In 2012, afforestation was carried out in the rocky desertification area of Xialang Village, Fangyuan Town, Guiyang County. (Photographed in 2016)

On December 19, 1994, the 49th United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 49/115 on the recommendation of the Second Committee. Since 1995, June 17 has been designated as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, aiming at further raising the awareness of the people of the world about the importance of combating desertification and arousing their sense of responsibility and urgency in combating desertification. June 17 this year was the 25th World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

Rocky desertification is a kind of land degradation process with bare rocks and similar desert, called "land cancer", which is mainly formed by the interaction between fragile ecosystem and human activities in limestone karst mountainous areas. Chenzhou City is located in the karst area of Southwest China, and land rocky desertification is an important factor threatening the ecological security of Chenzhou City, with the characteristics of large area, high degree and difficult control.

In 2011 and 2012, Guiyang County and Yizhang County with large area and high degree of rocky desertification in the city were listed as key counties of comprehensive control project of rocky desertification by the state successively. Since 2016, Guiyang County has implemented the second batch of comprehensive control projects of rocky desertification, involving 17 small watersheds and 19 townships (farms) in Guiyang County, and 6 small watersheds and 7 townships (farms) in Yizhang County. Up to now, the project has been invested 69.6557 million yuan, of which 63.6247 million yuan from the central budget and 6.031 million yuan from local government. 4476.4 hectares have been planted and 1461.3 hectares have been closed for afforestation. The control rate of rocky desertification land in Guiyang and Yizhang small watersheds has reached 100 percent, and the forest coverage in the small watersheds has increased by 10.43 percent and 8.66 percent, respectively. The ecological environment of the small watershed has been greatly improved.

In recent years, through vigorous implementation of artificial afforestation and closing hillsides to facilitate afforestation, our city has increased the area of forested land, increased the forest coverage in Karst areas, and effectively curbed the spread trend of rocky desertification. In 2017, Chishi National Stone Desert Park in Yizhang County was listed as the first batch of national desert (stone desert) parks by the State Forestry Administration. In 2019, Sizhou Mountain National Stone Desert Park in Guiyang was approved to be established as the second national stone desert park in our city. The construction of national rocky desert park will explore a new path for ecological protection and restoration in rocky desertification area, realize the goal of controlling rocks and using rocks to prosper, and lay a solid foundation for green sustainable development in Karst area.

Fangyuan Town of Guiyang County, planted peach trees on rocky desertification land to vigorously develop rural eco-tourism. (Photographed in May 2019)