Abstract:

Climate change affects the regional soil loss process by changing the rainfall erosivity. Investigations on the impact of climate change on rainfall erosivity is beneficial for adapting to global warming, being active in environment negotiation, and making agriculture development plans. We make a review on researches in this regard and results suggest that 1) research emphasized on the impact of rainfall amount variation on rainfall erosivity in the initial stage, and then developed to focus on the comprehensive influence of climate and land use changes on regional soil erosion; 2) researches in China started later and focused on the calculation of rainfall erosivity in different regions. Research on the impact of climate change on rainfall erosivity in the Yangtze River basin is inadequate. Improving researches in the Yangtze River basin could provide theoretical basis and support for the prevention of rainfall erosion and policy-making on water and soil conservation measures in the Yangtze River basin.

Key words: climate change, rainfall erosivity, soil and water loss, Yangtze River basin, soil erosion environment