project sites such as sandboarding and beach motorcycles have green vitality.
"The original tourist activity area has been returned to nature." Chen Dehui, director of the Tourism Management Office of the Qinghai Lake Scenic Area Protection and Utilization Administration, said that this is the result of natural restoration of the ecology.
"The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity are also known as the three major United Nations environmental protection conventions. It can be seen that from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, the entry of sand and the retreat of people is a global problem." Peng Kui, an expert at the Beijing Institute for Sustainable Global Environment, said, "The transmission of sand can reach hundreds of kilometers, causing sandstorms and other phenomena in cities far from deserts. People regard sand as an 'enemy' for granted."
Peng Kui said that China currently ranks first in the world in the proportion of newly added green areas in the world. In the future, under the premise of continuing to prevent sand from entering, desertification land suitable for management can be selected for sand control, rather than forcibly in the desert itself. The so-called ideal green space is created in the land, "because the desert itself is also a natural ecosystem, which has an indispensable function in maintaining natural health and stability."
At present, through systematic management and protection, in the symbiotic ecological chain of "grass-river-lake-fish-bird" unique to Qinghai Lake, the water area of Qinghai Lake has increased by about 220 square kilometers compared with 10 years ago. When the naked carp spawned and migrated in the lake, "half the river was clear and half the river fish", and the Przewalski's gazelle, which was once rarer than the giant panda, recovered to more than 2,700.
Today, Qinghai Province, named after Qinghai Lake, has the largest wetland area in China, and Qinghai Lake National Park is under construction.
(Finish)