Desertification in north China: background, anthropogenic impacts and failures in combating it

Abstract Desertification in north China is ongoing despite the endeavours to mitigate it over the past 50 years. Overall examination of the context of desertification and defects of desertification‐combating programmes is a prerequisite for desertification control, which is now attracting general concern in China. The physiographic circumstances of north China, including the dry, continental, mid‐latitude climate, easily erodible soil surface and water shortage, provide the background to desertification. Climatic aridity and the evolution of land use and land management in recent decades have produced great stress on the land. The ineffectiveness of anti‐desertification measures ascribed to inadequate scientific involvement in decision‐making, neglect of the human dimension and the lack of a well‐organized desertification monitoring system are discussed in this paper. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.