Human and climatic drivers of land and water use from 1997 to 2019 in Tarim River basin, China

verfasst von

Wenwen Li, Fan Huang, Fengzhi Shi, Xiaorong Wei, Kazem Zamanian, Xiaoning Zhao

Abstract

Climate and human activities change spatial and temporal distribution of water and land use. The Tarim River, the largest inland river in China, faced a long-term exploitation of land and water over a rapid economic development. We analyzed land and water use from 1997 to 2019 in Tarim River Basin by Landsat images, and data on hydrology, climate, population, economy and PM_2.5 (air particulate matter ≤2.5 μm). Agricultural land expanded the fastest (4–11%), followed by natural vegetation (15–16%) and water area (4–5%) with population and economic increase. Air quality (PM_2.5 μg m⁻³) improved in upper (62–27) and middle (48–17) reaches. The water area in lower increase 5% because of ecological water delivery since 2000. Land use in the lower reach was dominated by agriculture, where the downstream runoff consumption increased by 6.8 times. The average annual air temperature and precipitation gradually increased by 0.5 °C and 51 mm in source and 0.9 °C and 30 mm in main reaches. The average annual water consumption in upper and middle reaches was 4 × 10⁹ m³, accounting for 87% of input runoff in the main reach. Water consumption in middle reach increased by 33 times in 2009–2017. The industry structure was changing from primary to secondary and tertiary industry. To sum up, implementation of water saving strategies and ecological water delivery restored local ecology. Sustainable strategies should be applied facing industrialization. Furthermore, changing the industry structure and restoring the degraded farmlands to grasslands or forests would keep sustainability of Tarim River Basin.

Externe Organisation(en)

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology
Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, CAS
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Typ

Artikel

Journal

International Soil and Water Conservation Research

Band

9

Seiten

532-543

Anzahl der Seiten

12

ISSN

2095-6339

Publikationsdatum

12.2021

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Gewässerkunde und -technologie, Agronomie und Nutzpflanzenwissenschaften, Bodenkunde, Natur- und Landschaftsschutz

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 8 – Anständige Arbeitsbedingungen und wirtschaftliches Wachstum, SDG 13 – Klimaschutzmaßnahmen, SDG 15 – Lebensraum Land

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2021.05.001 (Zugang: Offen)