Co-evolution of soil and water conservation policy and human–environment linkages in the Yellow River Basin since 1949

Abstract

Policy plays a very important role in natural resource management as it lays out a government framework for guiding long-term decisions, and evolves in light of the interactions between human and environment. This paper focuses on soil and water conservation (SWC) policy in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. The problems, rural poverty, severe soil erosion, great sediment loads and high flood risks, are analyzed over the period of 1949-present using the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework as a way to organize analysis of the evolution of SWC policy. Three stages are identified in which SWC policy interacts differently with institutional, financial and technology support. In Stage 1 (1949-1979), SWC policy focused on rural development in eroded areas and on reducing sediment loads. Local farmers were mainly responsible for SWC. The aim of Stage 2 (1980-1990) was the overall development of rural industry and SWC. A more integrated management perspective was implemented taking a small watershed as a geographic interactional unit. This approach greatly improved the efficiency of SWC activities. In Stage 3 (1991 till now), SWC has been treated as the main measure for natural resource conservation, environmental protection, disaster mitigation and agriculture development. Prevention of new degradation became a priority. The government began to be responsible for SWC, using administrative, legal and financial approaches and various technologies that made large-scale SWC engineering possible. Over the historical period considered, with the implementation of the various SWC policies, the rural economic and ecological system improved continuously while the sediment load and flood risk decreased dramatically. The findings assist in providing a historical perspective that could inform more rational, scientific and effective natural resource management going forward.

Dynamic sediment discharge in the Hekou–Longmen region of Yellow River and soil and water conservation implications

“…Serious soil erosion on the Loess Plateau causes the loss of farmland onsite, the siltation of river beds and reservoirs offsite, and causes flooding in the Yellow River Basin and North China Plain (Hessel et al, 2003). Since the 1950s, soil and water conservation practices have been implemented in the Loess Plateau gradually to reduce the sediment discharge of the rivers (Wang et al, 2015). These conservation measures include: terrace and check-dam construction was the main soil erosion control measure in the 1960s and 1970s (Mu et al, 2007;Gao et al, 2011); integrated watershed management was introduced for erosion control in the 1980s and 1990s (Xin et al, 2012); large scale eco-rehabilitation projects as an important control measure has been used to improve the ecological environment and to reduce soil erosion after 2000s (Xin et al, 2015).…”

Temperature and precipitation changes over the Loess Plateau between 1961 and 2011, based on high-density gauge observations

“…The combined effects of frequent heavy rainfall, steeply sloping landscapes, low vegetation cover, and highly erodible soils have made the Loess Plateau one of the most seriously eroded areas in the world, with an average annual soil loss of 2000 to 2500 t/km 2 (Shi and Shao, 2000). The Loess Plateau is the main source of sediment in the Yellow River, and the amount of earth and sand flowing out from the Loess Plateau to the Yellow River can reach 1.6 billion tons/year (Wang et al, 2015). Soil loss from the Loess Plateau constitutes more than 90% of the total sediment entering the Yellow River (Chen et al, 2007).…”

A Sensitivity Study of Applying a Two‐Source Potential Evapotranspiration Model in the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index for Drought Monitoring

“…This region lies in arid and semiarid climate zone. The annual mean temperature ranges from 3·6 °C in the northwest to 14·5 °C in the southeast (Wang et al ., ). Light energy is abundant, with 2200–2800 annual hours of sunshine and 5·0–6·3 × 109 J m −2 166 annual total solar heat gains.…”