Identification and evaluation of desertification reversal in China： indicators and methods review

摘要

With gradual emergence of desertification reversal after inception of combative attempts in China, its evaluation which is based on solid identification is imperative. However, either identification or evaluation lacks consensus and are limited in earlier studies. This paper endeavors to fill this gap by relying on a systematic review of recent studies. After a clarification of causal relation of identification and evaluation, an argument of indicators and models selection is presented taking sustainability, cost and benefits, public interest and individual behavior into account. At first, we emphasize the logical and sequential importance of identification as prerequisite of evaluation, and demonstrate that fundamental identification could be operated by both direct and indirect implementations, though direct implementation usually seems to be a favorite alternative. Here, we emphasize a consideration of sustainable development, cost and benefits, public interest and individual behaviors together, due to the hiatus of incorporating economic and ecological segments together, and the innate theoretical deficiencies on environmental products of traditional economic and ecological methods of evaluation. Thus, we conceptually merge the economic and ecological segments into one theoretical framework. However, no matter how elaborate the models is, there is an apparent gap of both identification and evaluation due to failure of dynamic interpretations, thereby, it may be future trend and urgency on models' elaboration.