Lessons for Kenya on reclaiming its arid lands

By  Dennis Munene

Executive Director

China-Africa Center

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6 min

The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) recently concluded in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, under the theme ‘Restoring Land, Restoring Hope’.

The Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD acknowledges that desertification remains an existential threat to our biodiversity, leading to reduced access to usable farmland and water sources, and increased climate-driven population displacement, among other environmental challenges.

In Kenya, more than 80 per cent of the total land area is classified as arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) and is considered at risk of desertification. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the ASAL region is home to about 30 per cent of Kenya’s human and 50 per cent of its livestock population.

This population in the ASAL region is also at risk from the forecasted El Niño rains expected from late 2026, as reported by Kenya’s meteorological agency. This is because in areas at risk of desertification, dry soils cannot quickly absorb sudden torrential downpours. Thus, most of these areas in Kenya and other parts of East Africa will see above-average rainfall, increasing the likelihood of flash floods and landslides.

Consequently, Kenya needs to build ecological barriers to reduce desertification in the ASAL region. China, a country that has been severely impacted by desertification and has made significant strides in reducing desertification through its decades-long afforestation campaign, can offer valuable lessons.

‘Great Green Wall’

In 1978, China initiated the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program to combat desertification across the arid, semi-arid, and desert-prone areas in the north, northwest, and northeast of the country. This world's largest afforestation program of building the ‘Great Green Wall’, is still on course. Currently, 53 percent of China's desert-prone areas have been effectively managed through afforestation. To achieve this enormous success, China deployed a three-pronged solution to combat desertification.

First, China built a robust governance architecture to reclaim, rehabilitate, and protect its ecosystem. Anchored in President Xi Jinping's thoughts on ecological civilisation, China continues to pursue balanced and sustainable development that enables the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. The thought was elevated to a core national development goal at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012.

Thereafter, in March 2018, the thought on ecological civilisation was enshrined in China’s constitution, and thereafter, in May of the same year formally mooted during the National Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference, held in Beijing. This enabled China to transform from being a key recipient of international desertification control aid to a core contributor to global ecological governance.

Second, over the decades, China has explored new technologies and innovative approaches to combat desertification. Innovative methods such as ‘straw checkerboards’ have been implemented for over 60 years in Zhongwei, a city near the Tengger Desert in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The placing of straws on the desert surface in the shape of a checkerboard prevents newly planted grasses and trees from being swept away by moving dunes.

New technologies such as lab-cultured cyanobacteria that form biological soil crusts on the surface of the sand reduce the crust formation time from 10 years to only one year. In addition, artificial intelligence has also been used to develop intelligent and innovative equipment such as AI-powered automated seeding machines.

Combating desertification

Through these innovative methods, China has managed to cultivate the world's largest man-made forest in Saihanba in northern China's Hebei province, and rehabilitate the vast desert in Kubuqi, Inner Mongolia. According to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration, from 2009 to 2019, desertification in China had a net decrease of 50,000 square km, a significant change compared with an expansion of 3,436 square km a year at the end of the last century.

Third, China has been a global champion of combating desertification through the sharing of lessons and strategies. As a party to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), China has implemented its obligations under the Convention and actively advanced international cooperation on desertification control. China has also shared its experience in sand prevention and control, promoted technological applications, and trained thousands of experts in the Global South.

For instance, in 1977, China shared the straw checkerboard sand barrier anti-desertification technique used in Zhongwei at the UN Conference on Desertification in Nairobi. This technique is affordable and environmentally friendly and continues to be a vital method of stopping sand encroachment worldwide. Similarly, in December 2019, China established the International Knowledge Management Center on Combating Desertification in Ningxia in December 2019, to share China's experience in combating desertification with the world.

Indeed, combating desertification is an ecological and economic necessity. By integrating China’s proven technological frameworks with localised sustainable land management practices, Kenya can sustainably reclaim degraded ASAL regions and unlock productive land.

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Dr Munene is the Executive Director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute