Elion "Green Land Plan" - China

This activity has been using its financing mechanism to attract domestic and overseas partners’ investment to open up improvable space from deserted lands and then develop eco-PV industry and agriculture on that basis.

Fast facts:

This activity has restored 6,000 km2 desert into sustainable green land and consequently generated about USD 5.1 billion of Gross Ecosystem Production (GEP) under its "Green Land Plan" concept in Kubuqi Desert, the seventh largest desert in China;
It currently has an 110 MW PV power station in Kubuqi desert and a 5,000 MW project is under planning which aims to save 6,950,000 tonnes of CO2 when it is completed;
This activity’s latest action is its “Greening the Silk Road Partnership Programme”, a funding programme to plant 1.3 billion trees in 10 years and low-carbon development, which was jointly initiated by UNEP and UNCCD. More Chinese and foreign enterprises are expected to fund the programme to facilitate the sustainable development in Silk Road region.

The problem

Combating desertification and climate threat in China is a great challenge. One-third of China’s territory lies in its western part, one-third of the western territory is deserted land, and one-third of China’s poverty population live in its desert area with severe climate conditions.

The solution

This activity applies the industrialization approach and PPPP (Public-Private-local People Partnership）financing mechanism for combating desertification and protecting the environment. The land mending and reafforestation projects are driven by market demand. Elion utilizes the vast desert land as a financing platform to attract investment for environmental restoration and consequent eco-industry development. Indigenous residents who live on the desert land are involved in the eco-industry as company employees, shareholders or small business owners.

Helping the planet

This project planted a special kind of willow on the barren land and made construction materials from sand, thus tackling the “sand problem” and growing the economy at the same time. Now more than 5,000 square kilometers of land have turned green, annual precipitation has increased significantly and wildlife have returned to the area.

Helping people

Local farmers and herdsmen in the desert are the beneficiaries of Elion’s land management activities. Apart from the dramatic increase of local people’s income, people are recognizing their relationship to the environment. Most Kubuqi desert indigenous people are Inner Mongolia ethnic minorities who used to lead very poor nomadic lives on the degraded land and in the severe sand-storm weather. They could get no access to electricity, water, healthcare or education 26 years ago, let alone fortune and development. After 26 years of desertification control, the vast area of restored space can now provide indigenous people with arable land for crops and the improved climate condition can offer them more chances to run ethnic tourism businesses. Some of the local farmers chose to rent their desert land tenure to Elion and thus become shareholders or partners of the company. Some of them are employed by Elion as worker to plant trees and raise cattle for salaries. Others chose to run their own restaurants and tourist lodges.

Scaling Up

The virtuously ecological-economic interaction and continuous business income make the activity scalable. The PPPP financing mechanism supports the world’s first eco-economy investment fund covering the Silk Road region, and aims to plant 1.3 billion trees in 10 years and promote low-carbon development which is majorly focused on clean energy.