Desertification control: A framework for action

Desertification is a form of land degradation principally in semi-arid and arid areas influenced by climatic and human factors. As a country plagued by extensive sandy desertification and frequent sandstorms and dust storms, China has been trying to find ways to achieve the sustainable management of desertified lands. This paper reviewed the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on desertified areas, and the effort, outcome, and lessons learned from desertification control in China. Although drying and warming trends and growing population pressures exist in those areas, the expanding trend of desertified land achieved an overall reversal. In the past six decades, many efforts, including government policies, forestry, and desertification control programs, combined with eco-industrialization development, have been integrated to control the desertification in northern China. Positive human intervention including afforestation, and the rehabilitation of mobile sandy land, and water conservation have facilitated the return of arid and semi-arid ecosystems to a more balanced state. China’s practices in desertification control could provide valuable knowledge for sustainable desertified land management on a global scale.

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Changes in Soil Organic Carbon and Its Density Fractions After Shrub—Planting for Desertification Control

Polish Journal of Ecology ◽

10.3161/104.062.0202 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 205 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Density Fractions ◽

Desertification Control

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The challenge and future of rocky desertification control in karst areas in southwest China

Solid Earth ◽

10.5194/se-7-83-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 83-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

J. Y. Zhang ◽

M. H. Dai ◽

L. C. Wang ◽

C. F. Zeng ◽

W. C. Su

Keyword(s):

Southwest China ◽

Scientific Research ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Dynamic Monitoring ◽

Chinese Government ◽

Second Phase ◽

Karst Rocky Desertification ◽

Ecological Compensation ◽

Rocky Desertification ◽

Desertification Control

Abstract. Karst rocky desertification occurs after vegetation deteriorates as a result of intensive land use, which leads to severe water loss and soil erosion and exposes basement rocks, creating a rocky landscape. Karst rocky desertification is found in humid areas in southwest China, the region most seriously affected by rocky desertification in the world. In order to promote ecological restoration and help peasants out of poverty, the Chinese government carried out the first phase of a rocky desertification control project from 2006 to 2015, which initially contained the expansion of rocky desertification. Currently, the Chinese government is prepared to implement the second phase of the rocky desertification control project, and therefore it is essential to summarise the lessons learned over the last 10 years of the first phase. In this paper, we analyse the driving social and economic factors behind rocky desertification, summarise the scientific research on rocky desertification in the region, and finally identify the main problems facing rocky desertification control. In addition, we put forward several policy suggestions that take into account the perspective of local peasants, scientific research, and China's economic development and urbanisation process. These suggestions include promoting the non-agriculturalization of household livelihoods, improving ecological compensation, strengthening the evaluation of rocky desertification control and dynamic monitoring, and strengthening research on key ecological function recovery technologies and supporting technologies.

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