Abstract: Restoration of degraded soils is a difficult problem in ecological reconstruction, especially in Karst area where the soil ecosystem is fragile and could easily become stony desert by erosion without plant cover.The degradation status and characteristics of the soils in the mountainous Karst region around the steel plant in Er' yuan County were studied.The results showed that human disturbances caused soil degradation in varied soil utilization types to different extent including secondary forests, planted coniferous forests, orchards, slop cropland and eucalyptus forests compared with natural ones.The degradation was especially severe in slop cropland and eucalyptus forests.Suggestions and measures for soil ecosystem restoration were proposed on the basis of having analyzed the degraded status and degradation mechanism in the mountainous Karst area, west of Yunnan Province.