Great Green Wall (China)

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The Great Green Wall, officially known as the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (simplified Chinese: 三北防护林; traditional Chinese: 三北防護林; pinyin: Sānběi Fánghùlín), also known as the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, is a series of human-planted windbreaking forest strips (shelterbelts) in China, designed to hold back the expansion of the Gobi Desert,^[1] and provide timber to the local population.^[2] The program started in 1978, and is planned to be completed around 2050,^[3] at which point it will stretch 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) long.

The project's name indicates that it is to be carried out in all three northern regions: the North, the Northeast and the Northwest.^[4] This project has historical precedents dating back to before the Common Era. However, in premodern periods, government sponsored afforestation projects along the historical frontier regions were mostly for military fortification.^[5]

In November 2024, China's government reported the completion of the 3,000 km green belt around the Taklamakan Desert. The fraction of the country covered by deserts declined from 27.2% in the previous decade to 26.8%.^[6]