Living Land

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Combating desertification: introducing

integrated ecosystem management in the

People’s Republic of China

Frank Radstake and Bruce Dunn, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines

he People’s Republic of China (PRC) is on the

frontline of combating one of the most important

global environmental challenges of the twenty-first

century — the growing degradation and desertification of

dryland ecosystems that cover more than 40 per cent of

the Earth’s land surface. More than a third of the world’s

population lives in dryland ecosystems. About 90 per cent

are citizens of developing countries. Many of them are

poor and primarily depend on land for their livelihood

and consumption.

In the PRC more than 250 million people, including several large

ethnicminorities, live in the dryland ecosystems that covermuch of

the northern and western regions of the country. The provinces of

Gansu, Qinghai, and Shaanxi and the autonomous regions of Inner

Mongolia, Ningxia Hui, and Xinjiang Uygur are the worst-affected

areas. These dryland ecosystems are home to approximately three-

quarters of the country’s rural poor, and house over 5,000 species

of wild animals and plants. Many rural people have benefited only

marginally from the country’s spectacular overall economic growth

over the past three decades. The economic loss caused by desertifi-

cation is reportedly estimated to be about 1.4 per cent of the PRC’s

annual gross domestic product (GDP) and over 23 per cent of the

annual GDP of themain affected provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, and

Shaanxi and the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia

Hui, and Xinjiang Uygur.

The PRC Government has long recognized the potential

ecological, economic and social crises building in its dryland

areas. It can ill afford droughts, and it cannot allow more

vast tracts of its territory to be stripped by wind and water of

topsoil and productivity. The effects already spread beyond

the dryland ecosystems themselves. Distant cities as far away

as Japan have been affected by the more frequent and severe

dust storms that rise in north-west PRC and Mongolia.

The PRC also recognized that its past efforts, although

impressive, were hampered by an uncoordinated, piecemeal

approach. A wide variety of national government agencies

planned and carried out their own narrowly-focused activi-

ties with little or no consultation. Conflicts arose between

the responsibilities, priorities, goals, methods and regulations

of the institutions involved. They also duplicated efforts and

wasted resources. This lack of cohesion diminished the impact

of the Government’s work.

Since the ratification of the United Nations Convention to

Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 1997, the PRC has progres-

sively intensified its efforts to combat land degradation as a matter

of national priority. In 2002, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

agreed to a lead role to support the PRC to rethink, restructure

and strengthen its dryland management programme. Led by the

Ministry of Finance and the State Forestry Administration, the

Government’s decision to establish theGlobal Environment Facility

(GEF)-PRC Partnership for Combatting Land Degradation in

Dryland Ecosystems (the partnership) reflected the Government’s

growing commitment to addressing the country’s deepening prob-

lems. The partnership aimed at promoting good farming practices,

land preservation, and water and soil conservation with strategies

for rural development that reach, include and benefit the poor.

A 10-year country programming framework (2003-2012)

was prepared, introducing an effective integrated ecosystem

management (IEM) approach through a portfolio of new

A dryland farmer in Gansu province, one of the areas most

affected by desertification

Image: Frank Radstake

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