Zhang, J. Y., Dai, M. H., Wang, L. C., Zeng, C. F., and Su, W. C. 2016. The challenge and future of rocky desertification control in karst areas in southwest China. Solid Earth, 7:83-91, DOI:10.5194/se-7-83-2016, 2016.
Karst ecosystems in China are one of the main objectives of desertification control, since its conservation is important for economic and social development, especially of the rural population. These ecosystems are unique, due to both the high impact of human activities and their great vulnerability.
The main provinces of karst rocky desertification in southwest China. Image included in the original paper.
In this paper, recently published, researchers at the Nanjing University, the Chongqing Technology and Business University and the Guizhou Academy of Sciences (China), review the relationship between desertification and human impact on karst areas of China. The authors of the study propose a reduction of anthropic impacts and outline the possibilities for desertification control, analyzing the influence of migration policies, economic conditions and proposing assimilation and improving employment conditions of the population displaced to urban centers. In addition, in order to improve control plans desertification in rural areas, the authors propose the implementation of “ecological compensation” to the rural population and involve social partners in integrated approaches to ecosystem management.
Multi-scale feedback relationship between land use and the ecosystem in the karst areas in southwest China. Image included in the original paper.
Solid Earth
Solid Earth (SE) is an international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of multidisciplinary research on the composition, structure and dynamics of the Earth from the surface to the deep interior at all spatial and temporal scales. More at Solid Earth homepage.
