According to a report of the National Forest Administration Bureau，as one of the most influenced countries by desertification in the world, China suffers an economic loss of 150 million yuan (US.3 million)every day, not including the related economic damage. The day-by-day severe desertification problem has become a very urgent problem to solve.

　　Statistics show that the deserted land enlarges its sphere at a rate of 1560 square kilometers per year in the 1950s. But the number reached a shocking 2460 in 1990s. It is said the rate will go on increasing in the future on the condition that no remedy measures is enforced. China’s annual soil loss is estimated at 5 billion tons, according to a recent report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

　　Desertification is a significant factor leading to the deterioration of western China's environment, which manifests itself in the loss of stabilizing vegetation cover and nutrients and the destruction of the soil's structure and moisture-holding capacity.

　　Also, land degradation, affecting most provinces in China's western region, has been cited as a significant factor in the deterioration of the environment and takensintosmind in alleviating rural poverty.

　　The current land degradation is mostly due to poor land-use decisions over a long period of time, rather than climate changes or other natural factors, said Bruce Murray, president of the ADB's China Resident Mission.

　　Speaking at a recent seminar, he said the shrinking area of arable land and the increasing demand for agricultural products have put pressure on farmers to extract higher yields from their land, at the expense of good environmental practices. This leads to increased soil erosion. Poor production levels and low yielding capability, for example, forces local farmers to cultivate more land for farming. This in turn, leads to over farming.

　　Today most people are aware of the theory of sustainable development, and know quite well the significance of environmental protection, thanks to educational campaigns. But there is a clear connection between land degradation and poverty. Almost 90 per cent of China's rural poverty-stricken people live in areas suffering from soil erosion, said the ADB. The fast-rising population in Inner Mongolia further enhances the pressure on the grassland ecology, which often leads to its rapid desertification. Mongolia and northwest China,swheresover farming, overgrazing and random tree-cutting have caused the rapid shrinking of forests, and consequently, the expansion of the desert, are just some of the areas that need to find solutions to this problem.

　　Economists are still worried that the current land-ownership and forestry-management systems might dampen efforts to fight sandstorms. Lin Yifu, director and chief economist with the China Center for Economic Research under Peking University, told Business Weekly: "Excessive farming and herding are closely linked to the incomplete land-ownership system in China, which leads to massive desertification." Many farmers and herdsmen do not have property rights over the land they plough or graze their animals on, so they have no incentive to adopt long-term ecological measures there.

　　People should be aware that the destructive use of natural resources will, in the long run, ruin the ecological environment. It threatens the subsistence of human beings, but the practical need to make a living makes local people in the northwest, mostly from poverty-stricken areas, choose short-term gains.

　　An efficient way of avoiding excessive production and achieving a sound ecological environment requires effort to solve the practical survival needs of local farmers and herdsmen.

　　The government's ambitious plan of converting farmland and grassland to forests is expected to solve the problem. Under the plan, farmers and herdsmen will be given due compensation after they return certain areas of land to the forests. Those living in extremely fragile ecological environments will be moved to other regions. The current rich grain reserves and more developed economy now make it possible for a successful implementation of a well-intended plan. In his government work report at the National People's Congress earlier this month, Premier Zhu Rongji promised to offer more grain so that farmers in barren areas could transform their plough landsintosforests and grassland.

　　Some Chinese farmers and herdsmen have now been given 30-year contracts for the land they plough and herd on, but the time period might not be long enough to prevent over herding and excessive farming. When the ownership term is temporary, farmers and herdsmen tend to seek the maximum interest by excessively exploiting the land within that term, instead of maintaining an ecological balance, said Lin.

　　Furthermore, the contractual rights of farmers and herdsmen are often adjusted on egalitarian principles according to population changes in their communities. Unstable contractual rights increase the possibility of over farming and over herding.

　　But this can not prevent the Chinese government and the international society from make great efforts to curb the land desertification and degradation.

　　A donor meeting hosted by the ADB earlier in March in Beijing discussed the development of a partnership on land degradation in dry land eco-systems. The partnership is between Beijing and the Global Environment Facility.

　　The ADB's Partnership Programme seeks to combat land degradation and reduce poverty in selected eco-regions of national and global significance; achieve global environmental benefits through the conservation of biodiversity and carbon sequestration; and develop lessons on policies, institutional arrangements and approaches for integrated ecosystem management.

　　In addition to the partnership, the bank is also supporting a number of complementary initiatives. These include work on national strategies for soil and water conservation, based in China's Ministry of Water Resources.

　　This technical assistance has been under way for about six months. Policy and legal issues are being analyzed, the best practices are being documented and dialogue is being encouraged on integrated soil and water conservation.

　　A programme to control desertification in Northwest China, also supported by the Asian Development Bank, was launched recently in Gansu Province.

　　Under a technical aid programme, the Asian Development Bank will provide US,000 for a comprehensive survey of the deserts in the province to ascertain the landscape, vegetation, water resources, bio-diversity, agriculture, and social and economic conditions. After the survey, experts will present the government with a strategic plan for desert control and ecological protection. The provincial government will provide US,000 in support funds for the programme.

　　The Asian Development Bank is also helping China implement the newly passed Law on Desertification Prevention and Control.