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Using a named and located example, discuss the management of soil degradation [15 Marks]
Higher and more stable grain production on terraces allows farmers to take steep slope-land out of grain production and put it into more sustainable use such as tree plantations. The is a negative process often accelerated by human activities that leads to deterioration of soil properties and functions or destruction of soil as a whole. Soil is the basis of all plant growth, it filters water, decomposes waste, stores heat and exchanges gases. 640000 square km. The hydrological balance has been restored, the soil rehabilitated and the flood risk for millions of people along the Yellow River has decreased. The Loess Plateau is the cradle of Chinese civilization. South of the Mongolian Steppe and the Gobi desert and east of the high Tibetan plateau. Complete vegetation cover caused precipitation to take hundreds of days to infiltrate and reach the Yellow River. Runoff increased dramatically due to a lack of vegetation cover with 95% of water reaching the Yellow River and eroding fertile top soil. Settled agriculture started in the area 10000 years ago. Dust storms affect the whole of north east Asia originate on the Loess Plateau. Soil stability, natural fertility, the ability to absorb water, and the ability to sequester carbon had all been lost.
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Home to more than 50 million mostly very poor farmers. The degrading of the biological potential of land from a combination of adverse climate and excessive human exploitation, leading ultimately to desert-like conditions. In 1994 the World Bank funded one of the most successful conservation projects in the world, which improved the local environment, but also boosted the livelihoods of more than 1 million farmers. The introduction of more efficient and sustainable uses of land and water resources. It is made up of air, water, mineral particles, organic matter and organisms. Reducing erosion and sediment flow into the Yellow River. The need for resources has stripped the plateau of its protective vegetation and causes ecosystem collapse. Creates high-yielding, level farmland for production of field crops and orchards and thereby replacing areas devoted to crops on erodible slope lands. Plants upon the slope-lands to a range of trees, shrubs and grasses for the production of fuel, timber and fodder. These measures increase per hectare productivity on the improved farmland, raise overall output and incomes, and have positive ecological impact. In an average year, grain yields on terraces are double those on the slope land. Planted 270,000 hectares of trees, shrubs and grasses on degraded agricultural lands.

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Constructed several thousand sediment control dams, which has improved soil conservation and created valuable farmland. High-value orchards, vineyards and greenhouses. Carried out training, technology transfer, monitoring and evaluation, and a research program to tackle soil and water conservation. The microclimate has been altered and periods of intensive rain and drought are becoming more frequent This promoted soil and water conservation and produced much-needed fuel, timber and fodder. No protection from the wind, soil particles are transported thousands of miles, impacting on human health and exacerbating global warming Built 72,346 hectares of terraces, resulting in immediate and substantial benefits for project farmers. Support of the Chinese government, the World Bank and other donor agencies, rural communities have been asked to transform the region by giving up thousands of years of traditional - but unsustainable - agricultural practice. "They want us to plant trees but people can't eat trees." Small dams were built to harvest the rainwater and tree planting was initiated on a large scale to stabilize the soil. The project promoted a shift in emphasis for livestock keeping by promoting pen feeding of sheep and goats with cut-and-carry fodder. Within ten years, local people have seen their incomes quadruple as food security and incomes have increased.

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