中国生态文明建设（中英对照）连载之十三
内蒙古沙地的奇迹
本书由北京语言大学出版社出版，2014（教学课件光盘版） 作者 蒋高明
2.3生态恢复，绿色生机
2.3 Ecological restoration, green vigor
2.3.1内蒙古沙地的奇迹
2.3.1 Miracles in sandy lands of Inner Mongolia
从北京向北，约180公里的地方，有一片很大的沙地，面积5.3万平方公里（7950万亩）。在一些地理课本的地图上，这里被标上了和沙漠一样的黄色。
Moving north from Beijing about 180 kilometers, one will find a large sandy land of 53,000 square kilometers (79.5 million mu). On maps of some geography textbooks, this sandy land is marked with the same color as a desert.
但是当地的老人可能并不同意这种标法。谈到上世纪五六十年代的家乡，他们会告诉你，这里原来长着茂盛的草，草的高度要“到马肚子那么高”，不仅仅是家畜不愁吃的，各种野生动物也很多，黄羊，甚至狼都经常见到。
But local elders may not agree with this. Speaking of their hometown in the 1950s and 1960s of the last century, they will tell you that this place originally had lush grass as high as “a horse’s belly”, which not only fed livestock but also sustained wild animals like Mongolian gazelles and wolves.
但是老人们的描述跟现在的实际景观相差太大了。现在，这些沙地只能在局部见到小小的草皮，大片大片的黄沙已经使它看起来和真正的沙漠相差不远了。当地的牧民，经常要为牲畜们的食物发愁；冬天因为断草，经常发生牲畜饿死的悲剧。
The story of the elders seems incredible when we look around the area today. Now, one can only see some small pockets of turf in the sandy land, and nothing else but a large expanse of wildness. Local herders often worry about fodder for their livestock. In winter livestock often starve to death for lack of grass.
不仅如此，这些轻轻的沙粒经常乘上西北方向吹来的大风，飘到北京、天津、山东、上海，乃至全国各地，成为威胁交通安全和人体健康的沙尘暴。严重的时候，甚至飞跃1300公里的日本海，成为日本媒体新闻报道的题材。严重的沙尘暴，惊动了中国国务院的领导。时任国务院总理的朱镕基、副总理温家宝，亲自到沙地视察。
Moreover, the sand is often blown by the mistral wind into Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanghai, and even across the country thus forming a hazard to traffic and human health. In severe cases, sandstorms even crossed the Sea of Japan, some 1,300 kilometers in width, to become the topic of news reports in Japan. Serious sandstorms even upset the leaders of the State Council of China. The then Premier Zhu Rongji and Vice-premier Wen Jiabao made special inspection of these sandy terrains.
当年朱镕基总理考察的车队中，还有一支来自中国科学院的科学家队伍，我也在那支队伍里。从那时起，我带领自己的课题组进驻浑善达克沙地，在那里与黄沙进行了整整十年（2001～2011年）的艰苦斗争。为了治理严重沙化的土地，恢复当地生态，我们尝试了各种方法，最终真的在一片黄沙的土地上，恢复出了老人描述的草地。
Accompanying the then Premier Zhu was a team of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, me included. At that time, I led my research group into the Hunshandake Sandy Land and began a decade-long (2001–2011) struggle with the sand. In order to control the severe desertified land and restore the local ecology, we tried a variety of methods, and finally restored the grassland remembered by the local elderly.
我们是怎么做到的呢？
How did we do it?
项目区位于内蒙古自治区正蓝旗巴音胡舒嘎查，有72户牧民，288口人，面积12.6万亩的沙地草场，含有流动沙丘、半固定沙丘、固定沙丘、滩地、湿地5种景观类型。我们选择了严重退化的4万亩土地进行试验。
The project was carried out in Bayin Hushu Gacha (village in Mongolia language), Zhenglan Banner (county) of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. There lived 72 herding families of 288 persons in the sandy grassland of 126,000 mu containing 5 kinds of landscapes such as migratory dune, semi-fixed dunes, fixed dunes, beaches, and wetlands. We chose 40,000 mu of severely degraded land for our experiments.
经历了最初几种方法的失败后，我们提出“以地养地”“自然恢复”的全新治理思路。我们划出退化土地中的1000亩作为高效地，占4万亩土地的2.5%。在高效地上，我们进行集中投入，打井、灌溉、架电、修路，为牲畜种植高效饲料，发展集约型畜牧业。这些投入使高效地成为当地居民生产和经济活动的中心。剩余97.5%的土地呢，我们把它划为封育区。在封育区，不进行植树、灌溉等大规模投入，主要投入是建围栏，实行休牧，控制牲畜对草原的破坏，使沙地借助自然力恢复。为防止沙丘流动对周围区域造成的破坏，我们在流动沙丘上种植一些灌木或插一些柳条，作为沙障，保护自然恢复的草地。
Having suffered initial setbacks, we put forward a new idea, i.e., “self-nurturing of land” and “natural restoration”. An area of 1,000 mu of degraded land, accounting for 2.5% of the total affected land (40,000 mu) was chosen as high-efficiency plot. Here, we concentrated our resources: digging wells, irrigation channels, building electricity facilities, building roads, cultivating efficient fodder plants for livestock, and developing intensive animal husbandry. These inputs enabled the high-efficiency land to become the hub of local production and economic activities. The remaining 97.5% of the land was designated as a fenced region. No large-scale tree planting and irrigation was planned for this area. Major input was oriented towards building fences and suspending grazing to control damage to the grassland and to help the sandy land recover naturally. In order to prevent damage to surrounding areas through the movement of sand dunes, we planted shrubs or plugged wicker baskets on the migratory dune as a sand barrier to protect the naturally recovered grasslands.
自然力恢复的原理，是利用土壤中原本存在的各种繁殖体和种子作为物种来源，通过降低人为压力和破坏，使这些物种重新恢复生机，重新建立原有的生态关系和生态过程，恢复原有的生态系统。这种治理方式因为没有引进外来物种，可以有效恢复到本地原有生态，没有生物入侵和生态结构破坏等风险。
The fundamental principle of natural recovery involves a process of restoring the vitality of species by utilizing propagules and seeds originally existent in the land as the source, and the reduction of human pressure and destruction to re-establish the original ecological relationships and ecological processes and to restore the original ecosystems. This kind of treatment does not introduce alien species and can effectively restore the original ecology without the risk of biological invasion and ecological structural destruction.
实验结果，在控制了牲畜破坏的条件下，沙地草地被压制的自然力得到充分释放。2002年6月，在高效地上种植的饲料高度不足30厘米的时候，封育区草层高度已达1.43米！高度接近高效饲料基地植物的4倍！产草量破记录，达到鲜重5300斤/亩。2003年，滩地草丛最高达1.85米，生物量超过鲜重6500斤/亩[1]。以前靠人工种植一直难以成活的小红柳，在封育3年后（2004年）自然生长了。2008年，自然生长的榆树高度已达5～8米。试验区内植被总盖度达60%，许多地段植被甚至实现100%恢复。2011年，封育区已形成稳定的群落。与对照组相比，固定沙丘生物量提高了3.8倍，丘间低地提高9倍。植被自然恢复后，野生动物也得到了自然恢复，野兔、沙狐、大雁、灰鹤甚至狼，又回到了这片久违的土地上。
The results of the experiment indicated that, with the reduction of damage by livestock, the natural forces of sandy grasslands hitherto suppressed were fully released. In June 2002, when the feedstuff planted on the high-efficiency land was less than 30 centimeters high, the grass height in the fenced region had reached 1.43 meters, nearly 4 times higher! The grass yield also broke the record, reaching a fresh weight of 2,650 kg/mu. In 2003, the grass in the meadows reached 1.85 meters in height, and the yield was over 3,250 kg/mu fresh weight. Salix microstachya, which could hardly survive through artificial planting, grew naturally after three years (2004) in the fenced region. In 2008, the natural growing elms reached the height of 5–8 meters. The total coverage of vegetation was up to 60% in the experimental area, and in many parts of the area vegetation was even 100% recovered. In 2011, the fenced region had formed stable communities. Compared with the control group, the biomass fixed on fixed dunes increased 3.8 times, and the lower land depression increased 9 times. After the natural restoration of vegetation, wildlife also regained its natural recovery. Hares, corsac foxes, wild geese, grey cranes and even wolves returned to this land.
过去，一户牧民每年要买2万斤干草。自然恢复试验成功后，牧民每户可以分得7万斤干草，结束了买草的历史。在居民收入方面，控制牲畜量后采取“以禽代畜”的做法，即用鸡、鹅等禽类，替代减少的牛、羊等大牲口。结果显示，草原养鸡的效益高于养牲畜。2007年，牧民那森乌日图养殖400只鸡，净收入7000多元；2010年，他卖掉了所有的牛羊，改为养鸡和发展生态旅游，年收入超过10万元。
In the past, a herdsman’s family had to buy 10,000 kilograms of hay each year. After the successful trial of natural recovery, each pastoral household could get a share of 35,000 kilograms of hay, thus ending the history of hay-buying. In terms of household income, the practice of “to replace livestock by poultry” was introduced, that is, to breed poultry such as chicken and geese instead of livestock such as cattle and sheep. The results showed that the benefit of chickens exceeded that of livestock. In 2007, the herdsman Nasen Wuritu bred 400 chickens and gained net income of over 7,000 Yuan; in 2010, he sold all his cattle and sheep in order to breed chickens and develop eco-tourism, and his annual income rose to more than 100,000 Yuan.
值得一提的是，恢复成功的浑善达克沙地，其生态面貌以及生态系统的结构与功能，恰恰与非洲“萨王那”生态系统相符，从而证明中国陆地生态系统中，包含了稀树疏林草地生态类型。至此，中国的土地上囊括了全球所有的陆地生态系统类型。
It is worth mentioning that the landscape and the structure and function of the naturally restored Hunshandake Sandy Land are exactly in line with those of the African “Savanna” ecosystem, thus showing that Chinese terrestrial ecosystems comprise the sparse forest ecosystem. It follows that the Chinese land encompasses all of the world’s terrestrial ecosystem types now.
浑善达克沙地生态恢复的成功，产生了重大的学术与社会影响。
The successful ecological restoration of the Hunshandke Sandy Land brought about a significant academic and social impact.
2007年7月20日，美国《科学》杂志派记者进行了现场考察，并做长篇报道。2010年，美国大学教科书《地质与环境》，引用了浑善达克沙地治理的案例。2011年，中国环保部推出的《生态文明简明读本》，将浑善达克沙地治理录入经典案例。
On July 20, 2007, a Science (America) reporter conducted an on-site inspection there and produced a long feature concerning the experiment. In 2010, the American University textbook Geology & Environment cited the case of the Hunshandake Sandland treatment. In 2011, the book Ecological Civilization published by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection listed the Hunshandake Sandland as a typical case of ecological cultivation.
更有意义的是，2012年中共十八大把“自然恢复”的生态恢复理念写进了新修订的《中国共产党章程》[2]，中国的生态恢复工程走向了正确的道路。
Even more significantly, in 2012 the 18th CPC National Congress included “natural restoration” as a new ecological recovery concept in its constitution. China’s ecological restoration program is now moving in the right direction.
[1] 沙地榆幼树平均为1.8株/平方米，实生苗数量为7株/平方米，其中固定沙丘阴坡坡基处，当年幼苗高达158株/平方米。
[1]The average capacity of sandy lands for saplings of sand elm is 1.8 plant/square meter, and seedlings is 7 plant/square meter; and saplings at the base of the shady slope of fixed dunes reaches 158 plant/square meter.
[2]《中国共产党章程》：“中国共产党领导人民建设社会主义生态文明。树立尊重自然、顺应自然、保护自然的生态文明理念，坚持节约资源和保护环境的基本国策，坚持节约优先、保护优先、自然恢复为主的方针，坚持生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路。”
[2] The Constitution of the Communist Party of China: “The Communist Party of China will lead people to promote ecological progress. We must raise our ecological awareness of the need to respect, accommodate to and protect nature. We should remain committed to the basic state policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment as well as the principle of giving high priority to conserving resources, protecting the environment and promoting its natural restoration, and continue to expand the path of development that leads to increased production, prosperity and a good ecosystem”.
