The barren, arid land of Xihaigu in Ningxia, northwest China, was deemed "one of the most unfit places for human settlement" by the United Nations in the 1970s.

Changes started to take place in the 1980s when a huge ecomigration project was pioneered. More than 350,000 people were relocated to new communities.

This former wasteland is now a paradise for plants and animals.