In the Shulehe River Basin, policy of resettlement was very effective in handling agricultural development and livelihood problems in regions of poverty limited by topography, climate, or infrastructure. Thus, since 1...In the Shulehe River Basin, policy of resettlement was very effective in handling agricultural development and livelihood problems in regions of poverty limited by topography, climate, or infrastructure. Thus, since 1996-1997, the Shulehe River Basin resettlement project transferred roughly 7.5 × 10^4 people from areas of Dingxi, Longxi or Minxian which could not offer sufficient resources for the residents. Meanwhile, construction facilities such as the reservoir, which underpins the resettlement project, also triggered an internal migration of people away from the reservoir to other parts of the Shulehe River Basin. This large scale migration derived apparent effects in water resources, land use and cover change, agricultural structure as well as landscapes. Results show that total arable land expanded by 3.1 × 10^8 m^2, cattle numbers maintained a stable level of 1×10^4, pigs declined to a low level due to market trends, and sheep numbers soared from 17.44×10^4 to 73.57×10^4. However, greening and afforestation increased while croplands maintained a rational tendency accompanying with greening area expansion. From the standpoint of integration, the Shulehe River Basin resettlement policy fulfilled its previous goals of improving the inhabitants＇ livelihood and the capacity of environment when sphtial residues including environmental capacity and resources consumption for sustainable development are still positive conditions.展开更多
基金supported by the Cooperation-Innovation Team Project of Chinese Academy of Sciencesthe National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 30970492 and 91025002)
文摘In the Shulehe River Basin, policy of resettlement was very effective in handling agricultural development and livelihood problems in regions of poverty limited by topography, climate, or infrastructure. Thus, since 1996-1997, the Shulehe River Basin resettlement project transferred roughly 7.5 × 10^4 people from areas of Dingxi, Longxi or Minxian which could not offer sufficient resources for the residents. Meanwhile, construction facilities such as the reservoir, which underpins the resettlement project, also triggered an internal migration of people away from the reservoir to other parts of the Shulehe River Basin. This large scale migration derived apparent effects in water resources, land use and cover change, agricultural structure as well as landscapes. Results show that total arable land expanded by 3.1 × 10^8 m^2, cattle numbers maintained a stable level of 1×10^4, pigs declined to a low level due to market trends, and sheep numbers soared from 17.44×10^4 to 73.57×10^4. However, greening and afforestation increased while croplands maintained a rational tendency accompanying with greening area expansion. From the standpoint of integration, the Shulehe River Basin resettlement policy fulfilled its previous goals of improving the inhabitants＇ livelihood and the capacity of environment when sphtial residues including environmental capacity and resources consumption for sustainable development are still positive conditions.
