Promotion of degraded land consolidation to rural poverty alleviation in the agro-pastoral transition zone of northern China

Land degradation brings about the rural poverty problems impeding county economic development and rural revitalization in fragile ecological regions. Our objectives were to explain the role played by degraded land consolidation in rural poverty elimination and development, and then show the importance of degraded land consolidation in county targeted poverty alleviation by one case study. Degraded land consolidation provides an effective way to improve production and living environment, promote industry development, and activate poor households' endogenous motivation. Land degradation in Dingbian County is characterized by land sandification, salinization and soil erosion. Dingbian government has arranged 36 projects to consolidate degraded land with areas of 4921.61 ha. Degraded land consolidation optimized rural economic structure and mitigated rural poverty through integration with agriculture, industry and tourism in Dingbian County. Government's land policy and relevant land engineering eradicated the poverty trap through interaction with the raised poor households' awareness, skill and motivation. Targeted poverty alleviation is a complex systematic engineering. Specific issues should be noted in poverty alleviation promoted by innovated land policy and land consolidation, such as regional precision diagnosis, rational industry development plan and ecological risky evaluation.