Warning:
soil erosion and land
degradation caused by productive and constructive engineering during
construction period
Yulei Ma1, †,
Shubing Dai1, †, *, Zhitao Ma2
1 School of Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University
of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2Ningxia
Chengzhixin Electric Power Construction Consulting company limited,
Yinchuan 750000, China
∗ Correspondence
Dr. Shubing Dai, School of School of Hydraulic Engineering Dalian
University of Technology 116024, Liaoning, China.
Email address:daishubing1990@163.com
† These authors contributed to the work
equally and should be regarded as co-first authors
Abstract:Serious
environmental issues, especially soil erosion and land degradation,
caused by productive and constructive engineering in China have not
gained due attention as those issues caused by natural factors, such as
rainfall, wind or Freeze-thaw. Four field investigations together with a
statistical study have been carried out in China to analyze
environmental problems caused by clean energy projects, i.e.
photovoltaic power and wind power projects, that are considered to have
huge potential to replace traditional energy. The investigations show
that these projects brought problems of land degradation, threatening
the safety and ecological degradation. Statistical analysis indicates
that the number of productive and constructive engineering causing soil
erosion was increasing year by year and reached 42.67 ×
104 km2 from 2003 to 2018, the
corresponding scope of soil erosion prevention and control
responsibility was 23.22 × 104 km2.
Finally, seven policy suggestions to deal with these environmental
issues are proposed, which can provide reference and guidance for the
future clean energy projects and other construction projects in China or
other countries. We hope that a
thorough understanding of the unsustainable development that leads to
the deterioration of the environment in current cases will enhance the
awareness of environmental protection and contribute to the
implementation of policies that will promote
sustainable development.
KEYWORDS: land degradation, soil erosion, ecological
degradation, sustainable development, clean energy project,
policy
suggestions