Documentary report on Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region’s construction of an ecological barrier in the western part of the motherland
Ningxia, which is surrounded by three major deserts, began to mobilize the efforts of the entire region last year and planned to build 6 million-dollar ecological barriers in 5 years. Mu ecological protection system has built four large-scale ecological protection barriers to block the passage of northwest wind sand from invading my country's hinterland and Beijing-Tianjin region through Ningxia, thus protecting the country's ecological security.
A car drives on the desert road managed with grass grids at the Baijitan Sand Control Forest Farm in Ningxia (photo taken on June 9). "One more tree planted in Ningxia will save one grain of sand falling in Beijing. Ningxia must build an ecological barrier in the western part of the motherland and contribute to protecting the country's ecological security." Chen Jianguo, secretary of the Party Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said in an exclusive interview with reporters recently. Ningxia, which is besieged by three major deserts, has mobilized the entire region since last year. It plans to build six million-acre ecological protection systems in five years and build four large-scale ecological protection barriers to block the northwestern sandstorms from invading the hinterland of my country through Ningxia. and the Beijing-Tianjin region to protect the country’s ecological security. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Quanlong
Rebuilding an "Ecological Ningxia"
Ningxia is located in the arid inland region of the northwest, with sparse forest and grass vegetation, severe soil erosion in the south, and frequent sandstorms in the central part. . Over the years, with the support of the state, Ningxia has seized the opportunity of the development of the western region and established the concept of "focusing on ecology is focusing on development". After hard work, ecological construction has achieved remarkable results, and has initially realized the transformation from "sand forces people to retreat" to "human resources". "Forcing the Sand to Retreat" transformation. However, local deterioration of the ecological environment still exists, and it is still one of the provinces and regions with the most prominent ecological problems and the most fragile ecosystem in the country.
Relevant statistics show that by the end of last year, Ningxia’s forest coverage rate was less than 10%, less than 2/3 of the national average; the task of desertification control is arduous, and more than 10 million acres of existing desertified land need to continue to be treated .
According to Wang Delin, director of the Ningxia Forestry Bureau, parts of northwest China, including Ningxia, have now become ecologically high-risk areas. Ningxia has an important ecological location. It is surrounded by Mu Us Sandy Land, Tengger Desert, and Ulan Buh Desert to the east, west, and north respectively. It is the province most severely affected by sandstorms. If resolute measures are not taken immediately, desertification will not only become more serious, restricting the healthy development of local economic and social development, but also frequent sandstorms will occur, becoming a transit point for the "West to East Sand" in my country's hinterland and the Beijing-Tianjin region, posing a threat to regional ecological security across the country.
Wang Zhengwei, chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said that from the perspective of maintaining national ecological security, Ningxia must speed up the construction of forestry ecology, speed up the restoration of a virtuous cycle of the ecosystem, and rebuild an "ecological Ningxia" regardless of gains and losses or conditions. . To this end, Ningxia is implementing the construction of an ecological protection system covering an area of ??6 million acres, establishing four ecological protection barriers, and building a regional ecological security system. At the same time, we should develop ecological economic industries and take into account the economic interests of farmers to ensure long-lasting and efficient ecological construction.
Employees of Ningxia Baijitan Sand Control Forest Farm put up squares of grass to control sand on the edge of Mu Us Sandy Land (photo taken on June 9). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Quanlong
Building four ecological barriers
The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Party Committee and Government plan to build four ecological barriers covering Ningxia’s mountains and rivers:
An ecological barrier: The project to build a special ecological protection zone in the arid and semi-arid sensitive areas of the north will build a million-acre ecological and economical protection system for the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain in Ningxia, making the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain in Ningxia become the Hexi Corridor to transport sand to the Beijing and Tianjin regions. The slow zone of the channel and becomes a green barrier to protect the Yinchuan Plain. To this end, 1.36 million acres of ecological and economic forests will be developed to achieve the goal of a total vegetation coverage rate of more than 55% in the planned area.
The second ecological barrier: Construct a million-acre protection system project and a million-acre characteristic economic forest industry belt project in the Yellow River Irrigation District of Ningxia to build an ecological and economical protection system in the core zone of economic and social development. An additional 650,000 acres of protective forest area was added in the irrigated area, bringing the forest network control rate of cultivated land in the irrigated area to 85%; an additional 500,000 acres of characteristic economic forests, mainly wolfberry, grape and apple, were added, increasing the total area of ??economic forests in the irrigated area to 1.2 million acres. The total annual fruit output reaches one million tons, achieving the goal of achieving a total output value of more than 6 billion yuan, and more than 40% of farmers' income in main production areas coming from characteristic economic forests.
The third ecological barrier: Construct a million-acre red date economic zone in the central arid zone and a million-acre Mu Us Sandy Land renovation and sand industry development project, and build an ecological and economic protection system in the central ecological crisis zone.
An additional 700,000 acres of red dates will be added, and a number of fresh red dates and dried red dates production bases with both ecological and economic benefits will be built. The Mu Us Sandy Land is a key area for desertification prevention and control in Ningxia. The construction of a million-acre windproof and sand-fixing system can not only effectively reduce the harm of wind and sand to surrounding agricultural and animal husbandry production, but also block the east and south passages through the Alxa Plateau and the northern part of the Hexi Corridor. Extended sandstorm.
The fourth ecological barrier: Construct one million acres of ecological landscape forest in the Liupan Mountain area in the south and its surrounding areas to build an ecological protection system for the important water source conservation zone of the Loess Plateau. Liupan Mountain is an important water conservation area on the Loess Plateau and the source of the Jing River. It is also the last barrier blocking sandstorms that spread eastward and southward through the Alxa Plateau and the northern part of the Hexi Corridor. Ningxia has built 1.18 million acres of ecological landscape forests in accordance with the cycle model of "ecology promotes development and development brings ecology."
Through the hard work of forestry workers and local cadres and the masses, currently, the red date planting area of ??one million acres of ecological and economic forest belts in the central arid zone has reached 430,000 acres, and the one million acres of characteristic economic forest industry belts in the Yellow River Irrigation District have More than 300,000 acres of new economic forests were added.
Employees of Ningxia Baijitan Sand Control Forest Farm put up squares of grass to control sand on the edge of Mu Us Sandy Land (photo taken on June 9). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Quanlong
Attracting various parties to "gold-mining in the sand"
For Ningxia, which is economically underdeveloped, where do the construction funds for six million-acre ecological protection projects and other projects come from? ? Chen Jianguo said that the essence of grasping the construction of ecological forestry is to implement the scientific concept of development. Now the country needs us to vigorously accelerate the construction of ecological forestry, and we cannot impose any conditions.
It is understood that in order to raise funds, on the one hand, Ningxia actively strives for national and local government support for project construction and integrates national and local project funds for centralized use. In March this year, the State Forestry Administration and the autonomous region government held a symposium in Beijing. The State Forestry Administration will further increase its support for Ningxia's forestry and ecological construction from the aspects of technology and funds: to build a national comprehensive demonstration zone for desertification prevention and control in Ningxia Projects, six million-acre forestry projects, green corridors on the Golden Bank of the Yellow River, grape industry and facility horticulture construction, 1.5 million acres of water conservation forests in Nanhua Mountain, 50,000 acres of afforestation projects on both sides of the Yinchuan Ring Expressway, and expansion of forest ecological benefits Provide active support for projects such as compensation area; strive for the central government's forestry investment in Ningxia to reach 5 billion yuan during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, and reach 21.7 billion yuan by 2020; expand forestry construction through measures such as increasing loan interest discounts and striving for foreign aid project funds funds.
On the other hand, Ningxia has solved this development problem through innovative mechanisms. "The biggest advantage of forestry is that it has abundant land resources suitable for forestry, but its disadvantage is that forestry production cycle is long and returns are slow. If forestry stock assets can be effectively revitalized and utilized, the financial problem required for forestry development will be easily solved." Wang Delin said.
In order to maximize the benefits of desertification control and attract social forces to "dig for gold in the sand", Ningxia has formed a diversified body of desertification control through the guidance of policy mechanisms. The autonomous region has introduced a policy of free allocation of sandy wasteland suitable for forestation, extending the development period of fixed sandy land to 50 years and mobile and semi-mobile sandy land to 70 years; at the same time, it has formulated more preferential policies in terms of sand industry project establishment, taxation, credit, and afforestation subsidies. policy.
Wang Delin calculated an account for reporters. Taking the construction of a million-acre ecological and economic protection system at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain as an example, he chose the ecological manor economy as the main body of forest fruits as a breakthrough point to build 12 separate A unique ecological manor. The total land available for the project is 1.54 million acres, of which 300,000 acres adjacent to the urban area can be transferred conditionally. Based on the current market price of 200,000 yuan per mu, 300,000 acres of land can be transferred with 50-year use rights. Get a big income. In this way, the process of desertification control becomes a process of ecological improvement, production development, and income increase. Forestry not only expands reproduction, but also solves the problem of shortage of funds.
In order to ensure the results of afforestation and prevent the recurrence of the mistakes of man-made forests that were left unattended, resulting in "no forest left during afforestation year after year", Ningxia implemented a bidding system for forestry projects for the first time. The Ningxia Forestry Bureau has decided that in the future, all forestry projects, including foreign aid projects, will be conducted through government procurement and bidding, and all forestry design and planning projects will be subject to open bidding. In ecological construction, it is necessary to select tree species that are adapted to the local area, so as to ensure the right tree for the right location and eliminate waste caused by improper selection of tree species.
For the first time, a lifelong responsibility system was implemented for the acceptance of forestry projects, and key links were strictly supervised to improve the survival rate of forest trees.
People have reason to believe that after several years of hard work, a lush Ningxia with green mountains and rivers will be revealed in front of people.