I was equally impressed to hear about the re-naturalization on the Loess Plateau when I was looking at the work of John D. Liu, who documented the problem described. You can find it on youtube:
It very much depicts what your article is describing. Glad to read that you support the efforts which have been made and spread them. Though I haven't heard much about Mr. Liu since.
Hi and Bye from good old Germany :)
RE: Regreening the Cradle of Chinese Civilization