Tree planting in the first year of the project. Photo by Wan Ping.

(Excerpted/adapted from the article “One man inspiring Hope” by Hope He, published in the UNU online magazine Our World 2.0.)

We talk about global warming, the rise of sea levels, air pollution, drought, floods, deforestation and more. Yes, it is true that the climate has changed in the past few decades. The climate is changing now, and may still continue to change in the future. However, there are things we can do to adapt, to slow down, to stop, or to even reverse any negative impacts.

One man has worked for nine years and invested over some US$100,000, to restore a large area of semi-arid land in the Khorchin district of northeastern China. And to do so, he chose to live in this harsh climate, where the annual temperature varies from between -36 to 45 degrees Celsius. This hero’s name is Wan Ping.

The unfavorable natural environment of the Khorchin district leads to low incomes and pressure on children to drop out of school at a very young age. These children follow in their parents’ footsteps, exploiting as much virgin land as possible, raising more livestock, and thus further degrading the environment.

University student volunteers. Photo by Wan Ping.

In June 2000, former thermo-dynamics engineer Wan Ping founded an ecological demonstration area in Jilin Province. Wan’s project aims to restore the environment in Khorchin, and at the same time improve local people’s living standards.

Wan started to plant trees in the demonstration area as the first step of his project because re-vegetation is the key part of land restoration. No difficulties — such as local people’s misunderstanding, the cold shoulder of the government and even the lack of support from his family in the first few years — have stopped him from carrying out his passion. Because of his dedication, there is a luscious windbreak today, the moving dunes have been fixed, there is a 95% green coverage rate in the demonstration area and there is more precipitation.

A large number of people have come to help him over the nine years: from the first local people who came to share the labor, to almost 1,200 students from different Chinese universities, to international volunteers.

Read the entire Our World 2.0 article at http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/one-man-inspiring-hope/.