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Soil Erosion Area Drops Over 5000 sq km in Yunnan
Since Yunnan Province started to harness soil erosion in 1987, it has decreased the area of soil erosion by 5,097 square km. Initial success has been achieved in the key project of water conservation on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the trend of the deterioration of agricultural ecological environment has been brought under preliminary control.
Located in the upstream of the Yangtze River, Pearl River, Lancangjiang River, Nujiang River, and Honghe River, Yunnan is one of the Chinese provinces sustaining the most serious soil erosion. All the counties and cities of the province have been attacked by landslides, mud-rock flows and collapses resulted from soil erosion. The average direct economic losses exceed 0.2 billion yuan every year.
In the past 12 years, Yunnan took the "key project of water and soil conservation on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River" as the lead and explored the patterns of controlling soil erosion in different regions on the basis of intensified efforts for supervision, law-enforcement and publicity related to water and soil conservation, In light of the special situation that 82 percent of Yunnan's impoverished counties are regions suffering from serious soil erosion, Yunnan has combined the control of soil erosion with helping the masses out of poverty. Through comprehensive treatment of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland and roads, it has turned small river valleys into a comprehensive protective system which can both generate ecological effect and bring economic benefits for the farmers. Jinning County has aroused the mass to "turn slopes into terraced fields" and improve the soil according to its texture. The simultaneous adoption of engineering, biological and farming measures has changed local agricultural production conditions, farmers have become well-off and soil erosion has been brought under control.
In the regions of severe soil erosion, Yunnan has conducted specific treatment in light of local conditions. Kunming City's Dongchuan District, known as a "Natural Mud-Rock Flow Museum", treats the local mud-rock flow by the "stabilizing-draining-blocking" method. It plants trees in the mud-rock flow formation regions, builds dams in the main beds, and constructs draining conduits in soil erosion regions so as to protect cities and important production facilities.
After a long period of efforts, the area of soil erosion in Yunnan Province has kept on decreasing. The area declined by over 15 percent in Chuxiong Prefecture and Zhaotong region. The amount of soil erosion in the Yangtze River Valley decreased by 15 million tons.
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