The Chinese government is working in earnest to stop desertification as part of its national project to develop the western region by converting farmland into forests and grassland.

Recently, a migration project called ``ecological migration,'' aimed at recovering the ecosystem, started in Inner Mongolia and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The project is spreading throughout the inland area.

Ecological migration protects the natural environment by encouraging the migration of nomads and farmers in areas of advanced desertification to collective housing in urban and suburban areas.

The primary cause of desertification in inland China is attributed to excessive grazing. But instead of reflecting on its long-standing policy to promote development of farmland, the government appears to be trying to put the blame on indigenous nomads and farmers.

For example, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, by banning grazing of livestock within several kilometers along trunk roads and closing many areas to livestock, the government is encouraging nomads to settle down and raise cattle, such as dairy cows.

It is true the number of livestock in the inland region has far exceeded the capacity of natural pasture, and livestock put out to pasture have become the main obstacle in recovering the ecology of vegetation.

Be that as it may, the government must search its soul to rectify a situation brought on by recklessly and forcibly promoting agricultural development and disregarding factors such as the dry soil and climate of the inland region.

Without reflecting on its past mistake, it could end up repeating it in advancing western development.

Many members of ethnic minorities who live in the inland region make their living by stock farming. Although they have basically maintained the same lifestyle for thousands of years, the steppes did not turn into deserts. This is because they raised livestock while moving from one place to another without damaging the delicate soil.

Their lifestyle enabled sustainable farming. The traditional lifestyle of nomads agrees with the natural environment of the inland region, and their wisdom deserves commendation.

However, the argument that nomadism is backward and inefficient gained steam. And unreasonable development to seek economic profit was repeated.

As a result, indigenous people who rely on stock farming were deprived of land and were left with no choice but to concentrate on limited pasture.

Furthermore, the division of the right to use pasture introduced in the 1980s led to the building of enclosures here and there, causing livestock to be kept in small spaces. As a result, the growth of pasture could not keep up with the speed at which livestock grazed, and the dilapidation of pasture rapidly advanced.

Consequently, communities of ethnic minorities who depend on the ecosystem of the inland area were forced into economic decline. They bore the brunt of environmental destruction because of the so-called development promoted by successive administrations.

In China, throughout the more than 50-year history of building a socialist state, ethnic minorities in the inland region have come to enjoy affluent civilized life as never before. In particular, the creation of an educational system that uses languages of ethnic minorities is a major accomplishment.

However, ecological migration has forced members of ethnic minorities to be cut off from their own communities. Many have been forced to migrate to urban areas where they are by far outnumbered by the Chinese. Because schools that use the languages of ethnic minorities are decreasing, many people of minority groups have no choice but to have their children go to Chinese schools. The educational system of ethnic minorities that took a long time to build is on the verge of falling apart.

It is important to eradicate poverty in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities so that people can share the benefits of China's economic advancement.

Economic advancement of the homelands of ethnic minorities must be supported by their unique cultures and educational system. Moreover, it is important that their cultures and educational system be sustained by communal life. China must not aim to achieve economic development at the cost of collapse of ethnic communities.

The only way to make China, a multiethnic nation, a more attractive power, is to allow ethnic minorities to maintain diversified, unique cultures forever.

As a country that prides itself as a major provider of official development assistance, I urge Japan to invest in China to maintain and promote educational and training programs for ethnic minorities.

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Born in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the author, 38, is a visiting researcher of Waseda University's Institute of Mongolia. He graduated from the University of Inner Mongolia in 1984 and received a doctor's degree in literature from Waseda University in 2001.