Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Assessing and Managing the Soil Erosion Problem in Southern China

  • Chapter
China’s Economic Growth

Abstract

Soil erosion constitutes a major environmental issue in China. Traditionally focused on the semi-arid environments of the north, degradation has now emerged as a significant topic in the humid south in recent decades. Inventories of land affected by erosion show a dramatic increase in the extent of degradation, which has led to speculation about future food security (Smil 1993).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Blaikie, P. (1985) The Political Economy of Soil Erosion (Harlow: Longman).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, R. L. (1992) ‘Political Ecology: An Emerging Research Agenda in Third World Studies’, Political Geography, 11, 12–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CAS (Leading Group of the Three Gorges Project Ecology and Environment Research Project, Chinese Academy of Sciences) (1988) Ecological and Environmental Impact of the Three Gorges Project and Countermeasures (Beijing: Science Press) (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ecologist, (1993) ‘“Carrying Capacity”, “Over Population” and Environmental Degradation’, reproduced in Kirkby, J., O’Keefe, P. and Timberlake, L. (eds) (1996) The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Development (London: Earthscan) 101–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, R. L. (1992) ‘The Sanxia (Three Gorges) Project: The Environmental Argument Surrounding China’s Super Dam’, Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters, 2, 105–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, R. L. (1994) Patterns of China’s Lost Harmony: A Survey of the Country’s Environmental Degradation and Protection (London: Routledge).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gu Hengyue, Ai Nanshan and Ma Hongliang (1987) ‘Sediment sources and trends in the TGP reservoir area’ (in Chinese), in: Leading Group of the Three Gorges Project Ecology and Environment Research Project, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ed.) Collected Papers on Ecological and Environmental Impact of the Three Gorges Project and Countermeasures (Beijing: Science Press) 522–541.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gu Hengyue and Douglas, I. (1989) ‘Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Land Degradation and Fluvial Erosion in the Middle and Upper Yangtze River Basin’, Land Degradation and Rehabilitation, 1, 217–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgitt, D. L. (1995) ‘Assessment of Erosion and Sediment Delivery in a Mountainous Subtropical Catchment, Fujian province, China’, in: Singh, R. B. and Haigh, M. J. (eds) Sustainable Reconstruction of Highland and Headwater Regions (Rotterdam: Balkema) 299–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgitt, D. L. and Lu Xixi (1996) ‘Patterns of Sediment Yield in the Upper Yangtze Basin, China’, in Erosion and Sediment Yield: Global and Regional Perspectives (Proceedings of the Exeter Symposium, July 1996), IAHS Publication no. 236 (Wallingford: International Association of Hydrological Sciences) 205–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgitt, D. L. and Rowan, J. S. (1996) ‘Erosion Assessment and Administration in Subtropical China: A Case Study from Fujian Province’, Land Degradation and Development, 7, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, R. D. (1993) ‘Land, People and an Equilibrium Trap: Guizhou Province, PRC’, Pacific Viewpoint, 34 (3), 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang Jikun and Rozelle, S. (1995) ‘Environmental Stress and Grain Yields in China’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 77, 853–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jansson, M. B. (1988) ‘A Global Survey of Sediment Yield’ Geografiska Annaler, 70A, 81–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langbein, W. B. and Schumm, S. A. (1958) ‘Yield of Sediment in Relation to Mean Annual Precipitation’, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 39, 1076–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. and Li, C. (1993) ‘The Gradation and Assessment of the Damage Degree of the Natural Landscape in the Hilly Region of South China: Taking Xing’an County of Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi as the Example’, in Parham, W. E., Durana, P. J. and Hess, A. L. (eds) Improving Degraded Lands: Promising Experiences from South China (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press) 117–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Chungchu and Lin Cang (1991) ‘The Present Status and Potential Use of Hill Land in Fujian Province’, in Home, P. M., Macleod, D. A. and Scott, J. M., (eds), Forages on Red Soils in China, ACIAR Proceedings No. 38 (Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) 106–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu Xixi and Shi Deming (1991) ‘Soil Erosion and Revegetation in the Hilly Area of South China’, in Home, P. M., Macleod, D. A. and Scott, J. M. (eds), Forages on Red Soils in China, ACIAR Proceedings No. 38 (Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) 31–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu Xixi, Shi Deming, Yang Yansheng and Liang Yin (1991) ‘Evaluation on the Water Retention Properties of Eroded Soil Developed from Quaternary Red Clay Region’, Acta Conservationis Soli et Aquae Sinica, 5(3) 88–96 (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Luk, S.-H. and Whitney, J. B. (eds.) (1993) Megaproject: A Case Study of China’s Three Gorges Project (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe).

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo Shiming and Li Huashou (1993) ‘Agroecosytem Models to Prevent Land Degradation and to Improve Land Productivity in the Jian River Watershed’, in Parham, W. E., Durana, P. J. and Hess, A. L. (eds) Improving Degraded Lands: Promising Experiences from South China (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press) 91–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meade, R. H. (1996) ‘River-Sediment Inputs to Major Deltas’, in Milliman, J. D. and Haq, B. U. (eds) Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Subsidence (Dordrechdt: Kluwer) 63–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milliman, J. D. and Syvitski, J. P. M. (1992) ‘Geomorphic/Tectonic Control of Sediment Discharge to the Ocean: The Importance of Small Mountainous Rivers’, Journal of Geology, 100, 525–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ni Shaoxiang (1993) ‘Soil Erosion in Tropical Southern China: Problems and Countermeasures’, in Parham, W. E., Durana, P. J. and Hess, A. L. (eds) Improving Degraded Lands: Promising Experiences from South China (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press) 151–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ni Shaoxiang, Bao Haosheng, Peng Buzhou and Li Chunhua (1987) ‘A Preliminary Study on Land Classification and Evaluation in the Dongxi River Basin of Shaxian County, Fujian Province’, Journal of Nanjing University, 8, 83–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, K. R., Norton, L. D., Fenton, T. E. and Lal, R. (1994) ‘Quantification of Soil Loss from Eroded Soil Phases’, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 49, 591–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parham, W. E., Durana, P. J. and Hess, A. L (eds) (1993) Improving Degraded Lands: Promising Experiences from South China (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Qian Ning, Zhang Ren and Chen Zhicong (1993) ‘Some Aspects of Sedimentation at the Three Gorges Project’, in Luk, S.- H. and. Whitney, J. B. (eds) Megaproject A Case Study of China’s Three Gorges Project (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe) 121–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, S. D. 1990 ‘Forests and Forestry in China’ (Washington, DC: Island Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi Deming and Yang Yansheng (1992) ‘Effects of Soil Erosion on Land Degradation and its Control in China’, in Gong Zitong (ed.) Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Management and Development of Red Soils in Asia and the Pacific Region (Beijing: Science Press) 117–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smil, V. (1987) ‘Land Degradation in China: An Ancient problem getting worse’, in P. Blaikie and H. Brookfield (eds), Land Degradation and Society (London: Methuen) 214–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smil, V. (1992) ‘China’s Environment in the 1980s: Some Critical Changes’, Ambio, 21, 431–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smil, V. (1993) China’s Environmental Crisis: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stocking, M. (1995) ‘Soil Erosion in Developing Countries: Where Geomorphology Fears to Tread!’, Catena, 25, 253–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Summerfield, M. A. and Hulton, N. J. (1994) ‘Natural Controls of Fluvial Denudation Rates in Major World Drainage Basins’, Journal of Geophysical Research, 99, 13871–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiffin, M., Mortimore, M. and Gichuki, F. (1993) More People, Less Erosion: Environmental Recovery in Kenya (Chichester: Wiley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Trimble, S. W. (1993) ‘The Distributed Sediment Budget Model and Watershed Management in the Palaeozoic Plateau of the Upper Midwestern United States’, Physical Geography, 14, 285–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeer, E. B. (1977) Water Conservancy and Irrigation in China (The Hague: Leiden University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walling, D. E. (1983) ‘The Sediment Delivery Problem’, Journal of Hydrology, 65, 209–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wen Dazhong (1993) ‘Soil Erosion and Conservation in China’, in Pimental, D. (ed.) World Soil Erosion and Conservation (Cambridge University Press) 63–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, P. B. (1993) ‘Sedimentation Analysis’, in Barber, M. and Ryder, G. (eds), Damming the Three Gorges (London: Earthscan) 126–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu Daping and Yang Minquan (1991) ‘Soil Erosion in the Red Soil area of Southern China’, in Home, P. M., Macleod, D. A. and Scott, J. M. (eds) Forages on RedSoils in China, ACIAR Proceedings no. 38 (Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) 82–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu Deying (1993) ‘A Comparison of Potential Productivity and Actual Productivity in the Context of Land Degradation on Hainan Island, China’, in Parham, W. E., Durana, P. J. and Hess, A. L. (eds) Improving Degraded Lands: Promising Experiences from South China (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press) 69–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu Jiongxin (1994) ‘Zonal distribution of River Basin Erosion and Sediment Yield in China’, China Science Bulletin, 39, 1356–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, J. and Zeng, G. (1992) ‘Bengang Erosion in Sub-tropical Granite Weathering Crust Geoecosystems: An Example from Guangdong Province’, in Erosion, Debris Flows and Environment in Mountain Regions (Proceedings of the Chengdu Symposium), IAHS Publication 209 (Wallingford: International Association of Hydrological Sciences) 455–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang Yansheng and Shi Deming (1994) Study on Soil Erosion in the Three Gorge Region of the Yangtze River (Nanjing: South East Universities Press) (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Qigao (1992) ‘Ecological Environment and Integrated Exploitation of the Red Soil Hilly Region of China’, in Gong Zitong (ed), Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Management and Development of Red Soils in Asia and the Pacific region (Beijing: Science Press) 2–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Qigao (1993) ‘Ecological Environment and Integrated Exploitation of the Red Soil Hilly Region of China’, in Parham, W. E., Durana, P. J. and. Hess, A. L (eds) Improving Degraded Lands: Promising Experiences from South China (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press) 177–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Guangyi (1995) ‘Influences of Tropical Forest Changes on Environmental Quality in Hainan Province, P.R. of China’, Ecological Engineering, 4, 223–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Hejian (1990) ‘The Present State and Developmental Orientation of Land Utilization in Mountainous Red Earth Regions in China’, GeoJournal, 20, 375–9.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. David Higgitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Terry Cannon (Reader in Development Studies) (Reader in Development Studies)

Copyright information

© 2000 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Higgitt, D. (2000). Assessing and Managing the Soil Erosion Problem in Southern China. In: Cannon, T. (eds) China’s Economic Growth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333977392_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation