Comprehensive control on rocky desertification in karst regions of southwestern China: achievements, problems, and countermeasures

Rocky desertification and poverty are intertwined in karst regions of southwestern China, which is the bottleneck for regional social and economic sustainable development. In recent two decades, through carrying out vegetation restoration, soil and water conservation, and ecological immigrant, the whole expansion trend of rocky desertification has got preliminary containment from continuous increase to net decrease, and the ecological condition has achieved favorable development in karst areas of southwestern China. However, the prevention and control situation remain serious, and economic development should be considered urgently during the process of ecological control. This paper analyzes firstly the achievements and problems of rocky desertification comprehensive control, and then discusses its prevention and control countermeasures based on the improvement of people's livelihood. Next the experience and drawbacks during the first stage of karst desertification control are sorted out systematically. It is suggested that in the future, the studies should be strengthened on rocky desertification evolution and its key driving factors, the structure and function dynamics of karst critical zones, and the interaction between vegetation and hydrological processes. At the same time, vegetation restoration should be combined with the promotion of ecological service and the improvement of people's livelihood, and the ecological derivative industry in line with ecological management should be nurtured and developed to push poverty alleviation through bettering "blood-making" function. This could realize the win-win result of ecological control and poverty alleviation, and promote the regional social and economic cooperation development as well as the construction of the ecological security barrier in karst regions of southwestern China.