Greening the desert: What can we learn from the Chinese dryland restoration projects?

Drylands cover about 40% of the planet, host one-third of the world's population and are one of the most susceptible ecosystems to environmental degradation. How to effectively restore drylands is a main concern for scientists, policy-makers and communities worldwide. Chinese drylands offer one of the most impressive examples of vegetation collapse followed by large-scale restoration projects. In this project, we use a combination of field surveys, mathematical modelling and remote sensing to: 1) assess vegetation changes after large-scale active restoration practices in China and develop associated spatial indicators for predicting and monitoring the recovery process; 2) simulate the ecosystem recovery trajectory after different restoration strategies and develop the possible optimal restoration strategies; 3) mapping the vegetation changes across the drylands in China and forecast the future restoration potentials.