I’m Zhang Zhijun from the forest conservation center of the Aksu Prefecture Forestry and Grassland Administration.

In Aksu Prefecture, I have many tree children.

Because of them, the Kekeya Green Project claimed an international award presented by the United Nations Environment Programme. It is the Global 500 Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement. It also won the China Habitat Environment Example Prize. Also because of them, Aksu City was named the first state-level forest city in northwest China.

Zhang Zhijun, deputy director of the forest conservation center of the Aksu Prefecture Forestry and Grassland Administration, speaks at an idea and story-sharing conference on promoting the high-quality development of the human rights cause in Xinjiang in the Chinese modernization drive, held in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on December 20, 2023. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily/ Zhang Wande)

Now, these trees are an important part of China’s national afforestation program in northwest China, north China and northeast China.

Kekeya is located in Wensu County. Over 40 years ago, Kekeya was too barren to grow trees, let alone man-made forests for environmental protection. Local people had to endure over 100 days of sandstorms each year.

In 1986, an afforestation project was launched, and has been carried forward to date. In Kekeya, where the soil is barren, planting a sapling was a hard work and ensuring its survival was even more challenging. I remember an experience when we were in the wild planting trees. A section of the water channel burst, one of my colleagues lied in the breach without any hesitation, winning time for another colleague to fix the breach swiftly. I still remember how brave he was as he risked his own life to address the crisis.

Aksu has a secret weapon in fighting desertification. Following an interplanting approach, we plant fruit trees, such as apple, walnut, jujube and apricot trees, amid the man-made forests for environmental protection. Then, my colleagues and I started to teach orchard farmers how to apply fertilizers, spray insecticides, and trim the fruit trees.

Gan Yongjun is one of those who has benefited from the program of mixing fruit trees in man-made forests. Owning an orchard of20 mu (about 1.33 hectares), he earns more than 300,000 yuan (about 41,979.3 U.S. dollars) a year, and has led more than 100 orchard farmers in the surrounding area in running orchard businesses.

The Gobi Desert, which has been in existence for thousands of years, has been transformed into fertile land by Aksu people one generation after another. It is also now a blessing for Aksu people’s prosperous life. Every single apple or walnut born on the trees is telling the thriving life of people in Aksu.

(Compiled by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily Reporter Zheng Zhuo)

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