China, People's Republic of

China, People's Republic of

Integrated Ecosystem Management Approaches to Address Poverty and Land Degradation
02 June 2006

The drylands in the western region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) contain some of the most severely degraded land to be found, both within the country and globally.

While the region contains large deposits of valuable minerals (oil, gas, coal), most of its 250 million people still live in rural areas and are dependent on arid land resources for their livelihood. Farmers and herders have to cope with low and erratic rainfall, water scarcity, fragile soils, and natural vegetation with low resilience to disturbance. Low land productivity and high susceptibility to degradation are thus inherent problems for the productive and sustainable use of the region’s dryland ecosystems. As a consequence, these areas are amongst the most poverty-stricken parts of the country.

Biodiversity is at risk everywhere, but in some places its status is critical. The government has recognized in its Western Development Strategy that sustainable economic development of the country’s western region has to address the problem of dryland degradation.

Since 2003, ADB, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), and the Government of PRC have been collaborating to address land degradation through the implementation of integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approaches. These approaches aim to combat land degradation, reduce poverty and restore dryland ecosystems in the western region of the PRC. An IEM workshop was convened in Beijing in 2004 to introduce the concept to government staff, NGOs and other stakeholders. Provincial IEM information centers have been established and several demonstration projects are currently being implemented.

Visit the PRC/GEF Partnership project website.

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