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Unlocking the poverty-food-environment trilemma in the Loess Plateau, northwest China

Zhang, Dongwei ( 2011)

For centuries the Loess Plateau of northwest China has been suffering from pressing environmental, social and economic challenges. The interlinked problems of extensive soil erosion, food deficiency and chronic poverty on the Plateau have posed a devastating threat to local sustainability and an imperilled menace to life and property safety to downstream waterways alongside the Yellow River. In order to understanding and tackling this trilemma, a small catchment basin, Gaoquan Watershed in hinterland of Loess Plateau's gullied hilly region, was chosen as a research site. Long-term multidisciplinary researches and demonstrations have been carried out with focusing on utilising agricultural resources in a holistic manner. Successful practice of integrated resource management strategy has led this marginal semiarid catchment basin to a way towards sustainable development. By reviewing main technological and managerial aspects of Gaoquan Watershed experiences, this study analyses the matrix of incentives and interests of different stake holders, and provides recommendations of coping with the problems of land degradation, food security and related social consequences in the Loess Plateau from a wider and more integrated perspective.