A few years ago, Harbin residents used to blame Inner Mongolia for the sand storms which sometimes blew wantonly over the skies of the city.

But now they have no one else to complain about, since the source of rampant sand storms border the city.

Three sand patches encroach on the surrounding area of Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, in all more than 6,000 hectares. The nearest spot is less than 2 kilometers from the city, according to the Harbin Municipal Environment Protection Bureau.

Liu Jie, an official there, describes the erosion and desertification as "extremely serious."

A survey conducted by the bureau showed that a 20-kilometre-long, 20 to 100-metre wide flowing sand dune formed in Shuangcheng, southwest of the city, is expanding along the Songhua River, which traverses the city from west to the east.

Harbin is in a humid region in China. But sparse rains in recent years have resulted in a dramatic decline of the water levels in the Songhua River.

"When the wind begins to roar, the sands on the bare river bed are blown away. And years of accumulation have formed the flowing sand dune," he told China Daily.

In some areas, the sand has approached villagers' houses.

Due to years of excessive farming, nearly 80 percent of pastures and wetlands in the city's northwest have deteriorated to a vast saline land area.

The same situation can be seen in the city's northeast direction.

Pastures and wetlands along the Songhua River have turned into desertlike areas because of years of excessive farming starting in the 1970s.

More than 2,000 hectares of land in the area have turned into sand, of which half are severely damaged.

The nearest sandy area along the Minzhu wetlands is less than two kilometers from the city.

The winds plaguing Harbin usually blow from the southwest in spring and summer while northwest winds dominate in autumn and winter, according to sources at the local weather station.

"Two sand areas are just along the wind corridor. Therefore, they all have the tendency of expanding quickly, especially the one in Shuangcheng," said Liu.

Some irresponsible illegal farming along the wetlands has made the situation even worse.

"It has come to time for either the sand or us to retreat," he said. "Luckily, the local government has realized the urgency of the situation and has taken some protective measures."

A 7-kilometre-long, 300-metre-wide saplings belt has been planted in the Minzhu wetlands to block the sand.

This year, the municipal government organized tree planting on nearly 1,000 hectares and more and more grain-growing land has been turned to vegetated areas.

Not all the saplings will survive in the strong winds or on arid land, said Sun Baoliang from the Harbin Forestry Bureau.

"We are racking our brains to think of additional measures to combat the encroaching sand," he said.

A tight budget remains the top obstacle in the campaign.

The forestry bureau signed contracts with some local people to encourage them to plant trees on the land themselves, he said.

(China Daily December 13, 2004)