Beijing's nearest desert is now just a crow-fly distance -70kilometers -north-west of Tian'anmen Square,and the desertified area,located in adjacent Hebei Province,is still "walking"or rather advancing on the capital.

Although Beijing residents have over the last two years planted trees in sand dunes,many of the trees have withered.

According to farmers in nearby Longbaoshan Village,only the trees in tourist areas have survived even as the locals feel the pinch of watering them,Xinhua news agency reported.

Wang Yongxian,head of the village,said,"Last year more than 20,000 trees were planted in the village with investment from Coca Cola.But only 20 to 30 percent survived because of the drought."

"A sand control project,covering 133 hectares,was launched in the village this year.But the farmers are not contributing much to the project,"noted Wang.

"It's not because of their unwillingness to control the desert,but because they are too poor to do so,"he added.

If the farmers plant a tree in Beijing,they can earn three to four yuan (50U.S.cents),almost 10times what they can earn from planting a tree in or around their villages.

Notwithstanding the trees planted by Beijing residents in the desert,their number is not enough to deal with the serious situation,Wang insisted.

Hebei suffers from severe desertification.With a desertified area of 1.7 million hectares,about one tenth of its land is affected to varying degrees.

In some areas of the province,desertification is expanding at an annual rate of more than 4 percent.

Chinese government leaders have called on Hebei to rein in desertification in areas around Zhangjiakou and Chengde cities to the north of the Chinese capital as they have become a major source of Beijing's spring sandstorms.

To curb environmental deterioration,Hebei has beefed up its efforts in afforestation and sand control,combined with efforts to relieve poverty in the area,according to Xinhua.

( eastday.com May 10, 2002)