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Regions and Their Typical Paradigms for Soil and Water Conservation in China

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Abstract

China is experiencing conflicts between its large population and scarce arable land, and between a demand for high productivity and the severe soil erosion of arable land. Since 1949, China has committed to soil and water conservation (SWC), for which eight regions and 41 subregions have been developed to improve the environment and increase land productivity. To obtain information from the regional planning and strategies for SWC and to explore whether SWC practices simultaneously contribute to soil conservation, ecosystem functioning, and the livelihoods of local farmers, and to summarize the successful experiences of various SWC paradigms with distinct characteristics and mechanisms of soil erosion, this paper systematically presents seven SWC regions (excluding the Tibetan Plateau region) and 14 typical SWC paradigms, focusing on erosion mechanisms and the key challenges or issues in the seven regions as well as on the core problems, main objectives, key technologies, and the performance of the 14 typical paradigms. In summary, the 14 typical SWC paradigms successfully prevent and control local soil erosion, and have largely enhanced, or at least do not harm, the livelihoods of local farmers. However, there remain many challenges and issues on SWC and socioeconomic development that need to be addressed in the seven SWC regions. China, thus, still has a long way to go in successfully gaining the win-win objective of SWC and human aspects of development.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Liang Yin from Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Zhu Bo from Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS, and Wang Kelin from Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, CAS, for their help in preparing Figs. 9, 11, and 12, respectively. The authors gratefully thank Liu Baoyuan, a professor of Beijing Normal University for his support in present work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geology and Environment, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Xiaohu Dang, Boyang Sui & Siwen Gao

  2. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Science and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, China

    Guobin Liu & Bing Wang

  3. College of Geomatics, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Tao Wang & Wei Bi

  4. International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation, Beijing, 100044, China

    Duihu Ning

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  1. Xiaohu Dang
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Correspondence to Xiaohu Dang.

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Foundation item: Under the auspices of Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (No. XDA20040200), the National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2016YFC0501707)

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Dang, X., Sui, B., Gao, S. et al. Regions and Their Typical Paradigms for Soil and Water Conservation in China. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 30, 643–664 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-020-1139-7

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