ECBP Alashan Project.pdfVIP

Alashan Biodiversity Conservation Project 阿 拉 善 荒 漠 生 物 多 样 性 保 护 项 目 2 . 26 . . 27 . Isabelline Wheatear 沙鵖 Withstanding the Sand The wind rises and dark clouds grow bigger to the west. Within minutes the entire sky is dark as night and the sand and dust are howling around the mud-brick house. A barn door clatters, sheep huddle down on the ground and a dog whimpers. There is nothing to do but wait. Wait whilst the stinging sand rages past. Wait whilst the great desert shifts and moves. Wait as the sparse vegetation becomes slowly submerged in a layer of new debris. Then after two hours, the sky brightens like a second dawn. The storm has passed. The dog shakes the new dust out of his fur. The sheep meekly rise to their feet and shuffle off again in search of dwindling food. The lizard emerges from its burrow. The desert beetles rush over the surface to collect any new food deposited by the storm’s fury. Make the best of the break. Get the essential business done before the next sandstorm arrives. Down the valley a village lies entirely abandoned. Its fields submerged below the shifting sands. Dead trees stand as stark skeletons where once there was an orchard. Houses are buried up to their roofs in piling sand drifts. Two old men emerge from the shelter of the only house still occupied and start the hopeless task of clearing the latest addition of sand off the road so the traffic can still pass, so the trucks can even see where the road is meant to be. More and more of northern China is falling to the same fate. The deserts expand and move every year. They creep ever closer to Beijing and the large cities to the east. The area of farmland shrinks. Domestic stocks get sick and weak and small lakes and river-beds are dry and blocked with sand. Former green oases are brown and dry. Wells that yielded water are filled with sand or may be up to 80m deep before water can be obtained. Desertification is a massive problem in China and the government