Zhou Ding, Administration Office for Agenda 21, Alashan, Inner Mongolia: "When I was 10, my friends and I used to drink wonderful spring water...we used to play in the locust tree groves and we could swim in the reservoir."

Huang Jia Mu Ying: "From '94 and '95, more seriously in '97, '98, and '99 and especially in the spring sand-storms this year, 2000, it was fierce...the sand started covering everything. In the past, there wasn't any sand here. This was all grass."

Li Xue Ming, Herder: "It's dangerous. Sometimes the sand piles up around our door so that we can't open it!"

Yannick Glemarec: "One of the main objectives of the Global Environmental Facility is to preserve Biodiversity. And often one of the best methods to preserve biodiversity is to take a large-scale ecosystem approach. A lot of our past projects in the field of biodiversity conservation and desertification control has been to try to provide alternative livelihood to people, so that rather than having to degrade the environment they could basically invest in other economic activities."

Kelly Lerner and Linda Zhu: "I want to show you two more historic houses.

"This is a straw bale house under construction in 1908."

Kelly Lerner, Consultant, ADRA - Adventist Development and Relief Agency: "So the meaning is, we all live in one world_so the things you do here in China affect me and the things I do in the United States effect you."

Comm: "This week Earth Report takes you to Alashan in the Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. It's an area of grassland or 'Steppe', roughly the size of New Zealand where the desert is growing by 1000 square kilometres per year."

Huang Jia Mu Ying: "Ning Xia is under threat. This year I even heard reports that Alashan's sand is blowing all the way to Beijing."

Comm: "The Chinese Government and International Development Agencies are reassessing the root causes of desertification and are undertaking large-scale efforts to address the needs of the people who live there to lessen the impact on this fragile ecosystem.

"Water is the source of life and for much of Alashan it comes from the He Lan Mountain range. Now a Nature Reserve, the He Lan Mountains have consistently fed the plain and the aquifers below it with a steady stream of water that is vital for the capital of Alashan - Bayan Hot."

Zhou Ding, Administration Office for Agenda 21, Alashan, Inner Mongolia: "Fifty years ago there were 50 springs in the area, and three rivers flowed through Bayan Hot. On Alashan's 270,000 square kilometers were 800 small lakes. It was very beautiful."

Comm: "But since 1950 the situation has completely changed. All of the springs on the plain are gone. The 3 rivers are dry and 600 of the 800 small lakes have disappeared.

"What caused such a huge change in so short a time?"

Zhou Ding, Administration Office for Agenda 21, Alashan, Inner Mongolia: "The first reason, I think, is the increase in human activity, which has created greater pressure on the natural environment. The second reason is livestock on the grasslands. Too many animals on the grasslands puts too much pressure on this ecosystem. Thirdly is the poor management of water resources. We've wasted our water reserves. The most important reason is tree cover...the trees have been cut down. Trees are essential and the last line of defense. If the trees are destroyed, the results are disasterous..."

Comm: "Bayan Hot sits atop 2 underground reservoirs fed by the waters coming from the He Lan Mountains. One directly below the city was estimated to hold 700 million cubic meters of water and now is completely depleted .. the other larger Aquifer is thought to still contain 2 point 7 billion cubic meters.

"After years of unplanned growth and excessive water use, officials and experts are seeking ways to limit dependence on the underground supplies. A pipeline is being built to deliver water directly from the mountains to the city to ensure the large aquifer is not depleted and to try to allow the already depleted one to recover.

"For the people living at the edges of the desert and for the government officials whose responsibility it is to address the growing problem...the current trend is alarming."

Yannick Glemarec: "What we can say for sure is that the pace of desertification is dramatically increasing. It has almost increased by 100% since the 50's."

Comm: "In the war against the desert Zong Bie Li is the ecological front line. Although the sand began to accumulate only 5 or 6 years ago, the growing desert has already overwhelmed several families - and many more are threatened.

"Li Xue Ming and his brother Li Xue Hui both moved to Zong Bie Li more than 20 years ago, expecting to spend their whole lives here.

"Along with almost all the people in Alashan, they are dependent on goat herding, which is a major factor in desertification here."

Li Xue Ming, Herder: "I raise goats."

Interviewer: "How many goats do you have?"

Li Xue Ming, Herder: "I've got more than 200."

Comm: "Although it is the frontline, it is far from well provisioned for a prolonged battle against the sand. The local people have little understanding of the causes of desertification, and are poorly prepared to combat it."

Li Xue Ming, Herder: "There is less rain. I don't remember there ever being so little rain. Before it always rained on cloudy days, but now it doesn't. And when there is rain, it is very light."

Li Xue Hui: "The wind has also increased."

Comm: "The Li Family like hundreds of others in Alashan are preparing themselves to move to a 'Development Area'. These controversial initiatives are based on the premise that the people in the region need to live on land with a consistent water supply, and that unlimited grazing by goats and sheep will eventually destroy the steppe."

Li Xue Ming, Herder: "Ah the development areas...we would like to keep herding. But there is no room in the development areas to herd. You can only farm."

Huang Jia Mu Ying: "There was a family there...and a family there...and one over there. It was impossible. There wasn't even any water to drink. You couldn't get a vehicle in anymore. Over there, they bought their place for 40,000 Yuan, but they deserted it. There is no way to survive here, so they moved to Luan Jing Tan."

Comm: "To provide homes for those families who can no longer live on Alashan's degraded steppe, the Chinese Government is relocating them to newly created Development Areas like Luan Jing Tan.

"The Development Areas differ little from the surrounding steppe when they are first incorporated but water, electricity and other basic services are provided by the government. The promise of land, small loans and infrastructure, can be appealing for newcomers, when compared to the harsh life on the edge of the desert. And there's better access to employment and education.

"Throughout Alashan, water is the most precious resource. To provide the means to develop the marginal land in Luan Jing Tan water is being pumped from the Yellow River 70 kilometers away.

"Irrigation can make the desert bloom but it puts additional strain on scarce water supplies. Although water usage is strictly measured, the long term sustainability of these methods is a very much a matter of debate.

"Wang Ji Ye and his wife Guo Gui Xiang came to Luan Jing Tan 6 years ago when it first opened up."

Wang Ji ye and Gao Gui Xiang: "It was a wasteland when we first came. The wind blew everyday."

Woman: "When we came here there wasn't any water or electricity."

Comm: "Their hard work is paying off. They are farming 4 hectares and after living 6 years in very cramped conditions are just moving into a new home.

"But more people come to Luan Jing Tan all the time and many have lost everything to the desert. So international development agencies are helping to provide low cost housing for those who need it most."

Ronald Li, Kadoorie Foundation: "The Mission of our foundation is to help give the disadvantaged people of China more opportunities. We think this is a good project because it not only uses this straw, a waste product, but it can also help the people save money by using less energy."

Comm: "The Kadoorie Foundation is funding ADRA...the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. It's providing new homes for the environmental refugees, with an innovative use of an ancient building material: straw."

Scott Christiansen, China Programme Managing Director, ADRA-Adventist Development and Relief Agency: "Farmers, we don't know where, could have been the plains of Canada, could have been plains of northern US, someone somewhere decided they were going to use these big bio-bricks to build a house, because they lacked lumber on the plains. It turns our it worked, it worked fantastically.

"ADRA is one of the very few organizations that is introducing straw bale houses in the development context, where we are trying to introduce super low cost models that bring tremendous efficiencies, and help people have a really nice house at a very low cost."

Kelly Lerner, Consultant, ADRA - Adventist development and Relief Agency: "Here in Inner Mongolia where it gets really cold is that straw bales are highly insulative. They make a thick wall that really stops the cold from going through and can also in the summer time can stop heat from going through. And so the house, if it is designed well, with lots of big south facing windows, passive solar, can cut down on fuel usage maybe even 50%, depending on the climate. So what that translates into for a family is that are using a lot less fuel and they have more money to spend on food, education, all the basic necessities of life."

Comm: "Newlyweds Fu Sheng Nian and Hu Yan were among the first to move into the straw bale houses at Luan Jing Tan."

Fu Sheng Nian: "The best thing is that it is our own house."

Hu Yaan: "Before we used to rent and now we have our own house! We don't have to use the stove and we are still warm...so we save coal."

Kelly Lerner: "The second thing is that straw is basically a waste product, you can see it burning even around here, in this community. And so you're using a material that would normally be going up in smoke and you're putting it into your house. So, it is less expensive and it is also sustainable, because straw is renewable every year. It is not like brick, which takes a lot of energy to produce, or wood, which takes a long time to grow."

Comm: "For many the idea that your house could be made largely of straw is hard to accept but for environmental refugees like those in Alashan straw bale houses are one way that they can get excellent, affordable shelter.

"Training teams of builders also creates much needed employment - an alternative to the goat and sheep herding that is destroying the grassland.

"And on fragile land like the grasslands on the edge of China's growing deserts, it's vital to use renewable and sustainable building materials. Wood is scarce, and soil for brick making is also badly needed for natural vegetation and for agriculture."

Yang Cun Long, Farmer, Cha Ha Er Tan Development Area: "Over there is watermelon, that is the corn, the wheat is in the middle. There are the peanuts, peppers, yams, squash. We have everything, sunflower. We have seven or eight crops on 130 mu of land."

Comm: "Cha Ha Er Tan, one of Alashan's Development areas started in the 1970s, shows the ability and determination of the Chinese to create habitable manmade oases in the desert steppe."

Yang Cun Long, Farmer, Cha Ha Er Tan, Alashan, Inner Mongolia: "That is all the tree barrier, and beyond are the sands. Before planting here we had to plant the trees and make a barrier. Without this barrier, sand-storms like we had this year would have completely covered this area with sand...it would be covered with sand this thick."

Comm: "After 25 years Cha Ha Ar Taan looks and feels like a well established farming community. The 2600 people living here, started out just like those in Luan Jing Taan. The marginal steppe-land was apportioned to landless farmers, and they were encouraged to do their best to combat the desert and build an agricultural base. The hard working people of Cha Ha Ar Taan have transformed the sparse vegetation of the steppe almost beyond recognition.

"But just outside the Development Area, the desert lurks."

Yannick Glemarec: "If nothing is done...basically the desertification process is bound to accelerate. So there is a need for very bold intervention."

Comm: "The Chinese have tried many intensive measures in an attempt to halt the desert. The largest business in Alashan is the Ji Lan Tai salt lake. It employs 7000 people and brings much needed cash to Alashan. It's crucial for the economy that the enterprise can continue. Over the years the company has invested millions of dollars to keep the desert at bay."

Yang Li Ming, Manager, Anti Desertification Team, Ji Lan Tai, Salt Lake: "We've worked on this project for 18 years. We use plants including poplars, willows and specific grasses and bushes to protect our salt lake from the desert. At present we have planted about 1800 hectares of trees.

"Our region's rainfall is quite low...just 100 millimetres per year. But the evaporation is 3200 millimetres per year. For the trees to survive we must use a sprinkler system and underground water supplies to water them."

Comm: "Mr. Yang's team of 90 people are protecting the salt lake successfully - but it's hard to imagine where either the investment, or the water, would come from to use these active measures in the entire region.

"Many analysts have begun to question the long term value of large-scale tree planting on the grasslands, as a magic bullet against desertification. They consider that it is very important to understand the exact causes of desertification and to address these...rather than try to fight against the sand."

Yannick Glemarec, UNDP/GEF: "At the end of the day...desertification is not a natural phenomenon...not something that is bound to happen. It is something that is most cases policy induced so the importance of policy and the importance of people who are effected by these policies is critical."

Comm: "Pristine grassland habitats are inspirational. They are finely balanced ecosystems that have evolved over millions of years, with a diversity of animals, birds and plants, specially adapted to thrive on the Steppe.

"The harsh climate and fragile soils set a natural limit on the lifestyles of traditional people who live and herd on the grassland.

"By adapting to a semi-nomadic existence, moving their homes and their herds when necessary...traditional pastoral use of the grassland is sustainable because the grasses are given time to regenerate.

"The threat is from trying to adapt the grasslands to lifestyles and agricultural systems that were designed for more temperate ecological conditions.

"Recent research and new development methods are helping to create a more effective framework for controlling desertification. The Chinese Government, the 'Global Environment Facility' and numerous implementation partners are all focusing on this issue."

Yannick Glemarec: "The Government of China with the support of the Asian Development Bank and with the cooperation of all the other GEF implementing agencies is developing a program approach for sustainable land management in semi-arid and arid areas."

Comm: "The growing desert is a daily reality for the people of Alashan. They are using straw placed in grids to stabilize individual dunes, in a move to keep the sand from shifting to other - as yet unaffected - areas. People are encouraged to plant trees and shrubs but new strategies are needed to conserve the region's 'natural capital'.

"If destructive grazing is to be phased out then herders will require education to qualify for more demanding work. This is especially important for the children of the area who will ultimately determine its future.

"And Alashan could encourage a new view of its precious water supplies with active conservation measures:

"More effective irrigation systems that deliver water directly to the roots of a plant greatly reduce evaporation. And, higher prices for agricultural water offer a greater incentive to conserve.

"The Straw Bale houses at Luan Jing Tan - are not only helping those who have fled the desert to begin again, they are creating much needed employment and showing the world that excellent, energy efficient housing can also be cheap to build."

Kelly Lerner, Consultant, ADRA - Adventist development and Relief Agency: "You have these big building blocks that are a waste product and they are just so easy to stack up. And it makes such a good shelter, it is energy efficient, it is warm in the winter it is cool in the summer and it is just such a direct, sustainable approach."

Zhou Ding: "The Government Policy now is to stop herding and plant trees and to stop farming and plant trees here in Alashan. The hope is that in 10 years there could be a basic turn-around in the situation."

Yannick Glemarec: "We are really witnessing a paradigm shift. When you focus on Policy levers rather than on infrastructure and large reforestation programs it is very likely that you can get results."

Yang from Salt Lake: "Protecting the environment for the people here at the edge is about all that we can do. But on a bigger scale, to turn back the desert_we will need the help of the whole world for that."

Comm: "Although far from most people's experience, Alashan is important to humanity. It is in such remote and endangered ecosystems that we must address environmental degradation. For if we fail to protect these wild places now, then we will surely see the signs of collapse much closer to home - making Alashan a very important line in the sand."