Tarim awakens: drones and water restore forests
As the Tarim River in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China enters the peak season of its annual floods, local authorities are using the critical water diversion period to irrigate poplar forests along the riverbanks, while carrying out large‑scale sowing to increase vegetation cover. When the desert advances and the life‑giving river floods at just the right time, man and nature enter a fragile alliance to stop sandstorms and bring greenery back to barren lands. The Tarim River, China's longest inland river, floods every year, but only in recent years have these floods been used not as a threat but as an opportunity. Drones sowing seeds from the sky and manual sowing where water itself carries life downstream – these two methods are turning a dead landscape into a living barrier protecting oases from the desert. And the numbers speak for themselves: vegetation cover has grown from 25% in 2018 to 46% today.
In the degraded forest area near Laocao Lake in Luntai County, drones are being used to sow drought‑resistant species, including poplar, tamarisk and saxaul, on the fragile edge of the desert. A single drone can cover more than eight hectares a day, 100 times more efficiently than manual sowing. In addition to drone seeding, forest management staff also carry out manual water‑based seeding at river confluences, allowing the flowing water to carry seeds further downstream. Drone seeding and water‑assisted manual seeding complement each other – one from the air, the other from the water – giving every seed a chance to find soil where it can take root and sprout. Forestry and grassland authorities report that vegetation cover in the protected area has increased from 25% in 2018 to 46% today, transforming a landscape once swept by wind and sandstorms into a gradually expanding green barrier. The second phase of the 27th ecological water diversion along the Tarim River in Xinjiang is now underway. The project is expected to use a total of 329 million cubic metres of water to nourish over 500,000 hectares of poplar forests along the riverbanks.
The Tarim River is one of China's most fragile ecosystems, located on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Decades of uncontrolled water extraction for agriculture and climate change have degraded the riparian forests that once served as a natural barrier against desertification. Since 2000, China has launched a series of ecological projects to restore the river, including annual ecological water diversions that mimic natural floods. Over the past 27 cycles, thousands of hectares of poplar forests have been restored. The use of drones is a new phase in these efforts, making it possible to seed hard‑to‑reach areas and significantly accelerate restoration. Experts note that if current rates are maintained, vegetation cover along the Tarim could reach 60% by 2030, making an important contribution to the fight against desertification in Central Asia.
As CCTV+ reports, the restoration of forests along the Tarim River is not just an environmental project but a strategic investment in the region's future, where water, technology and human perseverance unite to bring life back to land that had almost lost hope of greenery.
