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The Latest Breaking News from Taklamakan

China planted a huge forest belt to fight desertification; scientists say the trees are creating a carbon-versus-water trade-off

In November 2024, China completed a 3,046-kilometre green belt around the Taklamakan Desert, filling the final gaps in a project that has been under construction for decades. The belt forms part of the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, launched in 1978 as one of the world's largest ecological restoration efforts, designed to…

The Times of India · Sep 2

China planted trees the Taklamakan Desert for nearly 50 years. Satellites now show the landscape is capturing more carbon than it releases

China planted trees the Taklamakan Desert for nearly 50 years. Satellites now show the landscape is capturing more carbon than it releases

China's shelterbelt initiative has made remarkable strides, turning arid desert borders into thriving carbon sinks. Through strategic vegetation choices, this project now captures more carbon dioxide than it expels. This achievement is anchored in mountain meltwater, vital for its irrigation systems. The initiative showcases the powerful impact of ecological restoration…

The Times of India · Aug 7

Once known as the 'Sea of Death', China's Taklamakan Desert is turning greener with drone technology

Once known as the 'Sea of Death', China's Taklamakan Desert is turning greener with drone technology

For decades, the Taklamakan Desert has symbolised one of nature's harshest environments, a vast expanse of shifting sand where strong winds, scarce rainfall and extreme temperatures make vegetation difficult to establish. Today, however, new technology is changing how restoration is carried out. Across parts of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,…

The Times of India · Jul 28

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Why China’s decades-long ambition to green the desert could run dry

At the edge of China's Taklamakan Desert, rows of trees are slowly edging into one of the world’s harshest landscapes after decades of planting. Scientists say this shows how human action can transform extreme environments – but warn of the cost to water resources, and that such schemes might not…

Radio France Internationale · Apr 19

China’s great green wall: How 66 billion trees turned a ‘dead’ desert into a carbon sink

Across northwestern China, a desert long described as empty is showing measurable ecological change. New research examining the Taklamakan Desert finds rising vegetation cover and seasonal carbon uptake linked to decades of state-backed planting efforts. The findings suggest parts of this hyperarid region are beginning to function as a modest…

The Times of India · Feb 28

China has planted so many trees around the Taklamakan Desert that it's turned this 'biological void' into a carbon sink

Huge-scale ecological engineering around the edges of one of the world's largest and driest deserts has turned it into a carbon sink that absorbs more CO2 than it emits, research suggests.

LiveScience · Feb 11

China's Great Green Wall: The giant artificial forest designed to slow the expansion of 2 deserts

Since 1978, China has planted more than 66 billion trees along its 2,800-mile-long northern border, and it wants to plant 34 billion more over the next 25 years to complete its "Great Green Wall."

LiveScience · Dec 12, 2025

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China’s Great Green Wall: 46 years of planting trees around Taklamakan Desert

China’s Great Green Wall: 46 years of planting trees around Taklamakan Desert

This is the story of China's great green wall—a belt of green, defiant trees encircling the Taklamakan Desert in China, and the incredible 46-year effort to achieve this feat.

The Times of India · Nov 30, 2024

Google Maps users convinced they've found secret rocket hidden deep in desert

Google Maps users convinced they've found secret rocket hidden deep in desert

After spotting the odd-looking site deep in the Taklamakan desert people think they've uncovered a hidden Chinese rocket, although others believe there's a much simpler explanation

Daily Mirror · May 9, 2022

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