Synopsis
This chapter provides information about the geographical location, population, climatic conditions, natural resources, areal extent and administrative regions of China, the third largest country in the world. We discuss definitions of desertification, land degradation, and the causes and hazards brought about by desertification. Finally, we provide information pertaining to the status, characteristics, types, distribution and efforts to combat desertification in China – one of the countries most seriously affected by desertification that is exacerbated by desert encroachment. We also explain the role in China’s development strategy of efforts to prevent desert encroachment.
Key Points
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China is one of the developing countries with vast deserts and desertified areas and 60 % of her population is living in the affected areas. The status of desertification is very serious. It is mainly caused by climatic variations and human factors. It is estimated that 13 Mha of arable land has been threatened by disasters of wind and sand storms; about 100 Mha of steppe, desert steppe and pasture lands have been seriously degraded; thousands of water conservation facilities and systems have been threatened by wind and sand hazards and the benefits of the drainage system have been reduced; around 800 km of railway has been threatened and 1,000 km of highways have been destroyed by the accumulation of sands.
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Deserts (P:ETP ratio <0.5) and desertified land are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, covering 13 provinces and autonomous regions in North-west China (including part of Tibet) and in Northeast China. Gobi and sandy deserts cover an area of about 1,530,000 km2, which is equivalent to 15.9 % of the national land area. According to Zhu (1998) the existing desertified land area in China is 861,600 km2, accounting for 8.9 % of the total land area, of which desertified land induced by water erosion covers 394,000 km2, making up 45.7 % of the total desertified area; wind-erosion induced desertified area is 379,600 km2, or 44.1 %; and desertified area caused by physical and chemical actions (such as secondary salinized land) occupies 88,000 km2, or 10.2 %.
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Desertification in China should not include original desert such as sandy desert, rocky of gravel desert (gobi), salt desert, wind-erosion related yardang relief and frigid desert resulting from purely natural factors. The inclusion of the hyper-arid areas (deserts) distorts the nature of the problem of desertification and its control and reversal in China.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to Wang Jihe, Xu Xianying, Yang Zihui, Zhang Fengchun and Zheng Qing Zhong of the Gansu Desert Control Research Institute for sharing their results and summaries of the experiences gained in Gansu Province and for insights into the challenges faced in combating desertification in north west China. Professor Lu Qi of the Institute of Desertification Studies, Beijing is thanked for providing an opportunity for one of us (GH) to attend the Training Workshop on August 1–Sept. 30, 2006. in WuWei, Gansu and to see at first hand the achievements of our Chinese colleagues.
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Heshmati, G.A., Squires, V.R. (2013). Introduction to Deserts and Desertified Regions in China. In: Heshmati, G., Squires, V. (eds) Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6652-5_1
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