我国沙漠化研究的若干问题——1.沙漠化的概念及其内涵

Study on Sandy Desertification in China-1. Definition of Sandy Desertification and its Connotation

荒漠化就是土地退化,主要由沙漠化、水土流失和盐渍化3个部分组成,其中沙漠化是中国北方广大地区主要的土地退化形式。在简要回顾了国际国内对沙漠化概念研究和认识的基础上,根据20多年来在中国北方土地退化区域的研究与实践,作者认为:沙漠化是干旱、半干旱及部分半湿润地区由于人地关系不相协调所造成的以风沙活动为主要标志的土地退化。并在时间、空间、成因、景观、发展趋势和造成的结果等内涵方面给予了概括性的描述;同时,从形成演变的时空差别、成因、过程和防治利用的不同等方面将原生沙漠、戈壁与沙漠化土地区分开来,认为沙漠的形成演变主要受控于气候变化,而人类既是沙漠化的导致者,也是沙漠化的受害者,更是沙漠化的防治者。所以,沙漠化的研究应主要侧重在人地关系及其相互作用等方面。

Desertification is land degradation, which is composed of sandy desertification, water erosion and salinization. Among of those the sandy desertification is a main process of land degradation in the North of China. Based on brief review of the studies and results on the definition of desertification in China and foreign countries and according to our researches and combating practices on land degradation in the North of China, we think that the sandy desertification is land degradation characterized by wind erosion mainly resulted from the in\|coordination between human impact and natural conditions in the arid, semiarid and some sub\|humid regions. We also discuss the time, space, cause, landscape, trend and disaster during the process of sandy desertification. We distinguish desert and desertified land from formation and evolution in different time\|space, causes, processes and utilization/combating, and note that desert was controlled by climatic changes and human activities should bear the responsibility for sandy desertification.