PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2008, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (3): 38-46.doi: 10.11820/dlkxjz.2008.03.006

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Impact of Water Resour ces Exploitation and Utilization on Eco- environment in Ar id Ar ea: Progr ess and Prospect

BAO Chao, FANG Chuanglin   

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2008-01-01 Revised:2008-05-01 Online:2008-05-25 Published:2008-05-25

Abstract:

Water resources are the key restricting factor and one of the important sectors for ecoenvironment in arid area. During the rapid growth of population and economy in arid area, much water once for eco- environment was used for production and livng, so that in some arid areas, the exploitation and utilization of water resources have approached or exceeded the threshold of natural water resources, and the eco- systems are getting deteriorated or crashed. More and more attention was paid to the impact of water resources exploitation and utilization on eco- environment in arid area. At present, many scholars in China and abroad have studied this topic according to logical thought and obtained obvious progress, including the problems, the mechanisms, the adjustment criterion, the process simulation, the scenario forecast and the response countermeasures. Howerver, study on the impact mechanism of water resources exploitation and utilization on ecoenvironment in arid area is still weak. The quantitative relationship between water resources and eco- environment can still not be expressed. The impact intensity of water resources exploitation and utilization on eco- environment can not be explicitly simulated and forecasted. Some suggested coutermeasures on water resources exploitation and utilization for eco- environental protection still face many obstacles in practice. Consequently, in the future, we should take the impact mechanism as the base, the process simulation and the scenario forecast as the breakthrough, and the integrated coutermeasures sytem as the final task, and improve the research on the impact of water resources exploitation and utilization on eco- environment in arid area.

Key words: arid area, eco- environment, human activities, research progress, water resources exploitation and utilization