-PHOTO TAKEN 13SEP03- A wilted sunflower hangs on a fence in front of plants which...

-PHOTO TAKEN 13SEP03- A wilted sunflower hangs on a fence in front of plants which will line the Taklimakan Desert motorway near Tazhong in the central part of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region September 13, 2003. PetroChina, which built the world's longest desert highway to serve its oil wells, is contributing one billion yuan ($121 million) to the project in an effort to protect the 522km (326 miles) highway from being engulfed by encroaching sand. The highway winds from Lunnan Oilfield, at the northern edge of the desert, to Minfeng County at the south, dividing into two parts the 340,000 sq km Taklimakan, the world's second largest moving desert. Research by Xinjiang Ecology and Geography Research Institute shows that the speed of desertification in Xinjiang in the past 10 years has decreased by 50 percent. Picture taken September 13, 2003.