From July 15 to 19, 2023, a symposium on the theory and practice of wind and sand control in semi-arid areas was held in Wudan Town, Wengniute Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The symposium was organized by the Ulan Odu Desertification Prevention and Control Experiment Station of the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The symposium focused on the theme of “Wind and Sand Control, Quality Improvement and Efficiency Enhancement”. It attracted 55 experts and scholars from various institutes, universities, and administration bureaus, who shared their insights and experiences on wind and sand control.

The symposium consisted of academic reports and field visits. After the welcome speech by Chagan Bater, deputy head of Wengniute Banner, and LIU Zhimin, head of Ulan Odu Station, the report session began. In this session, 34 experts presented their research findings on topics such as wind and sand control technology and mode, sand area ecological industry development and integration mode, sand plant propagation countermeasures and extreme environmental factors’ impact on sand plant restoration, grassland degradation and restoration’s impact on grassland productivity, grassland protection and ecological restoration technology, impacts of transboundary sand dust on northern China’s wind and sand weather, principles and methods of northern shelterbelt construction, dust prevention mechanism and research status of farmland shelterbelt.

After the symposium, the experts and scholars visited various sites related to wind and sand control in Horqin Sandy Land. They observed the meadow grassland and the elm “savanna”, the highways through the sand, the Chinese wingnut (Pterocarya stenoptera) planting base in sand areas, the Yulong Sand Lake Ecological Industry Area, and the Ulan Odu Station. They gained a deeper understanding of the vegetation status in Horqin Sandy Land. They praised the sand control mode of the highways through the sand. They had a heated discussion on the follow-up development of the Chinese wingnut planting base. They recognized the sand industry mode of Yulong Sand Lake Ecological Industry Area. They also learned about the current situation and future development direction of Ulan Odu Station.