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China helps Africa on desert control
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-19 14:00 Since the first session of the program in 1993, about 150 African officials
and technicians from more than 30 countries including Egypt, the Republic of
Congo, Ghana, Angola and Tanzania have been trained, Wang added.
This
year's trainees will stay in Minqin, a central-north county in Gansu labeled as
one of the four sandstorm sources in China, to see how China painstakingly fight
against desertification.
Minqin brought 2,000 hectares of desert under
control last year with a simple but practical method, which first prevents sand
from moving by placing nets made of wheat straw on it and then grows
drought-enduring plants.
China's deserts are shrinking by 7,585 sq km
annually, compared with an annual expansion of 10,400 sq km at the end of last
century, said Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration,
in late May.
The decrease showed the desertification that started in
China in the late 1990s had been "primarily brought under control", Zhu said.
However, some experts argued that the situation is still very severe.
Dr. Osama M. A. Nofal, an Egyptian at the 2005 session, told Man during
his visit to Egypt last month "many of my colleagues have taken the training in
China, and we have found that the techniques are very practical in our local
desert control efforts."
Wilson Owusu Asare, a forestry official from
Ghana and an trainee at the 2005 session, said in a recent email to GDCRI that
he is very grateful for the training.
"The training laid emphasis on
practical skills, and the experiences I learned in China has proved very
helpful," he said.
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