Urgendalai, a Mongolian herdsman who was born and raised near the Kubuqi Desert in Ordos city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, couldn't agree more with Ma.

"Indeed, the fulfillment is beyond words every time I see the sand willows I planted flourishing in the desert during the past 27 years," the 56-year-old from Hanggin Banner said.

Urgendalai started to plant trees in 1997 simply to protect his grassland. "I had no choice because the fast-expanding Kubuqi Desert was destroying my grassland and home. At that time, the amount of sand carried by a strong sandstorm could bury many sheep alive."

He was involved in his first large-scale desertification control project in 1998 to build a road running through the Kubuqi Desert. During the process, he learned many techniques to stabilize the sand and increase the plants' survival rate. Over the next few years, the skills enabled him to plant enough trees and plants to keep his home safe.

"After I completed the project, I decided to carry on the fight against desertification because I know it matters to future generations," said the father of five, who has dedicated his time to desertification control projects including the Three-North program since 2003. "My hard work has paid off, as being hit frequently by violent sandstorms has become a thing of the past. And people's quality of life has been significantly improved."

Urgendalai said such efforts have been intensified since President Xi Jinping highlighted the significance of strengthening desertification control and prevention on June 6 last year, pushing to develop an even stronger green shield in the nation's northern regions. He's been very busy planting sand willows to enforce a green belt on the edge of the Kubuqi, which is the desert closest to Beijing and was once a major source of sandstorms carried by the wind to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

"With the help of new desertification control technology and automated tools, anti-desertification projects no longer need to be so labor-intensive and can be carried out more efficiently. There are a lot of new things for me to learn," Urgendalai said.