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Story Publication logo June 29, 2009

Environmental Refugees

Country:

China

Author:

Sean Gallagher
Grantee

English

Desertification is one of the most important environmental challenges facing the world today...

Sean Gallagher
Grantee

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

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The main street in the town of Hongsibao.

Mr. Ma, 56, is an “environmental refugee,” having moved with 10 members of his family from the drier, poorer mountainous areas of Ningxia.

Schoolchildren crossing the road. The relocation of families from the countryside to the town has provided access to school for hundreds of children.

In an effort to protect the few patches of grass the town has, outside of a school a small sign on a dry and degraded piece of lawn reads, “It’s a shame to step on the green grass.”

Reforestation is one of the ways the town is trying to combat desertification. Stabilizing the soil can help limit the severity of sandstorms and return dry land to a level of productivity.

Mr. Hu, 35, relocated three years ago from the mountainous area of Tongxin. “I could only plant plants in my field before. There was not much money from that. Now I’m in Hongsibao living on collecting rubbish. I rent a small house. It costs me $5 a month.”

Even though the town has been under construction for 10 years, there are still clear signs that the town is developing.

Many of the laborers around the town have been part of the relocation. Public workers are offered monetary incentives to relocate from their rural homes to work in the towns.

Many people wear face masks in order to protect them from the sandstorms that regularly descend upon the town.

In the dry and arid environment, construction on the fringes of town contributes to putting more and more dust and sand into the air.

Schoolchildren cycle home after a day of school down the wide boulevards that criss-cross the town.

The town of Hongsibao was built literally on top of the desert 10 years ago. Located in the heart of China's poorest province, Ningxia, the town is surrounded on all sides by arid and unproductive land, however for 200,000 'environmental refugees' this harsh place is now their home. Officially titled the Hongsibao Development Poverty Reduction Project, it was initiated in the mid-1990's in order to relocate people from the poor mountainous regions of the province, so that the local authorities could reforest the region in an attempt to calm the sandstorms that originate in the area. Now, Hongsibao's population find themselves readjusting to their new lives, each in their own way and with their own new challenges.