To address land degradation and ecological deterioration of these regions, a number of large-scale land restoration projects have been implemented worldwide. Chinese Loess Plateau, as an arid area experienced severe soil erosion and land degradation, has been given a lot of attention in terms of land restoration policies by the national government. The implemented land restoration significantly altered land use cover, transformed the delivery of ecosystem services and brought issues to social communities. The main objectives of this thesis are to comprehensively understand the hydrological, bio-physical, economical and societal impacts of land restoration in the Chinese Loess Plateau. The main research outcomes of this study consist of six chapters.