Site of the comprehensive desertification land management project on the west side of the sand blocking belt in the middle section of the Mu Usu Sand Underground Air Intersection in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sa and him were patrolling on a motorcycle.

"We started construction in the spring, and we are currently busy laying sand barriers to prevent and block sand with sand." Tian Yanjun, director of the Forestry and Grassland Workstation of Etok Banner, introduced that the project has completed 265,300 mu of governance tasks, effectively curbing the expansion trend of local desertified land.

This is a microcosm of the entire "Three Norths" project battle.

In June 2023, at a symposium on strengthening comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths", General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Deeply promoting the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths" is related to my country's ecological security, the construction of a strong country, and the sustainable development of the Chinese nation." He demanded that "strive to fight the "Three Norths" project in about 10 years." This year's "Government Work Report" proposes: "Promote the landmark battle of the 'Three Norths' project to achieve important results."

Relevant regions and departments of the "Three Norths" project strengthen factor guarantees and increase governance efforts. In 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission included the "Three Norths" project in the "two" scope, investing a total of 32 billion yuan in ultra-long-term treasury bonds and central government funds, a significant increase compared with the investment during the "Three Norths" phase five project. Project investment has been converted from fixed-quota subsidies to comprehensive quotations and full investment, and for the first time, the management and maintenance of new afforestation achievements of desertified land will be included in the support scope. Various regions have innovated diversified investment mechanisms, Inner Mongolia has established a sand prevention and desertification control fund, raising 11.2 billion yuan for local supporting facilities; Xinjiang has introduced the "Nine Sand Regulations" support measures, allocating 1 billion yuan of special funds each year to add new sand prevention and desertification control projects.

At present, the three landmark battles of the "Three Norths" project have been fully launched and progress is progressing smoothly. 13 key projects such as water source conservation and ecological governance on the eastern foot of the Helan Mountains, which are arranged in the "Several Character Bend" battle of the Yellow River, 14 key projects such as comprehensive ecological governance on the main stream of the Tarim River in the Hexi Corridor-Taklamakan Desert, have been fully launched and implemented. Among the eight key projects such as the layout of the annihilation war in the Korqin and Hunshandake Sandlands, 7 have been launched and implemented. In 2024, the "Three Norths" project completed 57 million mu of construction tasks.

While increasing "hard investment", all regions and relevant departments have focused on improving the system and mechanism and grasping the "soft construction" of the "Three Norths" project.

Joint prevention and control, and a "chess game" for sand prevention and control.

Inner Mongolia Alxa League, Ningxia Zhongwei City, and Gansu Minqin County jointly built 102,000 mu of "engineered sand fixation + artificial grass planting" sand-blocking ecological defense line at the border of the Tengger Desert; the southern edge of the Korqin Sandland, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia jointly built a "thousand-mile border-locking" forest and grass belt... "The Three Norths have broken administrative boundaries, insisted on systematic governance, concentrated resources and forces to unify planning, and jointly prevented and controlled, and the governance results have been continuously improved." Liu Bing, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Three Norths Bureau of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, introduced.

Calcise your fingers into a fist and play the "chorus" to overcome difficulties.

In Keshiketeng Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, the first phase of the governance project of the Hunshandake-Korqin Sandland South Frame is the first sand control project for a central enterprise to participate in the construction of the "Three Norths" project. The total investment is 340 million yuan, and its central enterprise China Three Gorges Group has an investment of 130 million yuan. "By leveraging the advantages of central enterprises, the efficiency and quality of project construction have been significantly improved. A total of 93,100 mu of governance tasks were completed in 2024." Li Yang, executive deputy general manager of Sanxia Sanbei Shelterbelt Construction (Inner Mongolia) Co., Ltd., introduced.

The National Development and Reform Commission coordinates the construction of the large base of Shago wilderness and desertification control, and works with the National Energy Administration, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and other relevant departments to clarify the coordination requirements; the "Photoscopic Desert Control Plan for the Gobi Desert Area of ​​the Three North Desert (2024-2030)" has passed expert discussion. Inner Mongolia formulates a plan for the promotion of wind power and photovoltaic integration projects; Xinjiang carries out the construction of photovoltaic bases around the Taklamakan Desert... A relevant person in charge of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said that it is necessary to summarize and promote the photovoltaic desert control model to achieve "on-board power generation and under-board planting" grass-light complementarity, killing multiple goals at one fell swoop.

This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to "actively expand effective investment. Focus on the national development strategy and people's livelihood needs, and give full play to the role of various government investment tools." In order to prepare for projects in advance and accelerate project implementation, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued 2025 super-long-term treasury bond funds and central fiscal funds in advance in three batches on October 28, November 15 and January 26 this year.

"At present, we must accelerate the construction of the project. If we meet the construction conditions, we must do our best to form more new physical workloads." A relevant person in charge of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration said that we will bravely shoulder our mission, not be afraid of hardships, and work hard for a long time to build a solid green Great Wall in the northern Xinjiang.