To understand implementation of a nationwide sloping farmland soil erosion comprehensive control project during China’s 12th Five-Year Plan we used data collection and expert consultation. We selected 24 indexes across three aspects including project management, engineering construction and implementation benefit and used AHP-grey correlation analysis methods. We found that the scores for engineering construction were greater than 0.65 in most of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. These scores are high and scores for project management and implementation benefit are between 0.45-0.65; however, overall scores are low. The comprehensive evaluation results are normally distributed. The composite scores for Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou are 0.71, 0.68 and 0.68 respectively, indicating that the implementation effects are good. The scores for Jilin and Liaoning are 0.38 and 0.42 respectively, indicating that the implementation effects need improvement. Scores for other provinces are between 0.45-0.65 and the effects are medium. The evaluation results show certain zonal rules spatially and the implementation effect in karst regions of Southwest China is the highest, followed by the purple soil region in Southwest China, Loess Plateau region of Northwest China, earth-rock mountain region of North China and red soil hilly region of South China. The implementation effect in the black soil region of Northeast China suggests that improvement is needed in this region.
Sand barriers are one of the main measures used to prevent desertification and have been widely used in desertification control. Here, we use bibliometric methods and content analysis to summarize sand barrier type, applications and research. Existing problems in research are pointed out and revolution characteristics and development trends of sand barriers are discussed. We conclude that three main driving factors have stimulated sand barrier study: demand, technology and development concept. Developing environmentally friendly technology and promoting industrialization of sand area economies are future directions for sand barrier research.
Soil and water conservation technology plays an important role in soil and water loss control and the construction of the ecological civilization in vulnerable areas. Here, soil and water conservation technology use over 70 years for the Zhifanggou watershed is summarized and ecological, economic and social backgrounds are determined through consultation with experts and reference to published literature. We found that soil and water conservation technology use includes soil and water conservation engineering technology, soil and water conservation cultivation technology and soil and water conservation biotechnology. Soil and water conservation technology utilization varied with people’s demands and core problems at different developmental stages of the agricultural eco-economic system. The coupling process of the agricultural eco-economic system at Zhifanggou went through three stages. In stages I and II, soil and water conservation cultivation technology was applied to meet farmers’ basic life demands. In stage III, all three technologies were applied comprehensively to solve eco-environmental problems and adjust industrial structure. To facilitate regional ecological civilization construction and sustainable development of the ecological economy and society, more emphasis should be given to research and development, implementation of soil and water conservation technology, stand structure improvement, forest grass quality enhancement, biodiversity, ecosystem functional improvement, development of soil and water conservation ecological resources, the coupling of soil and water conservation, and agricultural industry-resource optimization.