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epa02735895 (18/24) A volunteer of non-government organization Shanghai Roots and Shoots prunes poplar trees that have been planted in 2008 in Kunlun Qi, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, 24 April 2011. The NGO helps local farmers to plant trees on plots of land allocated by the government where the farmers are licensed to harvest the trees that have reached maturity, but only on the condition that they replant on the same plot. Poplars are chosen as they are drought-hardy and particularly effective at sequestering carbon while suitable for the local soil and climate. Inner Mongolia, Chinaâ??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 fight desertification. Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are supporting the governmentâ??s reforestation endeavors. The NGO Shanghai Roots and Shoots launched the Million Tree Project in 2007 in Kulun Qi witht the aim to plant its first million trees by 2014 to slow the expantion of the desert. To-date, they have planted more than 600,000 trees. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG ***PLEASE REFER TO THE ADVISORY NOTICE (epa02735877) FOR COMPLETE FEATURE TEXT***