Xihaigu is a region forming the southern tip of

Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It consists of the seven county-level divisions Yuanzhou, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Haiyuan and

Tongxin Tongxin County (, Xiao'erjing: طْوثٍ ثِيًا) is a County (People's Republic of China), county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Wuzhong, Ningxia, Wuzhong in the central part of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of th ...

. The former five counties being part of Guyuan city. It forms one of the poorest areas in China. The name derives from the names of Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan. In the 1970s, Xihaigu was named one of "most unfit place for human settlement" by the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

due to its fragile ecology and vulnerability for droughts. Due to climate change, destruction of forests during the

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

and

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

and later

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

and rapid population growth, the area was transformed from fertile grounds to arid land. Previously, the forests would retain water for dry periods. The Chinese government funds

water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

technology and

ecological restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

. Since 1983, there have been several rounds of forced relocation of settlements away from ecologically sensitive areas.In China's Ningxia province, water shortage is so severe that the government is relocating people
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References

{{Reflist Regions of China Geography of Ningxia

See also

References