Desertification: An Ecological Crisis Facing the World Desertification refers to the decline of land productivity, the degradation of vegetation, the loss of soil, and the depletion of water sources, which is a global ecological crisis.
According to the United Nations, nearly a quarter of the world's land is currently affected by desertification, and 12 million hectares of land are turned into deserts every year, an area the size of Greece.
Desertification not only threatens human food security, biodiversity, and social stability, but also exacerbates climate change, causing huge economic losses and environmental costs.
China is a country with serious desertification, with the world's largest land desert - the Taklamakan Desert, as well as various types of arid areas such as Gobi and desert.
China's desertified land area is about 26 million square kilometers, accounting for 27% of the total land area, affecting more than 400 million people.
The main causes of desertification in China are natural factors and human factors, among which natural factors include climate change, geological structure, hydrological conditions, etc., and human factors include over-reclamation, overgrazing, indiscriminate deforestation, environmental pollution, etc.
The consequences of desertification in China are serious, not only causing land degradation, reducing water resources, and destroying ecosystems, but also causing disasters such as sandstorms, sandstorm erosion, and desert expansion, which have brought huge difficulties and losses to people's production and life.
Desertification Control: China's Historical Mission and National Action In the face of the severe challenge of desertification, China has always regarded desert control as a historical mission and national action, and has been waging an arduous struggle against desertification since the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The history of desertification control in China can be divided into three stages:
The first stage, from 1949 to 1978, mainly took measures such as afforestation, mountain closure for afforestation, returning farmland to forest, and building shelter forests to restore and protect vegetation, prevent soil erosion, and control desert expansion.
The second stage, from 1978 to 2000, mainly adopted the implementation of key ecological projects, such as the Three-North Shelterbelt, the control of sand sources in Beijing and Tianjin, the protection of natural forests, and the return of farmland to forest and grassland, so as to improve the ecological function of the sandy area, increase the economic income of the sandy area, and improve the living environment of the sandy area.
The third stage is from 2000 to the present, mainly through the implementation of global governance, such as desert national parks, desertified land closure and protection, desert ecological compensation, desert eco-tourism, etc., to achieve sustainable development of desert areas and promote social harmony in desert areas.
Through the unremitting efforts of several generations, the expansion trend of desertification in China has been effectively curbed, the ecological situation of desertification areas has been markedly improved, and great progress has been made in the economic and social development of desertification areas.
According to the results of China's fifth desertification and desertification monitoring, from 2009 to 2014, China's desertified land area decreased by 1570,000 square kilometers, the area of desertified land decreased by 1280,000 square kilometers, realizing the "double reduction" of two monitoring periods.
China has also played an important leading role in the world, actively participated in and promoted the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, shared China's experience and wisdom in desertification control with the world, and contributed to the construction of global ecological civilization.
Photovoltaic power generation: a new driving force and a new model of desert governanceDesert governance is a long-term, arduous and complex system project, which requires continuous exploration and innovation to adapt to the new situation and new requirements of desertification.
In the new era, China has made a new breakthrough in desert governance, that is, to use the light resources of the desert to develop photovoltaic power generation and realize the green transformation and high-quality development of the desert.
Photovoltaic power generation refers to the use of solar cells to directly convert solar energy into electrical energy, which is a clean, renewable and efficient way of energy utilization.
Photovoltaic power generation and desert management have a natural fit, because the desert has sufficient sunshine, vast space, cheap land, convenient transportation and other advantages, providing good conditions for photovoltaic power generation.
Photovoltaic power generation can bring multiple benefits to desert management, such as providing green electricity, increasing economic income, promoting vegetation restoration, and improving the ecological environment.
Starting from 2022, China has launched an unprecedented scale project, that is, the construction of large-scale wind power photovoltaic base projects in deserts, Gobi and desert areas, with a total scale of 100 million kilowatts, distributed in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and other six provinces and regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Relying on wind and solar resources, supported by regional power grids, driven by transmission channels, and aimed at efficient consumption, these projects coordinate the endowment and consumption conditions of wind and solar resources, optimize the layout of wind power and photovoltaic power supply, and support and regulate power sources, so as to achieve large-scale and high-level development of wind power and photovoltaic.
The capacity of these projects is equivalent to 20 Three Gorges Dams, and the annual power generation capacity is about 100 billion kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to burning 0 standard coal3.2 billion tons of power generation, directly reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 08.6 billion tons.
These projects not only provide strong support for China's energy structure transformation and carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, but also make important contributions to the global energy revolution and climate action.
Photovoltaic desertification control: innovation and integration of desert ecology At the same time of photovoltaic power generation in deserts, China is also exploring new ways of photovoltaic desertification control, that is, using the shading effect of photovoltaic modules to create favorable conditions for the growth of desert vegetation and realize the innovation and integration of desert ecology.
Photovoltaic sand control refers to the construction of photovoltaic power generation systems in desert areas, and at the same time planting plants adapted to the desert environment under photovoltaic modules, such as sand dates, sea buckthorn, sand willow, artemisia sand and so on, to form a photovoltaic-vegetation composite system, which can not only generate electricity, but also control desertification, and achieve a win-win situation of energy and ecology.
The principle of photovoltaic desertification control is to use the shading effect of photovoltaic modules to reduce the surface temperature, reduce water evaporation, increase soil moisture, and provide a suitable microclimate for the growth of plants.
At the same time, photovoltaic modules can also reduce wind speed, block wind and sand, and protect plants from erosion. The root system of plants can fix sandy soil, prevent soil erosion, improve soil fertility, and promote the restoration and expansion of vegetation.
Since 2018, China has built a number of photovoltaic desertification control demonstration projects in desert areas such as Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, with a total scale of 100,000 kilowatts, covering 100,000 acres of desert land.
The results of these projects are remarkable, and after several years of operation, the plants under the photovoltaic modules have grown well, forming a green landscape that adds life and vitality to the desert.
At the same time, these projects have also brought economic benefits to local farmers and herdsmen, not only enjoying the dividends of photovoltaic power generation, but also opening up a new way to get rich by planting, picking, processing and selling the fruits, leaves, stems and so on of desert plants.
According to statistics, the photovoltaic desertification control project can increase the income of farmers and herdsmen by more than 3,000 yuan per year, effectively improving their quality of life.
The Future of Photovoltaic Energy: New Vision and New Opportunities for Desert Development China's exploration and practice in desert photovoltaic power generation and photovoltaic desertification control have demonstrated China's innovative spirit and practical style in desert governance, opened up a new path for the development of deserts, and depicted a new vision for the future of deserts.
Desert PV is not only an energy technology, but also a development concept, an ecological civilization, and a green transformation. The development of desert photovoltaic can not only provide strong support for China's energy security and carbon neutrality goals, but also provide effective means for the ecological protection and restoration of deserts, and also provide broad space and opportunities for the economic and social development of deserts.
The development of desert photovoltaic will make the desert from a passive, passive and poor area to an active, active and rich area, will make the desert from an ecological burden to an ecological contribution, and will make the desert from an obstacle to development into a driving force for development.
The development of desert photovoltaic also provides reference and inspiration for global desert governance and sustainable development, and is responsible for the common well-being and future of all mankind.
China is willing to share the experience and technology of desert photovoltaic with other countries in the world, jointly promote the green development of deserts, jointly respond to the challenges of climate change, and jointly build a beautiful home for the earth.
The development of desert photovoltaic is China's contribution to the progress of human civilization and China's practice of a community with a shared future for mankind.