The Status, Causes and Control of Desertification in the Ortindag Sandy Land to the North of Beijing

The desertification concept was introduced into China in 1977 when the United Nations Conference on Desertification was held Although much research on it has been done since then, the exact status and causes of desertification are still beyond researchers' understanding Over the past 50 years, the losing rate of land to desertification has been escalating Among the most severe desertified areas is the Ortindag Sandy Land, located in Inner Mongolia plateau and to the north of Beijing, which is a dust and sand source area that threatens Beijing and Tianjin regions It is experiencing severe desertification, whereas there is short of relevant studies on it at present The trend of rapid expansion of desertification was realized through researches on some local areas in this region The desertification status and trends in the whole region of Ortindag Sandy Land, however, are still unclear To date, knowledge about the causes of desertification is no more than a general understanding that irrational human activities such as overgrazing can induce desertification Human production system and land system interlace and interact There is a complex feedback mechanism between them It is vital to reveal the feedback mechanism for the understanding of the causes of desertification and control of desertification Finally, we advocate four key issues and research priorities relevant to desertification of the Ortindag Sandy Land, ie potential ecosystem spatial patterns, desertification trends and monitoring, desertification mechanisms, and land quality and land capacity assessments