Optimized Sustainable Eco-production Paradigms in Drylands

Abstract

Drylands in China can be divided into five natural or semi-natural regions based on physical and socioeconomic features, e.g., the mountain-basin system in arid desert regions, the Loess Plateau region, the Inner Mongolia Steppe region, the Inner Mongolia agropastoral transitional region and the Ordos Plateau region (Fig. 10.1). The first three regions are biogeological regions that are relatively independent. The Ordos Plateau region is a special biogeological region that is separate from the Loess Plateau region, and the agropastoral transitional region is a land-use based, semi-natural region rather than a biogeological region.