Mogao Caves Along Silk Road

Ancient Buddhist centre - Mogaoku
The Thousand Buddha Caves in the oasis city of Dunhuang on the ancient Silk Road are a museum of religion and art. Known as Mogaoku in Chinese, they are on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage.
Dunhuang, located at the far western end of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, is an oasis surrounded by desert. The total area of Dunhuang is 31,200 square kilometres, but only 1,400 square kilometres have habitable living conditions.
The city, home to the world-renowned Mogao Grottoes in Northwest China's Gansu Province is taking steps to halt increasing desertification.
The local government in Dunhuang, a county-level city, has launched a range of water-saving measures to try to tackle the problem.

* City: Dunhuang

* State: gansu

Unique identifier: GP01WLF

Type: Image

Shoot date: 19/08/2009

Locations: Asia, China, Dunhuang, East Asia, Gansu, Jiuquan, Silk Road

Credit line: © Greenpeace / John Novis

Size: 5616px × 3744px 11MB

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

Containers

Shoot:

Silk Road Climate Change Impacts

Greenpeace travels the iconic Silk Road in China to find how climate change has affected the famous trade route. The Silk Road was the world's first superhighway, a series of desert and mountain crossings that enabled silk to make its way from the ancient Chinese capital of Xian. The Silk Road allowed links between China and the West to flourish, encouraging an exchange of art, ideas and culture as well as trade. Desertification and drought has taken its toll on the Silk Road. The once great civilisations dotted along the road have now been consumed by the desert and the region is home to some of China's poorest people. The Silk Road is considered a climate hot spot, like the poles, where climate change is accelerating faster than in other areas. These changes include glaciers retreating at an alarming rate along the route. However, there is a twist to the story. Many parts of the Silk Road have exceptionally powerful wind resource locations. It is where China is now building massive wind farms and the renewable industry flourishes. Green factories are springing up everywhere along the route, most notably in Gansu and Xinjiang. The migrant workers who once traveled to Beijing for work have now returned home again to find new 'green' jobs.

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Silk Road Climate Change Impacts

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