In 1995, the Chinese government set out to regenerate 35,000 square kilometres of badly degraded land on the Loess Plateau. The results were so astonishing that they convinced John D. Liu, a journalist at the time, to pursue a career in soil science.

Through his experience on the Loess Plateau, John observes that the many natural disasters we experience today are not inevitable. Fires, droughts, floods and resulting famines are made far worse by poor settlement design and misuse of agricultural lands.

On the Loess Plateau, once abundant lands had been turned to desert through thousands of years of poor grazing practices. With no vegetation cover, soils in desertified lands are left unprotected from weather. Rain hits the landscape harder and runoff is far greater with no plants to catch and soak water. This leads to frequent flooding, gullies become prevalent and erosion occurs on a massive scale. Strong winds cause dust storms further impacting air quality and human health.

A key takeaway from the project was the connection between subsistence agriculture and poverty. This pattern is common throughout history where agricultural communities find themselves exhausting their land in order to survive. This downward spiral further degrades land and impoverishes the people.

By regenerating land on a large scale the people of the Loess Plateau were able to pull themselves out of poverty. By caring for land, we care for people, and natural abundance can be restored. Restoration of degraded agricultural lands is the most important thing for the future of our planet today. Restoration sequesters carbon, increases biodiversity, mitigates against drought and famine, and ensures food security for starving communities. “So if we can restore lands on a large scale, why don’t we do this?” (John D. Liu).