Shadows of trees that have been planted to protect an agriculture farm are seen as cattle graze in the field in Kunlun Qi in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China on 23 April 2011. Inner Mongolia, China's third largest province, is fighting severe desertification, much like the provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang and Hebei. Over-grazing, logging, expanding farms and population pressure, along with droughts have steadily turned once fertile grasslands into sandy plains. China has adopted measures to stop the land degradation such as reforestation, resettling nomadic Mongolians from grasslands to urban areas and restricting grazing areas. Tree planting has become a key government effort to combat desertification and supporting the government's reforestation endeavors are numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Shanghai Roots & Shoots. The NGO launched the Million Tree Project in 2007 in Kulun Qi with aims to plant its first million trees by 2014 to hinder the expanding desert. To-date, they have planted more than 600,000 trees.
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