Great Green Wall (China)

The Great Green Wall, officially known as the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (simplified Chinese: 三北防护林; traditional Chinese: 三北防護林; pinyin: Sānběi Fánghùlín), is a series of human-planted windbreaking forest strips (shelterbelts) in China, designed to hold back the expansion of the Gobi Desert and provide timber to the local population. The program started in 1978 and is planned to complete around 2050, at which point it will be expected to have created a vast green barrier spanning approximately 4,828 kilometres (3,000 mi) long and up to 1,448 kilometres (900 mi) wide in certain regions, and will encompass around 88 million acres of forests.

The project's name indicates that it is to be carried out in all three northern regions: the North, the Northeast, and the Northwest. This project has historical precedents dating back to before the Common Era. However, in premodern periods, government-sponsored afforestation projects along the historical frontier regions were mostly for military fortification.

China has the largest desert area of any country and is heavily impacted by sandstorms. However, the country has implemented various measures to restore grasslands and forests, successfully slowing and now reversing overall desertification. In November 2024, China's government reported the completion of the 3,000 km green belt around the Taklamakan Desert. The fraction of the country covered by deserts declined from 27.2% in the previous decade to 26.8%.

Initiated mostly in Northern China, the Great Green Wall of China is a massive reforestation project meant to counteract desertification and slow down the consequences of climate change. Starting in the 1970s in reaction to the Gobi Desert incursion, the project was driven by the Chinese government. Early projects included massive tree planting to stop desertification and safeguard local communities and agricultural territory. Aiming to build a green barrier against desertification, dust storms, and ecological damage, the government started the "Three-North Shelterbelt Program" in the 2000s. This effort developed over time into the enormous environmental rehabilitation project known today as the Great Green Wall.