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Ecosystem restoration and conservation in the arid inland river basins of Northwest China: Problems and strategies
- Source :
- Ecological Engineering. 94:629-637
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) in the lower reaches of arid inland river basins of Northwest China have degraded because of a decrease in water supply caused by excessive socio-economic development in the middle reaches of the river. The degraded GDEs have resulted in serious eco-environmental problems, such as drying of terminal lakes, river channel shifts, declines in riparian forest, desert activation, intensification of desert dust storms, and salinization of secondary soils. These problems have further hindered local and regional efforts at sustainable development. An ecosystem conservation and restoration project was initiated in 2000 in order to deal with the eco-environmental problems. The project has been underway for 15 years, but problems still exist. Using the Heihe River and Tarim River basins as examples, this paper explains the ecological–environmental problems and their causes, describes with the status of ecosystem restoration and conservation, analyzes the problems in the ongoing ecosystem conservation and restoration, and suggests strategies for achieving sustainable ecosystem restoration in the lower reaches of the arid inland river basins of Northwest China.
- Subjects :
- Hydrology
Sustainable development
geography
Environmental Engineering
geography.geographical_feature_category
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
business.industry
Drainage basin
Water supply
GDES
010501 environmental sciences
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
01 natural sciences
Arid
Environmental science
Riparian forest
Ecosystem
business
Water resource management
Restoration ecology
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 09258574
- Volume :
- 94
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Ecological Engineering
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........409802f18036e99cb91cd38ea71494a2