China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Inventor battles to hold back desert sands
Zhejiang gardener devises functional and economical barrier to combat desertification after 12 years of research
Lou Zhiping is working on a project to combat desertification in northwestern China, thousands of miles from his hometown in Shengzhou, Zhejiang province.
The 72-year-old has invented a long reticular barrier fixed vertically along the top of a dune. The barrier is a screen made of two layers of mesh fastened by iron threads and supported by a wooden bracket.
When the wind blows, sand sifts through the mesh and settles between the two layers, transforming the screen into sandbags that prevent the whole barrier from falling down and being removed by wind or sand.
The development of the barrier has involved 12 years of research into desertification control in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Qinghai province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, areas severely affected by land degradation.
“I hope to provide a new way of combating desertification worldwide, reducing the cost of desertification control and gradually solving this serious environmental issue,” Lou said.
Once a farmer in his hometown, Lou is a proven inventor. Before he shifted his interest to desertification control, he spent 15 years focusing on gardening and landscaping. One of his previous inventions involved growing plants on vertical walls.
In 2003, his involvement in landscaping and interest in ecological restoration inspired him to visit a desert in Inner Mongolia.
“I was shocked by the desert, a barren area where little precipitation occurred, in Dengkou county,” he said. “All of the pear trees, which were more than 10 meters tall, were buried under the sand. Few treetops could be seen in the dunes.”
Recalling the experience as “thrilling and devastating”, Lou has since devoted his time to developing simple and quick techniques to stop the moving dunes.
He became a frequent traveler to the deserts in northwestern China in the years after his initial visit. Few, including his family, knew of his intentions. During his desert trips, he was asked the purpose of his visits. His answer was met with doubt and ridicule.
“No one seemed to understand,” he said. “So eventually I stopped talking about it.”
After years of observation and research, Lou found that while water flows downward, dunes move upward.
“If a 50-centimeter-high barrier is placed along the top of a dune ridge, sand will stack up like a small hill, and the dune will stop moving forward,” Lou said.
In his bid to design a barrier that would not be destroyed by violent sandstorms, Lou read many books, but he could not find any methods to achieve his goal.
“The structures of the barriers in the books were like high curtains, fixed vertically in the desert, which would be destroyed easily by the fierce winds and pressure of the accumulating sand,” he said. “So I began to do my own experiments and designs.”
In August 2008, Lou’s first paper on desertification control was published in the official magazine of the first sand industry summit in China.
“It was a milestone that encouraged me to continue my work.”
To prove his theory, in 2010, he ordered 100 kilograms of sand from a desert in Inner Mongolia and experimented with his design at home with the help of a giant wind blower. Three years later, he had come up with the reticular barrier, which has proved both functional and economical.
The major cost is the mesh, which is custom made in a factory in Lou’s hometown and costs about 4 yuan (60 cents) a meter.
Lou said he does not know how much he has spent on his numerous visits to the desert and experiments. But over the decade, he has spent all of his monthly income of about 6,500 yuan — 1,500 yuan of which is a pension and the rest his salary as an adviser to a local company in his hometown. When he runs out of money, he asks his son, who runs a gardening business, or friends.
However, Lou said things have started to get easier since his story was picked up by the media. “Fame works better than money,” he said.
In 2013, his invention was used for desertification control in the Qaidam Desert in Qinghai, and the Badain Jaran and Tengger deserts in Inner Mongolia.
Two years later, it was identified as a leading project in desertification combat engineering nationwide by experts from the Chinese Academy of Forestry and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Lou is now a member of the Inner Mongolia Sand and Grass Industry Association, as well as the Sand Industry Association in Gansu province.
He attends national and international conferences on desertification control, including the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in September. His invention has four national patents.
“I have witnessed the changes in desertification in China, from a significant increase caused by ecological damage years ago to a gradual decrease due to government initiatives to convert the land for forestry and pasture,” Lou said.
“Devastating droughts destroy harvests, make soil infertile and allow deserts to increase in size. With my efforts, I hope desert plants will grow in the wild again to fertilize the earth.”
Over the years, he has spent a lot of his own money and received financial and emotional support from friends and family, “but this great adventure still needs more support from the nation, either from the government or local communities”, he added.