The Most Serious Eco-geologically environmental Problem in Southwestern China — Karst Rocky Desertification

As the most serious eco-geologically environmental problem, daily expanding karst rocky desertification is engorging living space and becomes the root of disaster and poverty in southwest China. Karst rocky desertification is one of the major types of land desertification and resulted from the comprehensive action due to the overprint of irrational anthropological activities on the karst fragile eco-geo-environment background, with the fragile eco-geo-environment as its development base, frequent anthropological activity as its driving forces, degeneration of land productivity as its essence, appearance of desert-like landscape as its mark. The fragile ecologic environment in southwestern China was formed through long-time geological evolution and has obvious constraints on karst rocky desertification. Tectonic movements created a steep and ruptured special karst geomorphological framework, providing potential energy as driving forces for soil erosion. The evolution of palaeo-environment laid down widespread material basis of carbonate rocks for karst rocky desertification. Population pressure and irrational anthropological activities in the karst areas led to the serious degeneration of land resources, the drastic decrease of vegetation coverage, the deterioration of water loss and soil erosion and the serious deterioration of the ecological environment. Moreover, the overloaded social and economic pressure is the most important driving force for karst rocky desertification. Although the comprehensive taming of karst rock desertification is a hard net to crack, it is possible to restore or rehabilitate the eco-environment in karst rocky desertification-afflicted areas.