Abstract
This paper evaluates the regionalization of soil and water conservation in China, decades after its widespread implementation across the country. The authors mainly address two questions. First, to what extent could achievements in soil erosion and water management be attributed to regionalization? Statistics and cases show that enhancement of research on soil erosion and ecology, popularization of technologies and mathematical methods and more complete databases are the main improvements to theoretical research; the distribution of region-specific measures and monitoring sites and the development of a responsibility system are the main impacts on practice. Second, is there any weakness to regionalization? Econometric and management methods are currently not well integrated into the process of regionalization; indicators used for division lack standardization, thus weakening the accuracy of regionalization; also, there are limits to its implementation. Using scenario analysis, the authors discuss the possibility of involving economics and management science in the process of regionalization and the approach to combine qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis, while also arguing the importance of establishing an effective cooperation mechanism between different government departments and between government and actors. For government, the evaluation could be helpful to recognize the success, strengths and weaknesses of regionalization of soil and water in China and hence to take further steps to formulate region-specific policies dealing with complex environmental and economic problems in different regions.