Policy plays a very important role in natural resource management as it lays out a government framework for
guiding long-term decisions, and evolves in light of the interactions between human and environment. This
paper focuses on soil andwater conservation (SWC) policy in the YellowRiver Basin (YRB), China. The problems,
rural poverty, severe soil erosion, great sediment loads and high flood risks, are analyzed over the period of 1949–
present using the Driving force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework as a way to organize
analysis of the evolution of SWC policy. Three stages are identified in which SWC policy interacts differently
with institutional, financial and technology support. In Stage 1 (1949–1979), SWC policy focused on rural development
in eroded areas and on reducing sediment loads. Local farmers were mainly responsible forSWC. The aim
of Stage 2 (1980–1990)was the overall development of rural industry and SWC. A more integrated management
perspective was implemented taking a small watershed as a geographic interactional unit. This approach greatly
improved the efficiency of SWC activities. In Stage 3 (1991 till now), SWC has been treated as the main measure
for natural resource conservation, environmental protection, disaster mitigation and agriculture development.
Prevention of new degradation became a priority. The government began to be responsible for SWC, using administrative,
legal and financial approaches and various technologies that made large-scale SWC engineering
possible. Over the historical period considered, with the implementation of the various SWC policies, the rural
economic and ecological system improved continuously while the sediment load and flood risk decreased