Shenzhou 18 taikonauts recently released Earth's images from space, capturing the Gobi Desert in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. A distinct feature of the images was the visible green line steadily spreading across the vast yellow landscape. This is China's green "Great Wall".

　　Launched in 1978, the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP) is expected to be completed by around 2050. Its main purpose is to hold back the expansion of the Gobi Desert through afforestation.

　　A circular has been issued recently to give a financial boost to the TSFP. The circular, jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines the overall requirements, new safeguard measures, and action needed.

　　Specifically, three major challenges have been listed as the primary tasks in the circular. The first focuses on the Jiziwan in the Yellow River Basin, which covers regions like the Maowusu Desert, Kubuqi Desert, and Helan Mountain. Efforts will be made to improve forest quality, establish protective forests for farmland, and address issues related to degraded grasslands and shifting sands.

　　The second is in two typical desertified grasslands: Horqin Sandy Land and Hunshandake Sandy Land. This requires accelerating the planting of windbreak and sandbreak forests, restoring them to soil conservation forests and farmland protective forests in north and northeast China, managing degraded and desertified grasslands, and protecting wetlands.

　　The third lies along the edge of the Hexi Corridor-Taklimakan Desert region, encompassing the Tengger Desert, Badain Jaran Desert, and Taklamakan Desert. The circular emphasizes the planting of windbreak and sandbreak forests, protecting natural forests and grass vegetation, and maintaining the ecological security of oases in the region.

　　According to an official from the Ministry of Finance, a new 12 billion RMB fund has already been allocated in the 2024 budget to make overall arrangements.

　　The fund will primarily support the integrated protection and restoration of forests, grasslands, wetlands, and wastelands, the consolidation of achievements in sand prevention and control, and compensation for the protection of desertified land.

　　(See related story on page 3)