Study on Sandy Desertification in China ——2. Contents of Desertification Research

Although almost half a century for desertification research and control has elapsed, the desertified land in China has been expanding all the time, and the present arduous status of desertification is \!controlled in local but worsen in whole\. One of the important reasons is the lack of perfect basic theoretical system on desertification sciences that is used to direct the controlling practice based on knowledge about the key scientific problems of desertification. As long as multi\|disciplinary and integrated researches predominated by desertification sciences are conducted, the many scientific problems in desertification processes study and controlling practice can be solved. The author carried out discussion against the main research contents of desertification subject in China, and thought that desertification research should be stuck to the man\|land subject. In temporal series, for opening out the causes of desertification and the driving forces of its evolution it is necessary to systematically study the formation and evolution of desertification environmental background, the modern process of desertification and sandstorm as well as their developing trend under the global change pattern. In spatial configuration, for investigating into the spatial differentiation of desertification and sandstorm as well as their disadvantageous effects on environment and social economy it is also necessary in study to take the local eco\|environmental degradation processes of desertification regions and the middle scale or even the global atmospheric current as an unitive environmental dynamic system. In order to provide the scientific base for desertification prevention and control it should be quantitatively studied the desertification evolution law under natural and man\|made influences, as well as the controlling theoretical dependence and technical approaches. Hereby, it was suggested that the main contents of desertification research include the followings: the natural and the anthropogenic backgrounds of desertification processes, the dynamic process and its control of desertification or sandstorm, the biological process of desertification and the mechanism of vegetation reestablishment, the strategy and the mode of integrated desertification control.