Ananth Krishnan On its western frontiers, a massive afforestation drive to battle the spread of the desert reveals fast-expanding efforts to combat climate change. As Wang Youde stands perched atop a hill, a sea of sand is all he can see in every direction. Shielding his eyes from the blazing western China sun and the sandy desert winds of the Gobi, Wang points to the edge of an abandoned grassland in the distance. He says he can recall, when growing up in this remote corner in China's far west, a time when farming and grazing still provided a livelihood to the local population. Now, all that is left of a once-thriving community is three abandoned villages and miles of wasteland. Here on the edge of the Maowusu desert, in China's western Ningxia region, a battle is being waged to prevent its spreading sands from claiming more victims. For almost 25 years, Wang has led the local community's fight to take back its land. More than 57 per cent of Ningxia's land is desert-land, and around 65 per cent of its desert areas are still growing. Locals say the region's rapid and often unregulated development, coupled with overgrazing and changing rainfall patterns, have increased the rate of desertification in many parts of Ningxia. The situation is similar in other Chinese provinces too, such as nearby Gansu and northern Inner Mongolia. Deserts now stretch across 2.64 million sq.km, or 27 per cent of the country. Ningxia is the site of a struggle whose outcome will have a bearing on the rest of the China's development. At its heart is a question that China's leaders have begun to devote increasing attention to