WITHIN China's western development strategy, a major issue to be resolved is how soil erosion in the reaches of the Yellow River may be arrested, and another is how the amount of sand flowing into the river may be reduced. The people living on the Loess Plateau may emerge from poverty and set their minds at rest as to the threat of floods only when this problem is solved.

The Yellow River

The Yellow River is the second longest in China, having a total length of 5,464 kilometers. Its source is in Qinghai Province in western China, and it empties into the Bohai Sea in Shandong Province after flowing through nine provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. However, this river has brought the Chinese people many problems throughout its historical development, mainly because of its floods, which wash mud and sand into the river, turning it into a literally "yellow" river. It has the highest sand content of any river in the world. Every year, about l.6 billion tons of sand streams into the Yellow River channels, each ton of water containing 35 kilograms of sand - higher than that of the Mississippi or Ganges.

Soil erosion inflicts great harm on the people living in the reaches of the Yellow River The sand flowing into the river every year contains about 40 million tons of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, equivalent to the total output of national annual fertilizer production. Meanwhile, soil erosion causes serious deterioration in the ecological environment and restricts rural economic development. Consequently, the local people remain trapped in poverty.

Mud and sand silt up in river channels and reservoirs. Over the past 50 years, the river bed in its lower reaches has elevated l.9 to 3 meters, thereby threatening ever more serious flood disasters.

Owing to soil erosion, some farmland has become totally barren. In Chenjiagedu Village, Fugu County, Shaanxi Province, since all farmland was lost, the local people were obliged to travel several kilometers for fertile soil. It was impossible for them to maintain life under these conditions and so, in 1972, the whole village, with a population of 64 from 17 families, migrated elsewhere.

Fifty Years of Harnessing

The harnessing of the Yellow River has become an urgent strategic task for the Chinese government, being of vital importance to the survival of its people and the development of the nation. Over the past 50 years, China has made unremitting efforts to harness the Yellow River.

By the end of 1999, the seven provinces and autonomous regions on the Loess Plateau had harnessed 177,000 square kilometers of eroded land, accounting for one-third of the land with soil erosion.

In Ju League of Inner Mongolia in the middle reaches of the Yellow River had 47,000 square kilometers of eroded land. Since the 1980s, the league has improved its water and soil conditions using local funds and loans from the World Bank. To date, 14,300 square kilometers of land has been harnessed, and the amount of mud and sand flowing into the river has been reduced by 300 million tons.

Neighboring Yulin City in Shaanxi Province is also seriously affected by soil erosion. After years of effort, 20,000 square kilometers of its land has been controlled, accounting for 55 percent of its total eroded area. The annual volume of sand flow has also reduced from 530 million tons in the 1950s to its present 290 million tons, and its forestation rate has increased to 32 percent of the total area.

In the past, there were large areas of barren land in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Nowadays, noticeable changes have occurred in the region. The land is covered with trees and grass. The Jiuchenggong Small Valley in Dongsheng City, Inner Mongolia used to be a barren mountain before 1996, where floods frequently occurred. Since 1997, with the help of the United Nations Development Program, and the Upper and Middle Yellow River Reaches Administration, the appearance of the area has totally changed. The area has a green tourism belt with a beautiful landscape, and a commodity production base is being developed.

Return Cultivated Land to Forest and Forbid Grazing

Qian Zhengying, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former Chinese Minister of Water Conservancy, has made several investigative tours to the reaches of the Yellow River that have suffered the most severe soil erosion. After her investigation of 2000, she made the proposition that by returning grain plots to forest and prohibiting livestock grazing in areas with an annual rainfall of only 300 to 400 mm, the vegetation of the land could be recovered and protected.

The most seriously eroded area of the Yellow River reaches is its pastoral land. Excessive reclamation and grazing are major causes of the deterioration in its vegetation. Reverting grain plots to forest and forbidding grazing is therefore a key measure in arresting erosion.

Since the central government made the suggestion of returning grain plots to forest and grassland ten years ago, herdsmen in the pastoral lands have responded positively, and some have volunteered to keep their cattle from grazing. Others have switched from grazing to drylot feeding and found it to be more profitable.

Returning grain plots to forest has an economic basis. The national grain supply is now sufficient, and the economic strength of the central and local governments has increased dramatically in recent years. Both these factors provide the appropriate conditions to establish rational agricultural and animal husbandry production and operation structures, and local vegetation can be restored and protected.

According to water conservancy experts, even if China were to have had the economic force to support river harnessing, it would still not have been possible to solve all the problems through artificial measures. Returning cultivated land to forest and forbidding grazing is therefore essential.

Controlling Yellow River erosion remains an imperative government task. According to Huang Ziqiang, deputy director of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee, four tributaries in the middle reaches of the Yellow River namely, the Huangfuchuan River, the Kuye River, the Gushanchuan River and the Tuwei River, have the most sand and mud, accounting for 40 to 60 percent of silt in the lower reaches. This is the is is the root of potential flooding to the lower reaches and consequent restriction on local economic development. The harnessing of these four rivers is therefore of vital importance to the improvement of the ecological environment, and effective utilization of water resources in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, thereby benefiting China's western development. However, the ecology of the Yellow River region has been deteriorating for several decades, and channeling clear water to the river and halting its erosion will take time. It is estimated that in order to harness the Yellow River, an investment of 374 billion yuan will be needed between 1998 and 2050.

The Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee has drawn up a development plan on controlling soil erosion of the Loess Plateau, over which the Yellow River runs. The plan is divided into three periods of time.

The current term: 1998-2010, harnessing 34 per- cent of eroded land.
The medium term: 2011-2030, protecting harnessed lands and continuing harnessing efforts. By 2030, the harnessed area should have reached 400,000 square kilometers, accounting for 88 percent of eroded land.

The long term: 2031-2050, taking another 20 years to put soil erosion under control and adopting effective measures to consolidate the harnessing results.