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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
DRY LAND
An abandoned house in Minqin, where the harsh environmental conditions have prompted many families to move away. Many villages on the northern reaches of Minqin, right on the deserts' edge, are partially abandoned or totally empty. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
FIGHTING THE HEAT
Farmer Tang Xinfu stands in a desertified spot, typical of Minqin's landscape. Villagers like him struggle against intense summers, sandstorms and inadequate water supply. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
FIGHTING THE HEAT
FOR eight generations, farmer Wei Guangwei and his ancestors have fought against the onslaught of drifting sand. Once a verdant desert oasis nourished by offshoots of the Shiyang River, 95 per cent of Minqin's 160,000 km2 is now sandy wasteland. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
DRIFTING SAND
Farmers from Shui Sheng village, located less than 10km from the desert edge, looking at a marker that indicates how far desert sands have travelled. They claim that sands encroach by between 8 and as much as 20 metres a year. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
ONCE A LAKE
In northern Minqin, there used to be a massive lake which nourished the once lush desert oasis. Today, a dried up lake bed and millions of tiny shells -- the remnants of small animals that once lived in the lake -- encrusted into the hardened sandy surface are the only evidence of water in the area. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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| View all thumbnails |
Photo 6 of 10 |
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June 28, 2007
ONCE A LAKE
In northern Minqin, there used to be a massive lake which nourished the once lush desert oasis. Today, a dried up lake bed and millions of tiny shells -- the remnants of small animals that once lived in the lake -- encrusted into the hardened sandy surface are the only evidence of water in the area. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
ABANDONED HOUSES
An abandoned house in Minqin where the harsh environmental conditions have prompted many families to move away. Many villages on the northern reaches of Minqin, right on the deserts' edge, are partially abandoned or totally empty. On the roof, local environmentalist Chai Erhong and member of local NGO Rescue Minqin, Ma Junhe (right) take a look. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
A villager stands against her backyard door, free of sand because of desert shrubs she and her family planted directly behind to protect their house from the encroaching sands. Her next door neighbour did not take the same sand prevention measures and the result is a 'hillock' of sand against the backyard. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
A MISSION AT HAND
For Mr Ma Junhe and Mr Chai Erhong (right), two Minqin locals, saving the place of their birth has become personal missions. Mr Ma is a member of Rescue Minqin, a local environmental group hoping to raise farmers' incomes and help them defeat the environmental odds. Mr Chai, a secondary school teacher, speaks passionately about Minqin's environmental problems in the hopes of improving the situation. -- ST
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Asia Feels The Heat: A Straits Times Special on Climate Change - Desert Country
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June 28, 2007
HOLDING OUT
Farmer Wei Guangwei and his wife Zhang Juhua are the only ones left in their village, Fuchenggou. Over the last decade, they watched their neighbours pack up and leave the harsh environment of Minqin for greener pastures elsewhere. They struggle to make a living from their parched fields despite the harsh weather and being surrounded by sandy wasteland. -- ST
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