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Final Report for “Green Wall” to Stop Desertification of the En Ge Bei Desert in China



People, and 8,000 Trees, Move a Desert

The Project
It is an activity of planting trees in the desert which has operated two years. In the one year since the spring of 1997, 108 citizen/volunteers went to En Ge Bei Desert, Inner Mongolia. They planted 1,888 trees.

In 1998, spring many volunteers asked to plant trees in the desert, they hoped that they would have the collective power to stop the advancement of the En Ge Bei by planting trees.

The People
Most volunteers were members of organizations in Beijing, others were pupils from Beijing the Eigth Middle School. 11 pupils were from Da Yu School, Jiang Su Province. Many volunteers are Beijing citizens, newspersons, teachers, etc. They were voluntarily to join this planting tree in desert activity. People used holidays and weekends and volunteered their time to plant trees in the desert. Their train ticket was at their own expense. On weekends of the plantings, volunteers left Beijing for Chi Feng on Friday evening at 8:00 and were back on Monday morning at 6:00.

July 1, after the spring tree planting
Volunteers hope to continue this activity in 1999 and beyond because it is very important to deal with the desert issue in China. The desert comprises 27.3% of all of the ground in China, and is expanding. If we hope to change desert issue we must continue to plant trees.

There were four separate batches [of volunteers] that went to the Ke Er Qin Desert, Chi Feng [Province], in Inner Mongolia:

  • In the first batch, there were 214 volunteers that went to Ke Er Qin Desert in April 10-13 1998.

  • In the second batch, there were 124 volunteers that went to Ke Er Qin Desert on April 24-27 1998 again.

  • In the third batch, there were 83 volunteers that went to Ke Er Qin Desert on April 29-2 May 1998.

  • In the fourth batch, there were 137 volunteers that went to Ke Er Qin Desert on April 29- May 3 again.

    The participating organizations included:


    The Results
    Virtual Foundation funding was used in starting this activity, in the purchase of saplings, accommodations, meals, communications fees, and the transportation of 29 students and their parents to the desert sites (see photo above). This activity got some support from "Chang Chun She" Hong Hong and local government too.

    Since its inception two years ago, 559 persons have volunteered for the Green Wall project. During this time, they have planted about 8,000 trees to slow the advancing En Ge Bei desert.

    -Written by: Jin Jaiman, Virtual Foundation Consortium Member, China