• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.40 no.6 s.111
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• pp.694-715
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• 2005

I examine in this paper the change of land use and the development of desertification in Horqin desert, east Inner Mongolia, China. The change of land use in this area can be summarized as the increase of agricultural field and intensive livestock farming. The agriculture and livestock farming in semi-arid area such as Horqin desert raised the problem in the management and use of water and vegetation. This problem led to desertification. The types of development of desertification in this area could be classified as follows: the mobile sand dune extension, the riverside shifting sand flat extension, the shifting sand speck extension around settlements, and the shifting sand speck extension in agricultural Held and grassland. There have been political or social movements such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Reform and Open Policy in the background of land use change and desertification. Specially, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution played an important role in the land use change and desertification in this area. Since 1990s, there has been some kind of policy in the control of desertification. However, it is necessary for the controling desertification of this area to consider the globalization and marketization, the survival and profit of peasants and livestock farmers, and the disturbrd and fixed population and land use structure in this area since 1949.