On the 24th "World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought," officials from Beijing's Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Afforestation announced that city has completed the treatment of the five areas most affected by sandstorms, due to continuous efforts through its various tree-planting projects. Currently, the city is implementing the second phase of the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project.

The five most sandstorm-stricken areas are located near the Yongding River, the Chaobai River, the Dasha River, the Kangzhuang area in Yanqing District, and the Nankou area in Changping District. They combine to cover 247,500 mu (about 407,000 acres), which was vulnerable to sandstorms before the projects were implemented. According to data from the Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Afforestation, since the start of the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project in 2000, Beijing has completed 8.12 million mu of afforestation work in Mentougou, Huairou and Miyun districts, forming the first line of defense against sandstorms in the northern part of the capital. As a result, forest coverage rate in the project areas reaches 52 percent, 12.2 percentage points higher than in 2000. Another project launched in 2012 — the Plain Afforestation Project — has restored 253,000 mu of abandoned gravel pits and pebble shoals. These areas have now been transformed into forests that break the wind, block the sand, and provide shade.

In 2017, Beijing implemented another tree-planting project in the lower reaches of the Yongding River. Through the project, the city planted 8,389 mu of grassland and 20,000 cypress and verbena along the banks of the 22-kilometer river, completely covering the exposed sandy area in this section of the Yongding River.

Beyond improving the ecology and environment, the projects also created "green" job opportunities for the farmers. In Mentougou District, from 2000 to 2017, the region completed 1.30 million mu of the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project, and the forest coverage rate increased from 25.1 to 45.73 percent. Relying on the project, the district’s total area of fruit-bearing trees reached 68,000 mu, and the number of scenic orchards more than 100. According to reports, the per capita annual income of fruit farmers reached 42,000 yuan (about US$6,500), and the per capita annual income of bee farmers reached 35,000 yuan. At the same time, 5,662 people were hired to manage and protect the forest. 

Based on these achievements in the previous years, Beijing has recently launched the second phase of the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project, which is expected to be completed by the end of June 2019. Compared to the first phase of the project, the second phase project will focus more on details and enhance the quality of forests. Considering the local conditions, the second phase of the project will feature cultivation of local tree species such as Chinese pine, Platycladus orientalis, larch, acer truncatum, etc, while at the same time, promote landscaping and food-source tree species such as oak trees and mulberry trees, taking an ecological approach to solving ecological problems.

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