王晓君副研究员, 中国农业科学院

Water scarcity is one of the most prominent issues worldwide in relation to sustainable development, especially in arid areas. To gain a better understanding of the trade-off between improving agricultural productivity and maintaining the stability of an oasis ecosystem in these areas, this study took the Heihe River Basin in northwestern China as a case to explore the changes in oasis dynamics and their human driving forces. The results showed that along with the 11.0% expansion of agricultural land, the total water demand for irrigation increased by 6.3% during 2000-2010.