Inner Mongolia municipality,lying in the North China, is one of the zones with strong wind erosion and rapid land-use changes. It covers the grassland- cropland tran sition zone and the over-grazing grassland. The degraded grasslands, deserted croplands and dry-farming croplands of Inner Mongolia were the source regions of dust-storm which affected North and East China,Korea, Japan and America in 2000. Based on 2 sets of land-use data and the correspondent wind erosion data, the static spatial distribution and the dynamic spatial changes are outlined.According to the features of static and dynamic spatial distributions, the sub-regions of Inner Mongolia are divided. The details about the land-use dynamics and wind erosion dynamics are discussed in each specific sub-region,and the driving- droved relationship between the two dynamics is then analyzed. It can be inferred that the basic patterns of both land-use and wind erosion in Inner Mongolia did not change greatly during late 1990s. However, the main types of land-use changes are degradation of grasslands and the expansion of croplands, and the wind erosion is intensified in general. The degradation of grasslands and the expansion of croplands caused obviously intensified wind erosion, while the amendment of grasslands and the shrink of croplands affected wind erosion slightly, all of which show that there exist non -balanceable influences on wind erosion caused by different land-use change orientation.

The transitional areas of farming and pasturing in the northeastern China are part of the typical vulnerable region. Owing to this, the land use change would have a great effect on the living standard of the local people and the coordination of environment and economics. In this paper, on the basis of the quantitative analysis of the land use change, the land use changes of the quantitative structure change, the using level, and the regional diversity in transitional areas of farming and pasturing in the northeastern China during the recent 10 years have been analysis.In the research region the cultivated areas have been increased with the variation of the national policies and the population. Meanwhile there has been a decrease in grass land areas owing to the vulnerable environment and the human activities. From the research, we can see that the changes of land use level and the quantitative structure mainly reflected by the cultivated land and the grass land. In addition, the regional difference of the land use is clear in the research areas. Thus we can provide scientific basis for the sustainable use of the land resources.

Driving force mechanism is thought a core direction of land use change research, and the matching method research of human factor data and land use units is regarded as one of important work bases for discussing human factors to drive land use change. Based on the immanent connection between human activities and land use units, and assisted by population resident density and land economic output value density, the matching methods of population, gross output value and land use units were detailedly expatiated. Using the data of land use, population and gross output value in 1999, the matching methods were applied in Fengtai district, and spatial differentiations of population resident density and land economic output value density of Fengtai district were analyzed. Some results are obtained.(1) The area of residential land use is 16118hm~2, with 53.16% of total land area in Fengtai district in 1999. The spatial differentiation of its population resident density is very prominent, the highest 35995 persons and the lowest 1260 persons in a hectare.(2) The land use area with economic output is 23435.26hm~2, with 77.29% of total land area in Tengtai district in 1999. The spatial differentiation of its land economic output value density mainly showed between non-agricultural land and agricultural land, and the density of the highest urban and town land is as 45 times as that of food cultivated land.(3) The matching method expatiated will be an effective tool and can be used to solve the link problem of human and nature factors. Further, it will promote the progress of geographic integrated research.

Environment Impact Assessment of land use planning is important for policy maker to make the relative decision such as the farmland protection, conversion the cultivated land to forest land, land degradation control and so on. Since the research in this scope has just been began in China, to explore the characteristics and content of land use planning in China is the important base. In this paper, the relation of traditional project environment impact assessment and EIA of land use planning, the role of EIA of land use planning in improving land use planning is analyzed. Firstly, EIA of land use planning makes the traditional land use planning’s effect assessment more deep; Secondly, it is an application in regional level of environment effect of land use change, it belongs to planning lay of SEA. When we assess the environmental impact of land use planning, the following aspects should be considered, the environmental problem which land use planning may induce to, to adapt the type and spatial system of land use planning, and take the ecological environmental problem as the main aspect. Then the effect to water environment, soil environment, ecological system and natural disaster of land use planning bring is mainly assessed as the content of EIA of land use planning. Also, The procedures of EIA of land use planning suitable to China is given, including to select the environmental problem which are induced by land use planning, to identify relative environmental factors used for assessment, to assess the environment impact degree of land use planning produces and give the rational advice for land use planning. Finally, Some significant suggestion is given in the end, such as to begin with applied basic research of EIA of land use planning, to set up spatial system of EIA of land use planning, to build basic database special for EIA of land use planning, to set up the indicator and methodology system with Chinese characteristic, to enlarge cooperation of multiple science and enhance the public participation.

Soil erosion,as a major environmental effect caused by Land use/Land cover changes(LUCC),is the result of both natural and human factors.Unreasonable land use and decrease of vegetation cover may have amplified soil erosion in some extent.The relationship between LUCC and soil erosion has been an important project in the whole world.At present,there are many approaches to soil erosion regarding LUCC.In this paper,the author introduced four kinds of present studies on the relationship between soil erosion and LUCC.Those are:quantitative studies based on soil erosion models,such as USLE、WEPP and LISEM;studies by GIS and RS techniques,which is,in fact,a process intersecting the distribution of soil erosion in a given period with the regarding land use/land cover map;studies by radioactive fallout,which are mainly used to estimate soil erosion of sloping fields and land plot in different use;studies through investigation of lake and reservoir sediment,which is a newly emerged method in the study of the relationship between soil erosion and land use/land cover changes.It is a method adapted to such related studies on watershed scale.The author introduced basic principles and developments of each method,and the advantages and shortcomings as well.In the end,the author presented that the studies based on investigation of lake and reservoir sediment are of representative meaning.In further studies,it also can well integrate other approaches to carry out more deep studies on watershed scale.

Annual runoff distribution is connected with the flow recharge situation.With the impacts of climatic changes and increasing density of human activities, the hydrological regimes have been changed,including changes of annual runoff distribution, which may show effects on water resources management and ecological health.In this paper, indexes of unevenness, concentration, and variation have been defined and calculated according to gauge records of runoff in the last half-century.And then the changes of annual runoff distribution in the headwater of the Yellow River have been discussed.The results show that: 1) the annual runoff distribution in 1990s was quite similar to that of 1970s, while 1980s was almost the same to 1960s; 2) in 1990s, the annual runoff distribution had changed a lot, mainly because of runoff decrease in the wet season (July to Oct.); 3)Maqu station, which locates at the upper reaches, has a higher unevenness, concentration and relative variation rate but a smaller absolute variation rate than that of the Tangnaihai station.It should be noted that the indices used in this paper have correlations between each other, but have reflected the characters of annual runoff distribution by different ways.For further research, it is necessary to develop more suitable indices to describe the essence of the annual flow regime.The causes and effects of annual runoff distribution changes are all important issues for research considerations.

Ecological and environmental water requirement has been one of the research foci of eco-hydrology in the world.Research on ecological and environmental water requirement of river system has been specially emphasized abroad.In some researches, minimum or optimal flow has been determined according to relations between the protected fishes and physical and flow regimes of river using hydrological or hydraulic methods.Since 1990, ecological water requirement of the river system has been estimated on the concept of ecologically acceptable flow regimes to maintain the integrity of ecosystem.In China, the research on ecological water requirement can be separated into two phases.From 1988 to 1998, ecological water requirement and relative concepts began to be recognized.Since 1998, the concepts have been developed and put into application though it is still far to go.For further research, to develop the theories of ecological water requirement estimation and the transitions mechanism between different temporal-spatial scales of ecological water requirement utilizing isotope and RS technique are important research fields.

By the data of five hydrological observation stations, the paper analyzes the time-space distribution regulation of annual runoff. That is, for all of the hydrological observation, the annual runoff distributed unevenly. The runoff between July and October accounted for from 59.21%～76.03% of the total annual runoff. Besides, to annual runoff quantity, rich water period was very short, generally, only 1～3years; but low water period was very long, may last 13years. To analysis the variance of more than 40 years annual runoff, two methods are applied. The two results indicate that the variance tendency of the annual runoff show obviously decline.Using the data of the hydrological observation stations, the paper describes the accumulation curve of the annual runoff, which is divided into two parts in the various periods, one is not affected by human activity, and the other is affected by human activity. A correlation is founded between the annual runoff of affected by human activity and that of the stations unaffected by human activity. Through calculating accumulation value of affection by human activity of Daiying, Zhangjiafen, and Suzhuang hydrological observations, it accounts for 53.92%, 67.71%, and 71.23% of the total reduced value. The results demonstrate that human activity was the main factor leading to reduction of annual runoff compared with annual precipitation. Affected by human activity, especially the utilization of water resources, the natural ecology environment and the water recycle system had been deteriorating in recent several decade years. So reasonably utilization and optimal arrangements of water resources basing on systematic analysis are becoming more and more important. It will be urgent task to protect and use water resources rationally in the future.

In this paper the progress of research on remotely sensing grassland is comprehensively reviewed through examination of the most recent international literature. First, the feasibility of using remotely sensed data to study grassland is discussed on the basis of its unique spectral reflectance. The most useful spectral bands for the monitoring and assessment of grassland resources are identified next. The common method of studying grassland through the use of vegetation index and other indices is assessed for their effectiveness. The applications of remote sensing in grassland studies, including monitoring and mapping of grassland cover, estimation of biomass, and degradation, are reviewed next. Of these applications, the most challenging is quantitative analysis of grassland resources. This paper then concentrates on the recent trends in remote sensing of grassland. They include use of videography and other air-borne high-resolution image data, digital image analysis, and GIS. It is anticipated that as remote sensing of grassland evolves from simple monitoring and assessment to dynamic modeling, GIS will play an increasingly important role in integrating diverse data into a common database to generate accurate results. The introduction of GIS will make remote sensing of grassland resources more predictive in nature.

Ecological footprint theory and its application achievements in global and regional sustainable development system are studied,finding that the application of ecological footprint theory to regional sustainability evaluation leads to a perplexity that the indicated result is inconsistent with the philosophy of sustainable development theory.It is thought that the reason of the perplexity is that the ecological footprint theory based on global ecosystem is improperly adopted in regional sustainable development system, and the essential one is the faulty of the ecological footprint theory.A modification on this theory is made by introducing consumptive ecological footprint and productive ecological footprint, in which the latter is taken as the indicator of regional sustainability.The development impartiality can be demonstrated by comparison between the globe ecological deficit per capita and regional consumptive ecological deficit per capita.

Since the late 1980s,economic globalization has become a critical factor affecting regional development in the world. It is widely believed that the impacts of globalization will be getting deeper and deeper, and more and more extensive as well. Thus, it is meaningful not only for further researches but also for regional policy-making to understand the relationship between economic globalization and regional development. This paper attempts to have a preliminary review of the studies of economic globalization and its impacts on regional development from a national, regional and firm perspective.

Urban land expansion and structure change are important characters in the process of urbanization.With the economic development and increase of population, the urban land in Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou is expanding very quickly,and the scale of urban land use becomes very large.In 1980s, industrial land occupied the main sector of the total land expansion, but now land for public construction such as green land and living house and transportation has become the main sector.Urban styles in these regions have changed greatly because of the transportation and urban planning strategy.The main factors influencing the urban expansion are different;population increase, demand for living condition improvement, building of opening zones and changes of administration system have given rise to the change.In the future, such relationships must be handled well, external expansion and internal expansion, constructive land and living land, old city reconstruction and new district constructing, exploitation of new resources and intensive resources use.

The paper selected the macro-scale areas of the source region of the Yellow River as an object and carried out discharge simulation with the distributed hydrological model,the SWAT model.Based on the analysis and process of DEM data,such as flow direction,a watershed borderline,a river network and sub-basins by automatically becoming,rivers,codes and areas of sub-basins,structure and topology constraint of the river network were gained with a format of grid cells.Annually and monthly measured runoff data of Tangnaihai hydrologic station from 1976～1985 were used to calibrate the simulation parameters and determine some basic parameters of the model.The simulation results are satisfactory and show that climate change is the main reason for discharge change of the source regions of the Yellow River.In twenty years of the 1980’s and the 1990’s,the discharge decrease due to climate change is 62.11×108m 3/s,which accounts for 108.72% of total discharge change,and the discharge increase due to land-cover change is 5.73×108m 3/s ,which accounts for 10.03% of that with grid cell.

Traditionally in the application of hydrologic/water quality (H/WQ) models, rainfall is assumed to be spatially homogeneous and is considered not to contribute to output uncertainty. The objective of this study was to assess the uncertainty induced by model outputs-runoff and sediment yield- solely due to rainfall spatial variability. The study was conducted using the SWAT model and the rainfall captured by a network of 24 rain gauges in Lushi Basin. For each rainfall event, the model was run using the rainfall captured by each rain gauge, one at a time, under the assumption of rainfall spatial homogeneity in the study area, A large uncertainty in the modeled outputs was resulted from the rainfall spatial variability. The uncertainty in the modeled outputs exceeded the input rainfall uncertainty. The uncertainty of simulated sediment yield outranges that of the runoff. The uncertainty of the simulated runoff increases with the spatial variability of rainfall. The more homogeneous of the rainfall, the more certainty of the modeled runoff. The uncertainty of the modeled sediment yield increased with the increase of spatial variability of rainfall, and the uncertainty of the modeled sediment yield is inversely related with the simulated sediment yield. Results of this study indicate that spatial variability of rainfall should be captured and used in H/WQ models in order to accurately assess the model outputs.In the application of H/WQ models, the assumption of the spatial homogeneity of the rainfall may not be valid. Spatial variability of rainfall introduces uncertainty into model outputs when uniformity of rainfall is assumed. Spatial variability of rainfall should be captured and used in H/WQ models in order to accurately assess the release and transport of pollutants. Since rainfall is a driving force behind many kinds of pollutant release and subsequent transport mechanisms, ignoring this property of rainfall in the application of H/WQ models will put a limit on the accuracy of the model results.

Soil water is a type of water resource. Although there are many methods to monitor the soil water in field, to effectually obtain data of the soil water in macro scale region is a difficult problem when evaluating water cycle. Yellow River is the second river in China, which covers an area of 752 443km 2, so it is important for the water management to calculate the soil water. On the basis of AVHRR-pathfinder data, we employed the Vegetation-Temperature Condition Index (VTCI) to monitor the land surface condition. After checking up the remote sensing data with soil water in the field, we found that VTCI is sensible to the soil water in top soil in Yellow River Basin, which agrees with other achievement. Besides, the data of soil water in field expresses obvious relation of soil water between up layer soil and down layer soil. Therefore, we set up a model to calculate soil water in soil profile (0～1m) in Yellow River Basin by combining meteorological information and remote sensing data. The data used in the research includes AVHRR-pathfinder data during 1982～1998 and soil water, precipitation and evaporation information, which were respectively monitored by 29 agriculture weather stations and 263 national weather stations. Finally, the calculated soil water was compared with survey data and checked up by the method of water balance, and the results are satisfied. It is concluded that our method can be applied in surveying soil water for soil profile in macro scale region during long time and the calculated soil water can be supplied to the research of water cycle in Yellow River Basin.

Baseflow, usually separated from total streamflow, is very important in many research fields. Two methods to analyze and calculate baseflow were introduced. The first method uses the water balance components from the soil and water assessment tool model (SWAT). The second method uses a digital recursive filter to separate baseflow from daily flow. The result was applied in Lushi basin located in the upper of Luohe to calibrate baseflow in SWAT model. Simulated flow was calibrated against calculated flow at Luohe (4 623km 2 ) from 1992～1996.To validate the model, calibrated and simulated monthly flow at Luohe from 1997～1998 was compared with a R 2 of 0.81 and an Ens of 0.84. Four sensitive factors, including CN_2 , RWVAPC, ESCO and EPCO, are determined after calibration and validation of the model. The rate of three-month (Aug. to Oct.) baseflow in annual total one is 46% because the floods usually took place in August and September in the study area. Comparing simulated monthly baseflow to the filtered one from 1992～1998, a good result can be gained with a R 2 of 0.76 and an E_ns of 0.75.The case study illuminates that SWAT model can simulate baseflow well, and the filter technique has the potential to provide realistic estimates of baseflow for input into regional groundwater models and a check for surface hydrologic models.

Geography Information System (GIS) is a decision support system,and its primary characteristic is relevant to the deposited and processed information by geographical coding,including spatial,geographical location and attributes of the land objects as to the location. The authors discussed the general application patterns of GIS in hydrology and water resources. Using relaxed combination mode of GIS and hydrological models,the GIS platform of water cycle of the Yellow River Basin was established with MS-Visual Basic visualized developing language based on one component of ESRI-MapObject GIS. The background relational database,i.e. MS-Access database, was used to construct the GIS platform of water cycle of the Yellow River Basin,automatically linking to the foregrounding interface of GIS. All kinds of data related to water cycle of the Yellow River Basin, including original data set,mid data set and ultimate data set were saved in the platform with uniform coordinate and uniform format,which supplied data support for the study of water cycle elements and process of the Yellow River Basin.

Land quality indicators based on "press-state-response (PSR)" framework is one of the present hot-spots in land science. Fast economic growth and land degradation in China urge government and scientists to build up the indicators to monitor and evaluate land quality changes. This paper introduced the origin, concept, research plan and evaluation framework for land quality based on PSR framework, and it also summarized the new progresses in the field of international land quality indicators research. In land quality indicators project, 11 land quality indicators were proposed, which are nutrient balance, yield gap, agricultural land use intensity and land use diversity, land cover, soil quality, land degradation, agro-biodiversity, water quality, forest land quality, rangeland quality, and land contamination/pollution. Some research trends and suggestions in Chinain future were also proposed. As the national agency of land management, the Ministry of Land and Resources can make contributions to land science by the application of land quality project.

From the 1970s, under the impact of natural and human factors, the groundwater table in the Hebei Plain has been declining,causing a range of geological and environmental disasters. These disasters include subsidence, seawater intrusion, salinization, desertification and so on, which have seriously threatened the ecological environment and become the key factors of restricting the socio-economic sustainable development of the Hebei Plain. This paper analyzed the causes of groundwater withdrawal from such natural factors as precipitation, surface water and temperature, and from such human aspects as over-exploitation of groundwater, building of water conservancy, improvement of crop production and enlargement of water-consuming crops. The contribution of driving forces to groundwater table drawdown was assessed through building Projection Pursuit Regression model. The result indicates that the exploitation of groundwater is the first factor, which accounts for 54.7% of groundwater withdrawal. According to the proportion of groundwater consumed by industry, agriculture and domestic, the percent of groundwater table drawdown caused by the three sectors were 6.6%, 43.7% and 4.4% respectively. The second is precipitation, with 25.6%, and the third is surface water, with 19.7%. This paper provides scientific basis for groundwater sustainable use.