Abstract:

The mountain, river, forest, farm, lake and grassland ecosystems are an integral part of the life community, and their systemic management is essential to soil erosion control and ecological restoration. The occurrence and development of soil erosion is a complex issue, thus soil and water conservation needs an interdisciplinary scientific approach. The widespread soil erosion has long been existed in China, yet the current level and annual progress of erosion control are relatively low and do not meet the demands of ecological civilization. To prevent and control soil erosion and to establish and develop the discipline of soil and water conservation, we need to focus on systems thinking and overall measures and develop a comprehensive erosion control strategy. We should fully engage the nature’s self-repair ability, support key management, rely on small scale restoration then expand to large areas, and restore vegetation rapidly on a grand scale to reduce erosion rate. We should integrate water resources protection, water environmental improvement, surface source pollution prevention and control, rural sewage and garbage treatment, and village appearance and welfare improvement into ecosystem management. Equally important are to promote the construction of ecologically viable small watersheds as a way of system governance, and pay attention to the development of mountainous lands into fruit forests as part of the comprehensive and systematic measures for soil erosion control. It is necessary to implement comprehensive water and soil conservation measures to promote high quality socioeconomic developments in the ecologically damaged areas caused by industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization.

Key words: ecosystem management, systematic management view, soil and water conservation, integrated control strategy