The Impact of the Community on the Land Overuse in China

The Impact of the Community on the Land Overuse in China Male: When I first came to the Loess Plateau I was astounded by the degree of poverty and degradation and I wondered how could the Chinese people, the largest ethnic group on the planet, and my fathers and my own ancestors, come from a place that was this barren. China’s Loess Plateau is a region that stretches for 640,000 square kilometers across north central China. Unspoiled valleys in neighboring Sichuan show us how it might once have looked. It’s the sort of natural abundance that is necessary to support an emerging civilization. How could a landscape with this potential have been reduced to this? When Chinese scientists and civil engineers began to survey the area they realized that several thousand of years of agricultural exploitation had denuded the hills and valleys of vegetation. The relentless grazing of domestic animals on the slopes meant that there was no chance for young trees and shrubs to grow. The rain was no longer seeped into the earth, but simply washed down the hillsides, taking the soil with it. Over the millennia, this process progressively destroyed the region’s fertility. This process which has been repeated on every continent. Male: One thing that became apparent early on is the connection between damaged environments and human poverty. In many parts of the world there’s been a vicious cycle. Continuous use of the land has led to subsistence agriculture and generation by generation, this has further degraded the soils. The vital question we have to ask is can this be destructive process be reversed? Fifteen years ago, Chinese and international experts were confident it could be. They decided that to prevent further erosion it was imperative to seize farming in certain key areas and allow the trees and shrubs to grow back. This could not happen without the consent of the farmers themselves. They took some persuading. Mr. Ta Fu Yuan: Of course a lot of people didn't understand the project. They weren’t thinking in the long term. Male: They want us to plant trees everywhere, even in the good land. What about the next generation? They can’t eat trees. Male: What eventually convinced the local people was the assurance that they would have tenure of their land, that they would directly benefit from the effort they invested in the new project. Mr. Ta Fu Yuan: The goal was to give a hat to the hilltops, give a belt to the hills, as well as shoes at the base. The hat meant that the top of these hills had to be replanted with trees. The belt meant that terraces had to be built, to be used for crop planting and also for trees. The shoes meant the dams which we had to build. So that the hills could get back to life and our economy as well as our lives could improve. Male: One vital change was in the local laws. Hills and gullies were designated as ecological zones to be protected. Farmers were given financial compensation for not farming on them and keeping their livestock penned up.