Why is the vegetation on the Yellow River Plateau destroyed?

Because of indiscriminate deforestation.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Loess Plateau has experienced three upsurges of deforestation and reclamation.

●The first time was the large-scale "reclamation" (organized large-scale reclamation by the border guards) and "immigration to solidify the border" during the Qin and Han Dynasties. This large-scale "reclamation" caused large-scale destruction of forests in northern Shanxi and northern Shaanxi.

●The second time was the large-scale "reclamation" promoted by the Ming Dynasty, which caused unprecedented catastrophe to the ecological environment in the northern Loess Plateau. According to research, in the early Ming Dynasty, the "field farming" system was vigorously promoted in northern Shaanxi (Yan'an, Suide, and Yulin areas) and northern Shanxi in the northern Loess Plateau, and even mandated the task of clearing forests and reclaiming wasteland for every border guard. From here we can easily see that the implementation of the "farming" system in the Ming Dynasty caused serious environmental damage.

●The third great reclamation period was the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty implemented a system of rewarding reclamation. The scope of reclamation moved from northern Shaanxi and northern Shanxi to southern Inner Mongolia. Millions of people worked in the northern Loess Plateau and Ordos Plateau. Mues of grassland have been converted into farmland, causing large areas of land to become desertified and intensifying soil erosion.