The Karst Rocky Desertification refers to the fragile subtropical Karst natural environment is intervened and damaged by irrational human activities, resulting in the degenerations such as the erosion of soils, exposure of bedrocks, the decline of land productivity and the desertification of the earth’s surface etc. 

As one of the major types of the soil degeneration, the Karst rocky desertification is based on the weak ecological and geological environment, propelled by the human activities, and is symbolised by desertified landscapes; and in essence, it can be put as the decline of the productivity of the land.

The Karst rocky desertification can cause severe harms in multi-aspects, such as:
(1)-The Karst rocky desertification can lead to the erosive deterioration of soils, aggravate soil erosion, and decrease the arable lands; and such damages have taken place on many mountainous areas of Guizhou Province. The subsequence of such phenomena is the rocky desertification of land and the deterioration of soil structure, leaving much more barren the arable lands. And what is normally caused in the end is the impoverishment of farmers in these areas, a situation which further leads to the occurrence and development of the Karst rocky desertification.

(2)-The Karst rocky desertification will cause the adverse succession of vegetation in Karst areas. Within a Karst ecosystem, the biodiversity will be damaged: arbors will be replaced by shrubs and even herbaceous plants; plant population will decline, biomass will be dramatically reduced, and vegetation will be simplified. What follows up is the gradual disappearance of the diversity of biological heredity, the diversity of species, and the diversity of the ecosystem as well; and the extinction of species is quickened.

(3)-The Karst rocky desertification can cause the increase of bare rocks and the decline of vegetation coverage. Most seriously, it can weaken the capability of buffering the surface runoffs, can weaken the capability of conserving water resources, can increase the variation of underground runoffs, and can also exhaust the Karst springs; and all these phenomena can increase the possibilities that droughts, floods and small-scale climate deteriorations may occur.

(4)-The Karst rocky desertification will hinder the social and economic development of a related place, increasing the possibilities of the occurrence of impoverishment, and aggravating the contradictions between man and nature. In turn, the ecological environment will be seriously damaged, a situation which makes relevant improvement for Karst rocky desertification much more challenging and difficult.

(5)-Karst rocky desertification will spoil the natural beauties in a related area, or lead to the decline/loss of the tourist value, a situation which will impact the development of favourable resources.

(6)-Karst rocky desertification has become the worst ecological problem in the south of China, it as well threatens the ecological security of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the valley of the Zhujiang River. In order to address the issue, it has been the urgent need to establish an effective Ecological Compensation Mechanism.

As mentioned above, Karst rocky desertification, the harms of which interplay and interact, will lead to the vicious interaction between “Population-Natural Environment-Society” and economy. And in order to work out feasible methodology for prevention, it’s been the urgent need to carry out relevant comprehensive research on the mechanisms of the occurrence and development of Karst rocky desertification.