People pave checkerboard sand barriers that stabilize the encroaching desert in Linze and Gaotai counties, Zhangye, Gansu province. [Photo/xgs.newgscloud.com]

On June 13, people were seen building up solid green barrier, planting and watering saplings to boost sand control in Linze and Gaotai counties, Zhangye, in Northwest China's Gansu province.

In recent years, Zhangye has afforested 182,000 hectares of forests and rehabilitated 582,666.7 hectares of degraded grasslands, playing an important part in the building of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecological barrier and the northern sand-prevention belt of China.