A news focus article "Getting at the Roots of Killer Dust Storms" on this week's [*Science*](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/317/5836/314?etoc) reported the recent progress in combating desertification by grazing management and ecological restoration in Bayinhushu, Inner Mongolia.
Apparently by reducing the number of livestocks and grazing intensity, as well as natural restoration, after five years the vegetation in this villiage is recovering towards the level 50 years ago. The production of pastoralism products are not hindered as the output per livestock doubled due to improved nutrient from corn planted by villagers instead of natural grown grass.
Other measures employed before, such as forestation and settlement development, proved not feasible while counterproductive in the semi-arid areas. Trees either die or suck too much groundwater, thus make draught worse. Settled communities brings higher pressure to the land and create denuded rings around their villages.
The success in Inner Mongolia is due to its consideration over economic and social as well as ecological effects. Such approach suits better to the local situation. However, the successful method cannot simply be copied to other semi-arid areas in China, such as Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Inner Mongolia has better water and nutrient conditions than TAR. If it is to be imitated, at least local environmental conditions should be considered first.
In some areas in Tibet, where moving sand dunes make the hand-off approach not feasible, human intervention may be needed to stablise sand dunes first, then surface vegetation can be reestablished. The fragile economy and poor soil in Tibet may prove difficulties to local people who are asked to control the grazing. But the experience from Inner Mongolia does provide a more desirable to restore grassland in Tibet than the current settle-down policy.
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