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The renowned Mogao Grottoes in west China, home to over 1,000 Buddha figures, has become the site of the country's largest project to protect cultural relics from the encroaching desert.

The Dunhuang Grottoes site in the west of Gansu Province is being threatened by wind blown sand drifts, erosion and dust damage, as the nearby Kumutage desert creeps ever closer.

Wang Wanfu, deputy director of the institute responsible for studying and protecting the grottoes relics, has been researching methods to prevent further damage.

He said frescoes had been peeling off, painted sculptures had been damaged and the caves themselves were beginning to collapse.

"The typical desert climate makes this region dry. It rains very little and the region is often attacked by wind-blown sand. Among all the natural threats, damage from wind drift sand is the most serious," said Wang.

More than half of the frescos and painted sculptures in the 492 grottoes have suffered fading or peeling.

"All the damage is related to wind drift sand to some extent," said Wang.

Since the 1940s, various measures to stop wind drift sand have been taken in the Mogao Grottoes. So far, three barriers against wind drift sand have been built, including a 20-hectare grass patch to fix sand, a 4-kilometer forest belt and a 3-kilometer nylon fence.

"Compared with the 1980s, accumulated sand has decreased by 90 per cent. The sand gathered from the grottoes every year has reduced from 3,000 to 4,000 cubic meters to just 100 cubic meters, " Wang said.

Li Zuixiong, deputy director of Dunhuang Research Institute, said that for nearly half a century, their fight against the sand has been ceaseless.

"In recent years, we have cooperated with protection and research institutes from the United States, Japan and Australia to explore an effective way to protect the Mogao Grottoes from damage, " said Li. "Some new materials have been tried, which has been effective in confronting the sand."

Wang said the protection of the Mogao Grottoes was the single largest such project in China.

"But the project is still far from being a permanent solution," he said.

According to Fan Jinshi, president of Dunhuang Research Institute, a more completed system against wind drift sand is in planning.

"Establishing an integrated prevention system, which consists of engineering, biological and chemical measures, is the best way to eliminate the damage," said Fan.

"Such a huge project needs not only time, money and technology, but also the participation and cooperation of experts in various fields such as cultural relics protection and desert control," Fan said.

"The project protecting the Mogao Grottoes from wind drift sand will become a model in China's cultural relics protection."

Dating from 336 AD., the Mogao Grottoes, also known named as the Caves of 1,000 Buddhas is listed a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. A total of 735 caves have been found so far and frescos on the inside walls cover an area of 45,000 square meters.

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