Environmental Restoration in the Shiyang River Basin, China: Conservation, Reallocation and More Efficient Use of Water

Overexploitation of water resources in the Shiyang River Basin, an inland river in Gansu, China has promoted a prosperous agricultural economy but at the same time caused downstream flows to sharply reduce and the groundwater table to fall rapidly. This has degraded local ecosystems and caused the terminal lake to completely dry up. A project for addressing these problems was initiated aimed at rescuing a downstream oasis that was at risk of being buried by the moving dunes. During the project implementation, the irrigation area has been decreased, a water conservation program introduced and water use reallocated between upstream and downstream users and between economic and ecosystem services. Positive results have started to appear. The main factors in this preliminary success are positive political will and central government support; the acceptance and wide participation by water users and the establishment of a powerful integrated water resources management organisation.