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Soil erosion in Guizhou province of China: a case study in Bijie prefecture
Author(s) -
Jianping Zhang
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.1999.tb00067.x
Subject(s) - china , soil conservation , slash and burn , livestock , environmental science , erosion , grassland , agriculture , population , agroforestry , erosion control , geography , water resource management , environmental protection , hydrology (agriculture) , forestry , agronomy , geology , paleontology , demography , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , sociology , biology
. Guizhou province has one of the most severe soil erosion problems in China, with 44% of its total area affected. Within the province, Bijie prefecture is the most severely eroded with 63% of the total area affected. In recent decades this erosion is mainly caused by man's agricultural and industrial development. Not only is erosion restricting crop production, it is the cause of disastrous floods which recur with a frequency far greater than in the past. Reduced infiltration of rain has led to a third of the wells and a fifth of the streams running dry, depriving people and livestock of drinking water. This unsustainable use of land can only be corrected by a combination of population control, prevention of slash and burn cultivation and return of steeply sloping land to forest and grassland. Greater appreciation of the need for soil and water conservation is an essential part of this process.