Desertification is one of the most severe ecological and environmental problems in China. The area of desertification, which is 2.62 million sq km or about 27 percent of China's land territory, far exceeds the nation's total farmland. Today, although the desertification has been curbed in some areas, it still is expanding at a rate of more than 3,000 sq km every year.

The State Forestry Administration has implemented a nationwide sand control program, which has three phases: The first phase aims to get a basic control of desertification by 2010; the second phase aims then to reduce the area of desertification year by year until 2030; and the third phase aims to raise the nation's forest cover and bring all desertification sources under effective control by the year 2050.