Source: Le Monde – Click on the link to see all the photos.
Photograph: GILLES SABRIE
Hongyashan tank, vital water source for the oasis of Minqin. Hundreds of thousands of trees are planted around the oasis to limit the progress of the desert.
In Badain Jaran desert – Trees have been planted to limit the desert to progress.
A well is dug by the inhabitants of a town in Minqin. To protect water resources, it is now forbidden to dig new wells in the oasis. The inhabitants of this town have received special permission.
Agricultural workers engaged in the maintenance of a green barrier (tree planting) protecting grape fields, on the outskirts of the oasis of Minqin
Residential complex under construction beside the dry bed of the river Yangjiaba, in Wuwei, April 1st. The urbanization of the area depletes its aquifer resources and contributes to the desertification.
Zheng Julian, a farmer of 65, experienced the forced relocation with pain. Moved because of desertification, she complains about the fragility of the houses built and the poor quality of the land. “When I had to leave, I cried so much that I thought I would become blind,” recalls the lady, whose last wish is to be buried in her former village, swallowed by the desert or not .