Kubuqi Model: Turning a Desert Green
Kubuqi is the seventh largest desert in China, covering an area of 18,600 square kilometers. Extending across Ordos in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Kubuqi was once an environmentally vulnerable region, and one of the three sources of the sandstorms plaguing Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province to the southeast.
The most urgent problems included a lack of roads, rainfall and vegetation, the meager incomes of local farmers and herdsmen, frequent sandstorms, poor conditions for all types of work, and a harsh living environment.
To tackle these problems, the local authorities have made eco-environmental conservation their biggest wellbeing project. The Kubuqi model of desertification control is one that is supported by effective government policies, private investment, market-oriented engagement of farmers and herdsman, and advanced technologies. Eco-environmental restoration projects and husbandry, eco-tourism, solar power generation, and eco-friendly industry have formed a complete eco-environmental economic system in the desert.
As a result, the environment has seen remarkable improvements, eco-environmental resources have been restored, and one-third of the desert has been turned green, while the locals have a growing desert economy. This is a historic turnaround from past when humans retreated under the threat of the sand, to present when expanding greenery pushes back the desert. There have been ecological, economic and social benefits. Kubuqi has been designated by the UN as "a global eco-environmental economic pilot zone."
Kubuqi's desertification control is yet another example guided by Xi Jinping thought on eco-civilization. This model has been replicated in other deserts in China, and introduced to Saudi Arabia, Mongolia and other countries and regions under the Belt and Road Initiative.
It is now said that China has created a model of desertification control, and that Kubuqi is the best exemplar of the China model, as it has succeeded in turning yellow sands into green banks. The China model represented by Kubuqi demonstrates the success of the Chinese method in halting land degradation and achieving sustainability for humanity.
库布其沙漠治理
库布其沙漠，蒙古语中意为“弓上之弦”，是中国第七大沙漠，总面积约为1.86万平方公里，主体位于内蒙古自治区鄂尔多斯市杭锦旗境内，曾是内蒙古自治区中西部生态环境极度脆弱的地区之一，也是京津冀地区三大风沙源之一，一度被称为生命禁区。库布其沙漠治理方面存在亟须解决的问题，如缺植被、缺公路，降水少，农牧民收入少，沙尘暴频发等，沙区生态环境和生产生活条件十分恶劣，改善生态与发展经济的任务十分繁重。
为改变这一恶劣的生态环境，破解库布其沙漠治理难题，当地党委、政府将生态建设作为全旗最大的基础建设和民生工程来抓，大力推进中国北疆生态安全屏障建设，探索出“党委政府政策性主导、社会产业化投资、农牧民市场化参与、科技持续化创新”四轮驱动的“库布其沙漠治理模式”，构建了“生态修复、生态牧业、生态健康、生态旅游、生态光伏、生态工业”一、二、三产融合发展的沙漠生态产业体系。库布其沙漠区域生态环境明显改善，生态资源逐步恢复，沙区经济不断发展，三分之一的沙漠得到治理，实现了由“沙逼人退”到“绿进沙退”的历史性转变，形成了“守望相助、百折不挠、科学创新、绿富同兴”的“库布其精神”，实现了生态效益、经济效益和社会效益的有机统一，被联合国确认为“全球生态经济示范区”。
库布其沙漠治理，是习近平生态文明思想的生动实践。这一治理模式不仅在中国各大沙区成功落地，而且已走入沙特、蒙古国等“一带一路”合作国家和地区，成为“世界治沙看中国，中国治沙看库布其”的样板和典范，实现了从“黄色沙漠”到“绿洲银行”的蜕变。以库布其治沙为代表的中国荒漠化治理，为世界荒漠化防治开出了中国药方，为实现土地退化零增长的目标提供了中国方案，为推进人类可持续发展贡献了中国经验。