China.com/China Development Portal News The Loess Plateau is located at the second step of China’s terrain, with an area of about 64×104 km2, spanning 7 provinces (autonomous regionsKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw), 341 counties (cities), with a total population of about 108 million. 90% of the Yellow River silt and 40% of the natural runoff come from the Loess Plateau. The Loess Plateau is an important ecological barrier in the Yellow River Basin and an important part of my country’s “three zones and four belts” ecological security strategic pattern. It plays a major role in protecting the security of the Yellow River and the North China Plain, ensuring energy bases and food security. The Loess Plateau is rich in coal, oil, natural gas, non-ferrous metal minerals and abundant solar and thermal resources. It is an important energy base and dry farming agricultural area in my country (Figure 1). It has an irreplaceable strategic position in building a new pattern of land space development and protection.
Since the 1950s, the Loess Plateau has achieved remarkable achievements in the construction of ecological barriers through continuous soil and water conservation and ecological restoration projects, effectively ensuring that there have been no major breach disasters in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in the past 70 years. However, the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau still faces many challenges. Global climate warming has led to the continuous northward movement of the planting belt and the growing season is advanced. However, the extreme drought and flood alternation, cold and warm fluctuations, and extreme weather events have increased significantly under the warming scenario, resulting in fluctuations in agricultural production, aggravated natural disasters, soil erosion and soil moisture deficiency, threatening the stability and sustainability of the ecological barrier of the Loess Plateau. With the acceleration of large-scale biological and engineering governance and urbanization and agricultural modernization, the interaction between man and nature has become more complex. Therefore, how to handle the relationship between protection and development well, achieve ecological improvement, coordination of people and land, and increase income from people is a major issue that needs to be solved in the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau.
In order to meet these challenges and problems, the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau should adhere to the development concept that green waters and green mountains are gold and silver mountains, scientifically promote the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau, and serve the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. From the perspective of regional earth system science, we have in-depth research on multi-circular layers of the Loess Plateau,The interaction and mechanism between multiple scales and multiple factors reveals the evolutionary laws of the symbiotic system between man and nature; develop new technologies and new models for ecological environment governance of the Loess Plateau to consolidate and improve the effectiveness and achievements of ecological barrier construction of the Loess Plateau.
Scientific basis for the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau
The regional function of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau
The construction goals of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau are to curb soil erosion, improve the regional ecological environment, build a green barrier, ensure the safety of the Yellow River and promote the development of regional economics. The ecological barrier of the Loess Plateau should have three regional functions: to ensure the safety of the Yellow River and the safety of life and property in the North China Plain. The violent erosion of the Loess Plateau has caused trillions of tons of silt to be carried into the downstream areas through the Yellow River, causing serious silt in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, forming a “hanging river”, with high flood risk, and the security of the North China Plain is threatened. However, in recent decades, the comprehensive soil and water conservation management has reduced the silt into the Yellow River by more than 85%, playing a great role as an ecological barrier. Promote ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. The Loess Plateau accounts for about 85% of the total area of the Yellow River Basin. It is the core and key area for implementing the national strategy of the Yellow River Basin. It has extremely rich energy resources, a very important strategic position, and its regional functions are particularly unique. Promote the sustainable development of the Loess Plateau itself. With the systematic transformation from “yellow” to “green”, the natural ecological environment and economic development conditions of the Loess Plateau are also undergoing a historic transformation. The construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau can effectively improve the quality of its own ecological environment and promote regional coordination and sustainable development.
Coupling characteristics of the earth system in the Loess Plateau area
HuangBabaylan 1990 cloth drawSoil is the product of multi-circle interactions such as lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmospheric circle in the earth system (Figure 2). Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawResearch on the earth system in the loess region, mainly Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawWe should study the evolution process, change laws and development trends of its overall system through multi-circle, multi-scale, and multi-factor interactions to adapt to theThe profound changes in the regional earth system under the influence of natural processes and human activities serve the sustainable development of human society in the Loess region. Its core is to study the impact and response of natural processes and human activities, physical climate processes and biogeochemical cycles on the earth system in the loess region and its response.
At present, the regional earth system of the Loess Plateau has two major characteristics: affected by global warming, the frequency of extreme drought and flood events has increased, 36 droughts and 45 heavy rains in the past 20 years. Extreme climate events that were originally “once a hundred years” may become the new normal, regional agricultural development and ecological barrier safetyBabaylan 1990 cloth draw faced major challenges in all aspects; the major ecological projects implemented on the Loess Plateau have significantly changed the natural environment and the relationship between humans and land, resulting in the hydrological processes and water and sand transfers of the Loess Plateau to a certain extent have changed from natural processes to human activities. To some extent, human activities have become the dominant factor driving the changes in the modern surface environment and the evolution of human-land relationships, and have promoted the vigorous development of human science.
Major scientific and technological issues in the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau
The strategic major scientific and technological issues in the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau are how to stabilize and improve the ecological barrier functions of the Loess Plateau and promote regional sustainable development under the influence of global changes (climate change and large-scale human activities). For example, how to carry out ecological barrier construction and comprehensive environmental governance of the Loess Plateau from the perspective of an overall system; how to consider the extreme climate disaster risks that the Loess Plateau-Yellow River may face and establish an intelligent prediction and early warning system; how to develop new quality productivity and embark on a path of coordinated development of ecology and economy, and harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
The achievements and challenges faced by the ecological protection of the Loess Plateau
The ecological protection and restoration of the Loess Plateau have achieved remarkable results, laying a solid ecological foundation for achieving regional sustainable development. However, due to the impact of global changes and the complexity of human-land relations, the ecological construction of the Loess Plateau also faces a series of challenges.
Ecological protection of the Loess PlateauAchievements made in restoration
The construction of vegetation has achieved brilliant achievements and achieved a historic transformation from “yellow” to “green”. From 1999 to 2020, the coverage rate of forest and grass vegetation on the Loess Plateau increased from 31.6% to 6Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw7.0%. The vegetation index growth rate was higher than the overall national level, leading the country to “turn green”.
The trend of ecosystem degradation has been effectively curbed, and the silt and sand entering yellow have dropped significantly. The large-scale development of returning farmland to forests and grassland projects, the comprehensive management of small watershed units and the construction of silt dams have made great contributions to controlling soil erosion on the Loess Plateau Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw and reducing silt and sand into yellow.
Agricultural production capacity has been improved, rural income growth channels have been significantly expanded, and the “three lives” space for ecology, production and life has tended to be optimized. The Loess Plateau GugoubaoCinema 1950 witch cloth draw plateau has achieved significant results. Agricultural production in the Loess Hilly Gully Gully Area has gradually concentrated from slopes to ditches and rivers, and living and living gradually concentrated from hills to ditch mouths and central towns.
Challenges facing the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau
Challenges of global climate change and extreme climate and disaster risks. Affected by global warming, extreme precipitation events on the Loess Plateau tend to increase, and the impact of major engineering and other human activities has exacerbated the risk of natural and engineering disasters. In the past 70 years, the Yellow River Basin seems to have shown an overall warm and drying trend, but with global warming, it remains to be studied in depth whether the monsoon precipitation in the next 10 years will increase.
The challenge of ecological construction and water-sand balance. At present, the construction of vegetation on the Loess Plateau has approached the threshold for sustainable use of water resources, and the sand-blocking capacity of terraced dams and reservoirs has gradually become saturated. However, there is great uncertainty in the relationship between the ecological construction of the Loess Plateau and the balance between the water and sand of the Yellow River, which affects the formulation of ecological protection policies and the stable development of the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the delta.
The challenge of human-land coordination and enriching people and increasing income. The economic development of the Loess Plateau has achieved remarkable results, but the vast majority of rural areas have not yet escaped the lagging development situation. Babaylan 1990 cloth drawIn recent years, the number of farmers returning home has increased, and deforestation and land reclamation and grazing in mountains and mountains have occurred frequently. It is urgent to coordinate and coordinate the matter. Babaylan 1990 cloth drawThe relationship between ecology and life, protection and development, and coordinate the problem of agricultural efficiency and farmers’ income increase.
Innovative Paths for the Construction of Ecological Barriers on the Loess Plateau
In response to the challenges and problems facing the construction of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau, we must deeply understand the new development concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and the new holistic view of systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sands. Babaylan 1990 cloth draw explores the coupling mechanism and innovation path of human-earth systems (Figure 3), and provide systematic solutions for the construction and high-quality development of ecological barriers on the Loess Plateau.
Comprehensively implement the “26-word” method of comprehensively controlling the ecological environment and soil and water conservation of the Loess PlateauCinema 1950 witch clothes drawBrief
In the 1980s, Academician Zhu Xianmo proposed the “28-character” strategy for land improvement of the Loess Plateau, namely “all precipitation is infiltration and storage on the spot, rice and grain are placed on the upper plateau of rivers, forests and fruits are placed on the upper ditches, and grass turbulences are placed on the slope and down the slope”, which played an important role in guiding the governance and development of the Loess Plateau and the development of dry farm agriculture. Entering a new era, in response to new problems, Zhou Weijian and Academician An Zhisheng proposed the “26-character” strategy for comprehensive ecological environment management of the Loess Plateau in the new era in 2018, namely, “the plateau area consolidates the ditches and protects the plateau, and the slope surface is reduced to farmland”! “Blue Yuhua suddenly screamed in surprise, grabbed her mother’s hand tightly with her backhand, and tried hard until her fingers turned white. Her face turned whiter in an instant, without any blood. She returned the forest and grass, the ditches were blocked and the ground was prepared, and the sand area was fixed and shrubs and grass.” The “26-character Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw” strategy adheres to the governance policy of “combining engineering and biological governance” and “zoning and classification, adapting to local conditions”, and scientifically lays out the comprehensive governance model of ecological restoration and soil and water conservation of the Loess Plateau, with its main connotations including: consolidating ditches and protecting the plateau in the plateau. According to the “plain surface runoff regulation and ditchThe four defense lines of Toutougou bank reinforcement protection, slope vegetation restoration, and ditches water and sand storage are scientifically laid out to ensure the safety of human habitation and ecological safety of the plateau. The slope surface is converted to forests and grasslands. For steep slope farmland with slopes greater than 25° and sloping farmlands of 15°-25° important water sources, the project of returning farmland to forests and grasslands will be continued to be carried out to optimize vegetation construction and management, and improve the stability of vegetation. The channel is blocked and stored. Improve the construction of silting dam system and implement the ditch Komiks 1960 witch clothes DrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawDrawD The plateau has a large number of disasters, serious hazards and complex mechanisms. The central and local governments at all levels have initially established linkage mechanisms for emergency, meteorological, natural resources, water conservancy and other departments, forming a “provincial, municipal, county, township, village and group” level 5 group testing and prevention network, and the natural disaster risk prevention and control ability has been greatly improved.
At present, investigations, research and even disaster prevention and mitigation practices mainly focus on the occurrence of disasters. The early warning and defense of undetected potential disasters are insufficient, and new and sudden disasters still cause large casualties and property losses every year. The reason is that the prediction of potential risk sources is inaccurate, resulting in no disasters at the monitoring points for many years, and new disasters are not at the monitoring points, so defense resources are Babaylan 1990 cloth drawsource mismatch, and disaster prevention and control capabilities have been greatly reduced. Therefore, it is urgent to establish a natural disaster risk prevention system with precise risk source prediction as the core, including early identification of surface deformation, integrated sky-space-earth monitoring, and short-medium-long-term early warning. “She smiled and pointed the head, and the two men began to rummage the boxes and cabinets. Forecasting, etc., to improve disaster prevention capabilities.
Develop new technologies for ecological environment governance of the Loess Plateau and develop new quality productivity
The new technologies for ecological governance of the Loess Plateau can break through two aspects: comprehensive governance with small basins as units. Adopting a global concept, expanding from traditional soil solidification and water conservation to the overall improvement of ecosystem functions, scientifically allocating water, soil, light and biotech resources in small basins, and developing new governance technologies, including digging aerial cloud and water resources, exploring new functions and management methods of silt dams when slope erosion and silt dams are reduced; developing high-intensity loess-based silt dam construction materials to build safe and adaptableIt should be silted dams, etc. Solid waste resource utilization. In response to the accumulation of huge amounts of coal gangue and fly ash, we have developed the technology for resource utilization of mining solid waste, separated and extracted valuable elements such as silicon, aluminum, iron, gallium, and lithium, and converted them into high-value-added products. This can not only effectively save land resources, but also eliminate pollution from the source.
Chang’an University and the Institute of Earth Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made important progress in the development of new technologies for full solid waste resource utilization, and have achieved efficient separation and extraction of the main and trace elements of various solid waste resources under low energy consumption and low cost conditions. The produced products can not only be used as industrial raw materials, but can also be used for ecological environment governance and restoration such as water conservation and water retention, sand and soil solidification. At present, this technology is in the stage of preparing for the production demonstration line and is expected to be the first to convert and apply it on the Loess Plateau to resource utilization of solid waste such as coal gangue and fly ash, develop new quality productivity, and create new economic growth points.
Build a semi-arid (including the Loess Plateau-Yellow River “Ji-Bend”) green development belt to promote high-quality regional development
In 2024, An Zhisheng and Academician Zhou Weijian and others proposed that the semi-arid zone between the eastern wet zone and the western arid zone with an annual precipitation of 200-500 mm is a breakthrough for strengthening the construction of the western ecological barrier in the new era and a barrier for the western ecological barrier (Figure 4). This belt is located in the front edge of the monsoon in my country. It is the westward extension of the Hu Huanyong Line and the beautiful China Midridge Belt, and is also a key area to suppress the development of desertification in the western region under the background of global warming. It is recommended to list the “Semi-arid Green Development Belt Construction” as a major national development strategy in the “15th Five-Year Plan” to achieve green and high-quality development of the semi-arid belt, and build a solid ecological security barrier in the western region.
Loess Plateau-Yellow River “Jizibend” is located in the core area of the semi-arid green development belt and is a key area for water and sand regulation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Focus on the Loess Plateau-Yellow River’s “Ji-character bend” area,In-depth investigation of the district’s water resources, natural environment, energy resources and social and economic background, formulate “four waters and four determinations” and “green with water”, clarify development goals and implementation methods; develop regional energy resource-based new quality productivity, build new wind and solar hydrogen energy, clean and efficient utilization of coal, and “wind and solar hydrogen storage vehicle” industrial chain, and develop a green circular economy; vigorously promote ecological industrialization and industrial ecology, build an ecological industrial complex, establish an intelligent ecological farm and high-quality and efficient livestock product processing base, and build a technical system that integrates “photovoltaic + industry”.
Innovate the management model of ecological barrier construction of the Loess Plateau, enhance the endogenous development momentum
Innovate the management model of ecological barrier construction of the Loess Plateau from the perspective of regional earth system, interaction between man and nature, and coordinated development of the ecology and economy, build a comprehensive and coordinated scientific management system, enhance the endogenous development momentum, and promote the internal circulation of the economy; improve the comprehensive governance system, build a diversified governance model led by the government, the main body of enterprises, social organizations and the public, and stimulate the motivation of enterprises, village collectives, cooperatives, and farmers to participate in the construction of the ecological barrier; optimize the ecological economy coordination path, rely on resource endowment to build a development model of “ecological restoration-industry value-added-income benefits”, improve the regional carbon sink trading market, expand ecological indicator trading, and explore diversified trading models; strengthen scientific and technological empowerment, and build a cross-regional and cross-departmental data sharing platform. Babaylan 1990 cloth drawTaiwan and intelligent system open up the management chain of “precise monitoring – intelligent decision-making – market incentives – community governance – benefit sharing” to achieve the in-depth integration of ecological barrier construction with characteristic ecological industries and comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.
Suggestions and Outlook
Building ecological civilization is a millennium plan for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. In order to cope with the impact of global changes and the major scientific and technological needs of the construction of the western ecological barrier, we need to continue to strengthen multi-factor coordinated observation, simulation and prediction and early warning research in the future, improve the systematic resilience of the ecological barrier function of the Loess Plateau, and ensure the long-term safety of the Yellow River and the happiness and well-being of the people.
Strengthen the impact and prediction research of future climate change and human activities
Use historical documents, biogeological records and modern observation data to study the historical similarities and changes of the monsoon climate in the centenary and interdecadal periods; combine modern and past observation records with numerical simulations to analyze the changes in monsoon precipitation and predict future trends, especially carry out research on extreme climate events in drought and flood, and carry out impact and predictions; carry out the impact and risk assessment of major ecological, water conservancy and geological engineering to reveal the balanced relationship between human activities and regional ecological environment safety; carry out accurate identification and evaluation of natural disaster risk sources, and establish a disaster risk information management system.
Determine the construction of vegetation on the Loess Plateau,Carbon sink capacity, threshold and response strategies for water and sand balance
Strengthen the water balance demonstration, analyze the inflow, outflow and conversion processes of different types of water in the ecosystem, finely quantify the relationship between water circulation and vegetation construction; reveal the threshold and regional differentiation characteristics of vegetation carbon sequestration and water resource balance, and build an optimal vegetation construction plan with water resource supply as the constraint; develop reasonable and efficient water resource utilization technology, determine the reasonable implementation intensity of soil and water conservation projects such as silt dams and terraces, and propose scenario plans and optimal countermeasures for soil and water conservation to regulate river water and sand.
Reveal the water-sand balance relationship between the Loess Plateau and the middle Yellow River Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawThe water-sand balance relationship between the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yellow River Delta
Research the history of erosion and sand production in the Loess Plateau for ten thousand years, reveal the relationship between the ecological protection of the Loess Plateau and the water-sand balance of the Yellow River; evaluate the regulatory effect of the construction and operation of the Heishanxia-Guxian Reservoir on the Tongguan elevation, predict the evolution trend of the Yellow River “second-level hanging river” under the new water-sand conditions, and propose a reasonable plan for water-sand adjustment of reservoir groups; clarify the water-sand changes in the Yellow River estuary, and reveal its regulatory mechanism for land-making and coastal erosion in the delta.
Build a human-land system in the Loess Plateau and an innovative development model for rural revitalization
Create a human-land system in the Loess Plateau Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawScientific model, analyze and reveal a new pattern of “ecology-production-life”, “city-town-village” coordination, and “people-land-industry” coupling; establish and improve a multi-scale coordination geographical engineering technology system of “geographic unit-basin system-human activities”, and consolidate the ecological barrier space foundation; explore new mechanisms, new standards, new business forms and new paths for the realization of ecological industrialization and the value of ecological products, and stimulate the endogenous driving force and lasting momentum for the comprehensive transformation of regional green and comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.
Establish a decision-making system that integrates artificial intelligence and observation-simulation-early warning
Integrate satellites, Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw drones, ground sensors and other multi-source perception devices to build an intelligent monitoring system that integrates space and earth; develop data acquisition and transmission technology based on “Internet+”, combines numerical simulation and deep learning methods to accurately describe the multi-circle dynamic process of the earth system in the loess area; combine observation, simulation, early warning and artificial intelligenceHe was able to skilled blue jade wrecked his head, and looked at his sweaty backCinema 1950 witch cloth draw head, and asked lightly: “Do you want to let Concubine Nuo give you a bath?” The techniques are deeply integrated to form an intelligent and efficient comprehensive evaluation and decision-making early warning system.
(Authors: An Zhisheng, Zhou Weijian, Jin Zhao, Wang Yunqiang, Tuo Wanquan, Loess National Key Laboratory of Science, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Liu Yansui, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Liu Baoyuan, National Key Laboratory of Surface Process and Water and Water, Sandstorm Disaster Risk Prevention and Control of Beijing Normal University; Liu Guobin, Shangguan Zhou Ping, Wang Fei, National Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Remediation of Northwest A&F University; Lu Yihe, Center for Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Wang Wenke, School of Water Conservancy and Environment, Chang’an University; Lu Houyuan, Wu Haibin, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Provided by “Proceedings of the Chinese Academy of Sciences”)