Relationship Between Vegetation Coverage and Rural Settlements and Anti-desertification Strategies in Horqin Left Back Banner, Inner Mongolia, China

This paper investigated the relationship between vegetation coverage and rural settlements in Horqin Left Back Banner. There are 4 spatial patterns about the relationship between vegetation coverage and rural settlements, including high region-low region, high region-low region-high region, high region-low region-high region-low region, and high region. Around rural settlements, land is used as cultivated land and vegetation coverage is high. The overlap effect of overgrazing and extensive cultivation creates the first low region of vegetation coverage. With increasing distance from rural settlements, human disturbance to vegetation growth decreases, vegetation coverage increases, and the high region appears again. The second low region of vegetation coverage is caused by the overgrazing of another rural settlement. At the border region of 2 adjacent villages, 3 different conditions are presented with the vegetation coverage and rural settlements. In the first condition, vegetation coverage is low and is located at the intersection of both low regions of the 2 rural settlements. In the second condition, the vegetation coverage is high and is located at the intersection of both high regions of the 2 rural settlements. In the third condition, vegetation coverage is low and is located at the intersection of both low regions of the 2 rural settlements. According to the changing patterns and reasons for such patterns, we present strategies for anti-desertification, including banning grazing, stopping extensive cultivation, promoting optimal choice of sand-fixation plant, and clarifying land property rights.