Desertification in China: an Assessment Earth-Science Reviews
Earth-Science Reviews 88 (2008) 188–206 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Earth-Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/earscirev Desertification in China: An assessment Xunming Wang a,b,⁎, Fahu Chen b,1, Eerdun Hasi c,2, Jinchang Li a,3 a Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China b CAEP, MOE Key Laboratory of West China's Environmental Systems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China c College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China article info abstract Article history: Arid and semiarid China have experienced multiple arid phases throughout the Quaternary, and over the past Received 27 August 2007 five decades, there have been several periods with relatively high or low rates of desertification and Accepted 1 February 2008 rehabilitation. The causes of these changes and their historical trends have been debated by scientists because Available online 29 February 2008 of their potentially huge significance for China, as well as for the global ecology and food supply. This paper reviews recent studies of desertification in different regions of arid and semiarid China. In general, the results Keywords: of systematic monitoring, and analyses of the causes of desertification and the contemporaneous human desertification impacts, suggest that desertification in China has been primarily caused by climate change, and particularly by climate change strong wind regimes (with high sand transport potential) accompanied by decreased spring precipitation. geomorphological setting fi human impacts Unfortunately, although numerous scientists have claimed that deserti cation in China is primarily due to China human impacts; there is surprisingly little unassailable evidence to support this claim.
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