Soil erosion control practices in the Chinese Loess Plateau: A systematic review

Abstract Soil erosion control practices have been extensively conducted in the Chinese Loess Plateau, which is one of the most severe soil erosion regions in the world. Nevertheless, a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness of these erosion control practices in this region is lacking. Thus, this systematic review examined the use of erosion control practices in the Chinese Loess Plateau. The key question addressed in this paper is: how soil erosion control practices have been used in the Chinese Loess Plateau? The assessment was based on (1) the categories of erosion control practice, (2) the spatial scales conducted by each erosion control practice, and (3) the cost-effectiveness of each erosion control practice. One hundred peer-reviewed papers were selected, and our results highlighted: (1) 57% of the studies, 32% of the studies, and 11% of the studies evaluated the effectiveness or impacts of ecological restoration programs, engineering techniques, and soil management techniques on soil erosion, respectively, but multiple erosion control practices evaluation received a little attention. (2) The watershed scale assessment dominated the published studies (65% of the reviewed papers), followed by plot scale assessments (35% of the reviewed papers), but the cross-scale evaluation has received little attention. (3) Soil erosion control practices have enhanced most of the soil-related ecosystem services but partially damaged water-related ecosystem services. These control practices caused trade-offs between soil erosion control and water provision and synergies between soil erosion control and water use efficiency, water regulation, and crop production. These synergy and trade-off relationships among soil erosion control practices and ecosystem services might be changed as time passes. Then, three recommendations are suggested for future studies: (1) a combination of erosion control practice assessment needs to be developed, (2) a cross-scale assessment needs to be examined, and (3) a rational balance between soil and water conservation needs to be considered.