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To effectively utilize the vegetation on grain-for-green slopes in the wind-water erosion crisscross region, it is necessary to determine the reasonable vegetation utilization intensity. We set up runoff plots on slopes which were not cultivated and were closed for many years in the Liudaogou catchment, a typical catchment in wind-water erosion crisscross region of the Loess Plateau. With artificial simulated rainfall experiments, the characteristics of runoff and sediment yield on slopes (10°, 20° and 30°) under different utilization intensity of vegetation were studied to select the reasonable utilization intensity. The results showed that the runoff rate in the process of rainfall simulation could be divided into two periods; rapidly increasing in the initial period and slow increasing or quasi-steady state in the middle and late periods. The variation of erosion rate during the rainfall was dependent on the slope. The utilization intensity had a significant effect on the runoff yield, which increased with the increasing utilization intensities. The slope gradient had a significant effect on the sediment yield, with the variation of sediment yield with slope gradient being; 20°>30°>10°. Compared with the unused (natural) plots, the relative runoff and sediment increased with increasing utilization intensities. Predicted based on the rainfall data, annual soil erosion amount on the slope would be basically lower than the tolerance level of soil loss when the vegetation cover on the slope surface reached 25% in 15 years after abandoning reclamation. More attention should be paid to the restoration and management of vegetation on the slope of 20° in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the relationship between land use change and ecosystem services is critical for achieving sustainable ecosystem services and for developing scientifically effective eco-conservation policies. The Zhifanggou watershed is a typical hill and gully region on the Loess Plateau that has experienced a process of serious damage and rapid recovery in recent decades, and the accompanying land use changes have been dramatic. Taking the Zhifanggou watershed as an example, this study built an energy flow model for the watershed considering croplands, woodlands and grasslands as components. This study evaluated the changes in ecosystem service values before and after the implementation of a Grain for Green (GFG) program using the method of equivalent value factor per-unit of ecosystem area. Then changes in ecosystem service values in the Zhifanggou watershed were simulated. The results were as follows: (1) the total value of ecosystem services showed a linear increase ( P  < 0.01) from 1995 to 2010, increase 44.2% over this time. In addition, the provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural service values showed a cooperative growth trend ( P  < 0.01). (2) The change in ecosystem service values in the watershed was very small over the period examined and if the GFG program continues, it will stabilize after a slight net increase. Provisioning services showed a downward trend, while regulating, supporting and cultural services show an upward trend, furthermore, provisioning services showed a trade-off relationship with the other three services ( P  < 0.01). (3) If the cycle of deforestation and reclamation to agriculture continues, the ecosystem service values will decrease by approximately 83% in the next 30 years, the ecosystems will be seriously damaged again, and the values of all four types of ecosystem services will show a decreasing trend ( P  < 0.01). In general, the ecological environment of the Zhifanggou watershed has been stabilized by the Grain for Green program. However, the government’s scientific and rational policies to ensure that the GFG program results are not destroyed and to achieve stable and sustainable development on the Loess Plateau are still needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's remarkable economic development has been achieved at the cost of its environment. Scholarly attention on international norm diffusion and policy learning asserts that international influence could make a positive impact on China's environmental politics. However, the policy process in China still retains the campaign style, which dates back to Mao's era. This case study of two inland counties in Shaanxi province provides empirical material that partially challenges the so-called international influence approach. County B and W, which were involved in an international forestry cooperation project with the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KFW), both learned from their partner in subsequently implementing the Grain for Green project, but with different levels of learning and, consequently, different institutional changes. The findings based on these two counties indicate an important factor other than the structure of international influence, one which definitely affects policy learning and the resultant changes made by local bureaucrats, namely local learning agents; thus, a locality with a strong local learning agent is more likely to induce learning and substantive institutional changes. The findings also underscore the difficulty in spreading new norms and knowledge from international actors to the Chinese government. The impact of international influence in enhancing domestic governance cannot be taken for granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China is facing increased environmental pressures as its economy rapidly develops, with shortages of water potentially limiting development—especially in its dryer north and west. The highly erodible Loess Plateau in the Yellow River Basin is the main source of high sediment loads resulting in poor water quality. Engineering and re-vegetation measures have been (and are being) widely implemented to reduce these environmental problems, but it has since been found that re-vegetation activities result in a decrease of streamflow. Given that water resources are currently over allocated in the Yellow River Basin (as seen by the river increasingly not reaching the sea), the external hydrological impacts from current and planned re-vegetation activities need to be taken into account by a wide range of natural resources managers and policy makers. To increase the awareness of the hydrology-landuse change implications in the region, a decision support tool called Re-Vegetation Impacts on Hydrology (ReVegIH) has been developed. To maximize use of the tool, the design of ReVegIH has been participatory with the final design of the functionality actively taking account of user requirements and needs. ReVegIH provides a means for users to: (1) determine where priority (and target) re-vegetation activities should be undertaken; (2) ascertain what species are suitable for a specific location; (3) simulate the related hydrological impact on an average annual basis. The spatial resolution of the first two functions is provided at 100m, while the third is at the catchment (or county) level for the 113,000km2 study site, called the Coarse Sandy Hilly Catchment, which drains the main south flowing branch of the Yellow River. ReVegIH assesses afforestation impacts on average annual streamflow via application of an aerial-weighted evapotranspiration model operating at steady-state forced by long-term (21-year) annual average meteorological data and landuse scenarios. ReVegIH does not consider the changes in annual streamflow following observed 21-year trends of annual precipitation and pan evaporation data, nor as a function of time since afforestation, and the ability to simulate the hydrological impact due to establishing plantations in different areas in the landscape through time is not included. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services were simulated under the Grain for Green Program scenario and the agricultural development scenario. • Trade-offs of ESs does not increase but decrease under agricultural development scenario, and farmers' livelihood can also be guaranteed. • It is of great significance to realize the win-win situation of regional ecological and resource demand to find the most suitable development direction in the region. To restore China's degraded environment and improve ecological balance, the government launched a land use policy known as the Grain for Green Program (GFGP), which is the largest ecological construction project in China or anywhere else. It has greatly increased the vegetation cover on the Loess Plateau but occupied the space of agricultural development (AD) over the years. Research on the impact of policy implementation on ecosystem services (ESs) and their trade-offs can support scenario analyses that provide realistic guidance for decision makers to formulate future regional ecological restoration planning. Our focus is Ningwu County and Jingle County on the Loess Plateau, a typical ecologically fragile and impoverished area where expansion of vegetation cover has driven extensive loss of farmland and its benefits to farmers. In this study, soil conservation (SC), water yield (WY), habitat quality (HQ), and food supply (FS) were selected to assess the change of ESs and their trade-offs in different scenarios that represent ecological restoration and land reclamation policies. The results revealed that overall ESs had the largest increase but there were more trade-offs among ESs under the GFGP scenario. For a single ESs, SC and HQ were increased while FS and WY were decreased under the GFGP scenario. From the view of trade-offs, the GFGP scenario exhibited more trade-offs than the AD scenario. Furthermore, compared to the GFGP scenario, the numbers of sub-watersheds with trade-offs of ESs decreased under the AD scenario. With more concern about the contradiction between implementing GFGP and protecting farmland, we confirm that it is extremely unwise to incessantly implement GFGP to improve overall ESs without considering the trade-offs among ESs. Given the certain sub-watersheds mainly developing agriculture, the AD scenario appears to best reduce trade-offs among ESs and ensure the improvement of ESs. Therefore, it is of great significance to realize the win-win situation of regional ecological and resource demand to find the most suitable development direction in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]