SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF NATIONAL POOR COUNTIES AND SOIL WATER EROSION IN CHINA

China is facing the threat of severe soil water erosion and the pressure from the second largest poor population in the world. The spatial relationship between the poor regions and soil water erosion would help us to identify the link between poverty and soil erosion. The spatial nexus between the administrative region of 592 national poor counties (NPCs) and soil water erosion in China were analyzed in the present study. The results showed that most of NPCs were closely distributed. The spatial pattern of NPCs implied the effects of drastic hazards on the poor could be regional and widespread. The large area of China is suffering from light water erosion and only the Loess Plateau was severely eroded. There were 51.7%, 41.6%, 14.7%, and 9.3% of NPCs, which had light water erosion, medium water erosion, intense water erosion, and serious (more intense and severer) water erosion, respectively. Similarly, 69.8% of the NPCs had environmental problems because of soil water erosion. The results showed that there is correlation between the distributions of soil water erosion and poverty in China. The linear regression between the mean income of farmers and the proportion of soil erosion area showed a negative relationship at a significant level (p<0.001). Further studies should pay more attention to the linkage between poverty and soil erosion for efficient soil erosion and poverty reduction.