Serious land degradation exists in the marginal areas of North China, the important ecological transition between semi-arid and sub-humid climate zones, which is a relatively narrow belt with 100-250 km in width and about 2 000 km in length. The annual rainfall varies between 300-400 mm. In the past hundred years (before 2000), most of the land in the region had been used for grazing and dryland cropping. As land-use is intensifying, particularly since 1970s and 1980s, desertification has accelerated. O...