The Tengger Desert lies on the southern edge of the Gobi Desert, southwest of Beijing. The desert is rapidly growing as the result of global climate change; meanwhile, China's urban populations are increasingly sprawling toward the desert. Josh Handler, Edward Wong, Derek Watkins, and Jeremy White examine the impact of desertification on communities in the Tengger in this multimedia article from The New York Times. The article, part of an ongoing series on the global impact of climate change, features photographs and videos from the Tengger along with interactive maps. As the article explains, desertification has radically altered China's landscape; today, there are 21,000 more square miles of desert in China than there was in 1976. This desertification has produced a number of "ecological migrants" who are no longer able to live in their home communities. A follow up article, linked at the bottom of this article, further examines the experiences of these migrants.
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