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Photos: Fighting Against Desertification in China

For decades, residents and workers in northern and western China have been battling growing deserts using multiple methods, including “straw checkerboards,” to slow the shifting sands and boost fertility.

By · September 17, 2026 · 3 min read
This article was originally published by The Atlantic and is republished here under license.
A drone photo of a road passing through sand dunes in a desert, the left side of the photo shows most dunes covered by a criss-cross pattern of straw windbreaks.
Chen Shuo / Xinhua / Getty
A drone photo shows sand-control efforts—straw windbreaks set in checkerboard patterns across dunes—in the Taklimakan Desert, in Yuli County, Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on September 19, 2025.
A person works on windbreaks made from straw planted in sand dunes in a crisscross pattern.
Gao Hongshan / Xinhua / Getty
A staff member works to lay sand barriers in the Kumtag Desert, in Kazakh Autonomous County of Aksay, in China’s Gansu Province, on December 13, 2025.
An aerial view of several tractors carving straight lines across a desert area covered in short green plants.
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
Sand-control work takes place in the Hangjin Banner section of the Kubuqi Desert, in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, on August 25, 2025.
Volunteers dig pits for water storage in a desert.
Lang Bingbing / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
Volunteers dig pits for water storage at the Zhonglin ecological public-welfare forest base in Minqin County, Gansu Province, on April 21, 2026. Minqin, sandwiched between two of China’s largest deserts, has 94 percent of its land area covered by desert and desertified land. As a result, it is one of China’s major sources of sandstorms. Minqin County has initiated multiple tree-planting campaigns since 2024. To date, volunteers have planted more than 1 million drought-resistant saplings.
A woman pulls a small shovel behind her, plowing a shallow trench in sand.
Wang He / Getty
Local women plow sand before planting trees and setting up windbreaks in Mingqin county on March 28, 2019, in Wuwei, Gansu Province, China.
A person checks the growth of a small pine tree planted in a desert.
Pan Yulong / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
A staff member checks the growth of a grafted pine tree at a demonstration project in Dade Township of Zhangwu County on May 29, 2025.
A large cloud of wind-blown sand rolls across the landscape toward a small town, beneath a partly-cloudy blue sky.
Wang Chao / VCG / Getty
A sandstorm approaches Zhangye, in China’s Gansu Province, on March 20, 2023.
An aerial view of many solar panels set above lines of planted shrubs
Yang Zhisen / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
An aerial view of a desertification-control area featuring solar panels in Yanchi County, in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on August 26, 2026.
A person stands on a sand dune, controlling a small drone that flies above trees.
Peng Yuan / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
A technician controls a drone used to sow seeds in the Kubuqi Desert, in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on July 11, 2018.
An aerial photo of circular green farm fields in a desert environment.
Li Fu / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
An aerial photo taken on May 31, 2026, shows farm fields in Ar Horqin Banner, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In recent years, forage cultivation such as this has helped curb grassland desertification here.
An aerial view of a highway in a desert, flanked by checkerboard-patterns of sand-control barriers on the dunes
Que Hure / VCG / Getty
An aerial view of the Yuli-Qiemo Highway, flanked by sand-control barriers, after a rainfall on June 26, 2022, in the Taklimakan Desert, in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
Many rows of straw planted across a nmber of dunes
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
An aerial view of some of the Qingtu Lake sandstorm-governance area in Minqin County, seen on June 8, 2025
An aerial view of eight men walking on a sand dune past rows of shrubs
Li Xiang / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
Veterans check the condition of haloxylon plants in Qiemo, a desert county in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on July 5, 2022. Since 2018, Tian Ye and seven fellow veterans have grown hundreds of acres of wind-blocking plants in the Taklimakan Desert.
People water a small shrub in a desert, using a hose attached to a small tanker truck.
Lian Zhen / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
Desertification-control workers water saxaul plants in the Badain Jaran Desert, in Alxa Right Banner, on May 21, 2026.
An excavator works at one end of a newly-dug canal through a desert area.
Chen Shuo / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
An aerial photo taken on September 19, 2025, shows a man-made canal for flood diversion and water replenishment in the Taklimakan Desert, in Yuli County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Hundreds of stakes support short criss-crossing nets across a sandy desert area.
VCG / Getty
Sand-control and desertification-prevention measures are seen in a desert area in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, on August 7, 2026.
An aerial view of a green belt—parallel rows of planted trees running alongside a highway through a desert.
Ding Lei / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
An aerial view of a green belt in Makit County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, seen on April 17, 2026. Along the southern edge of Taklimakan Desert, sand-fixing forests have been grown into multiple green barriers.
Two people are seeing working on a sand dune, placing lines of straw into a checkerboard pattern.
Yang Zhisen / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
Workers position new straw checkerboard barriers in the Tengger Desert, in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on April 10, 2026.
An aerial view of many sand dunes covered with a checkerboard pattern of straw planted in the sand.
AFP / Getty
Workers set up straw barriers across rolling sand dunes at a desertification-control area in Qingshui, Jiuquan, on April 12, 2026.
An aerial view of a highway running through a desert of sand dunes
Hu Huhu / Xinhua News Agency / Getty
The Tarim Desert Highway traverses through the Taklimakan Desert and the shelter belt planted alongside it in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, seen on July 18, 2025.
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