“In the places where the sand is originating from, both recent overgrazing and desertification have contributed to the desertification of the grasslands of Mongolia,” said Liu Junyan, a Beijing-based climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace East Asia. While the sandstorms are a natural occurrence, there are a number of human factors at play that contribute to the intensity besides the climate crisis. “Climate change will almost certainly exacerbate the sandstorm issue for north-east China,” he said. “Hotter summers and shorter winters with less snowfall will likely lead to general declines in moisture levels of the soil, making it more prone to being scoured by winds and carried far away, and threatening China’s laudable tree-planting efforts,” said Darrin Magee, a professor of environmental studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the US and an expert on China’s water resources. This “Great Green Wall” has been somewhat effective at reducing erosion and slowing desert expansion, but does little to knock down high-altitude dust blown in from afar. Since 1978 China has been trying to combat encroaching sands from the Gobi Desert region by planting a series of forest strips through its northern areas. “We must give great importance to ecological protection and construction and strengthen international cooperation,” he said. “Although the sandstorms were mainly caused by natural factors, they remind us there is only one Earth for mankind,” Liu Youbin, a spokesman for the environment ministry, told a press conference in Beijing. The combination provides perfect conditions for creating sandstorms and could signal more frequent dusty weather as temperatures climb in the region.
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