He Daming

Transboundary eco-security and its regulation system in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region

This paper discussed the transboundary eco-security issues, their distribution patterns, characteristics and driving forces, and regulation system in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region (LRGR). Major transboundary eco-security issues, except for sand-dust storm, can be found along the terrestrial border regions of China in the LRGR. The direct driving forces included constructions of cascade hydropower dams, highways and international navigation development, slope land cultivation and mineral exploration. Transboundary eco-security issues affect the neighboring areas in the terrestrial region, and the downstream countries along the international watercourses. The ecological changes in the neighboring countries had effects on the domestic side in the LRGR, such as species invasion. The integrated measures should be taken into consideration, including the construction of border eco-protection projects and transboundary nature reserves, ecological threshold set-up, species invasion control, the establishment of eco-security monitoring platform, the constituting of ecological compensation mechanism and laws (rules) and institutions, and capacity building. The most important tasks to deal with the transboundary issues in the LRGR are to form internationally participative cooperation mechanism, establish fund for transboundary eco-security, implement ecological compensation strategy, and develop information exchange platform and warning system.

The variation and regional differences of precipitation in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge the Region

This paper examines the regional differences of precipitation in the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region (LRGR) based on the daily rainfall records during 1960 to 2001 observed at 36 meteorological stations. The regional differences of precipitation in different spatial and temporal scale are analyzed, under the effecting of the special “corridor-barrier” function in LRGR. The results indicate that very close linkages exist between the regional differences and the “corridor-barrier” function: in most areas of the northern LRGR (>26°N), the general features of intra-annual precipitation pattern (IPP) exhibit “multi-peak pattern” with “peach blossom flood period” (PBFP). When latitude is close to 26°N, the PBFP disappears gradually and IPP patterns change from “multi-peak pattern” to “single-peak pattern”. From 24°N to 25°N, the “single-peak pattern” appears again; in the southern LRGR, the pattern shows quasi “double-peak pattern” with the characteristic of so-called “autumn rain period”, and the larger the longitude is, the more significant the pattern will be. In dry season, the annual variations of precipitation vary similarly because the controlling of atmospheric circulation is relatively single in the LRGR and the influence of the “barrier” function is not significant on precipitation annual variation, but in wet season, the spatial distribution of precipitation annual variations becomes more complicated.

Comparison of spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of water temperatures between Lancang River and Mekong River

Water temperature (WT) is one of the important indicators of water body physical properties. Understanding the characteristics of spatial-temporal variation on WT in the river continuum will help to develop the rational river-water-resource utilization plan, to avoid the possible ecology crisis, and to take full advantages of the natural resources in the involved region. As the biggest international river continuum in Asia, the Lancang-Mekong river subregion (known as Greater Mekong Subregion, GMS) has become a famous economic, political, and ecological natural territory. This study examined the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of the Lancang River water temperature, using the observational data of WT values from 11 hydrological stations in 1960s. Furthermore, the WT differences between Yunjinghong hydrological station (one representative station in China) and Chiang Saen hydrological station (one representative station in Thailand) were analyzed. Results indicated that: 1) Water temperature was higher in the lower part of the river continuum than the upper part. Latitude variation is the main influencing factor. This effect is more obvious in dry season than in rainy season, more obvious in winter than in summer, and more obvious of the average minimum WT than the average maximum WT; 2) WT difference between the upper and the lower parts of the river continuum was decreasing due to little increase of WT in the upper part (Yunjinghong hydrological station) and obvious decrease of the WT in the lower part (Chiang Saen hydrological station) during the research period. Therefore, the parameters of WT are affected by the latitude, and the Lancang-Mekong river continuum lies in the north-south direction, so the tropical aquatic creatures, such as the tropical aquatic fishes, cannot survive in the upper part of this river continuum in winter season, while in summer season, the tropical aquatic creatures properly swim to the upper stream. The water temperature in the lower Mekong River is mainly influenced by the regional water temperature and regional climate change.

Analysis on Equitable and Reasonable Allocation Models of Water Resources in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin

Abstract In this paper, according to the basic rule of the equitable and reasonable utilization of water resources in international rivers, the normal approaches of resolving the conflicts over water and the basic models of water allocation are introduced. The tendency and the problems of water utilization among the riparian states in Lancang-Mekong River are discussed. The extent of cooperation and the conditions of the management institution of the river basin are analyzed. In the present situation, it is considered that the basin-wide allocation model of water resources is the best one in Lancang-Mekong River.

LUCC and its spatial expansion in frontier zone of the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region

We selected the frontier zone of the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region (LRGR) as study area, based on data collection of LUCC monitored by remote sensing and other related information got by common investigation ways, used spatial information processing technique and analysis method, and explored the LUCC landscape’s characteristic and its spatial expansion effect in this special area. The purpose of this study is to find out the landscape pattern and its changing trend, and to provide background information for ecology security management in frontier zone of the LRGR. The primary results are as follows: the LUCC pattern in study area exhibits that the forest is the predominant cover type as landscape matrixes, while other types are patches or mosaic elements. Under this pattern, because of transformation in different types with the time change, they are influenced either by natural environment condition, or by human action. All of the counties or cities along the frontier zone of the LRGR, when considering their different levels of the natural environment conditions, social economic development status and management manner, show that the LUCC spatial expansion pattern is of sub-region convergency characteristics which is different from that of considering the distance length resistance only.

Research progress of international rivers in China

China possesses over 110 international rivers and lakes, among which 41 are major ones and 15 are of great importance. With the highest concentration of international rivers, the northeast, northwest and southwest regions of China enjoy abundant transboundary resources and pose complicated ecological security issues. Following the 1950s, relevant studies on international rivers fall into three periods: 1) the planned economy period of the 1950s–1980s when border development and basic research were scant; 2) the reform and opening-up period from 1980 to the end of 20th century. Along with the drive of economic globalization and regional cooperation, development of international rivers was thriving, which filled blanks in the research and narrowed gaps with international standards. Relevant studies also provided national and local governments with important scientific grounds for making decisions; 3) since the start of the 21st century, China has integrated its international river studies across sectors and across international borders. Now both government and scientific institutions pay great attention to transboundary environmental issues.

Variation in transboundary flow of Nujiang River and its correlation with summer monsoon under the effect of the Longitudinal Range-Gorge

The relationship between the variations of the Nujiang River transboundary flow and the summer monsoon activity under the topographical effect of the Longitudinal Range-Gorge (LRG) is examined. The study is based on statistical analysis of the observed river flow data, and their correlation with the reanalyzed U/V wind fields of the National Centers for Environment Prediction (NCEP) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the data of the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is concluded that the transboundary river flow is predominantly concentrated in the wet or rainy season (from May to October), particularly in the summer or flood season (from June to August). There is a clear tendency for the transboundary river flow to increase with time since 1970s, particularly apparent since 1980s. Due to the topographical “east-west barrier and north-south corridor” effects of the LRG, the summer river flow variations are largely correlated with winds of the southerly and northerly at both high and low altitudes. In contrast, the river flow variations are apparently correlated with winds of the easterly and westerly only at the high altitudes, not at the low altitudes. Negative correlation between the OLR and the river flow variations is also apparent. These relationships are quantitatively described using two summer monsoon indices proposed in this paper. The index MI2 includes both dynamical and thermodynamical effects and gives a generally good representation of the transboundary river flow variations in the LRG region of the Nujiang River basin. Larger MI2 represents stronger summer monsoon activity and higher transboundary river flow, while smaller MI2 suggests weaker monsoon circulation and lower water flow.

Equitable utilisation and effective protection of sharing transboundary water resources: international rivers of western China

Western China includes 12 provincial divisions (the 7 provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and; 5 autonomous regions of Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi; and one city of Chongqing), which comprise 71.4% of the national land area, 28.5% of the national population and produce 17.5% of the national GDP in China. There are 17 countries that have riparian relationships with western China, most of which are water-short countries. All are listed by UN ESCAP as countries with potential water crisis. The co-operative development and coordinated management of international rivers in western China is an important step toward the implementation of the national Great Western Development program. Taking into account of the national strategy and object hierarchy, as well as the development demand of the western region, it is necessary to pursue the multi-disciplinary study of the equitable allocation, utilisation, and eco-environment protection of transboundary water resources in the region. Such efforts will undoubtedly provide scientific evidence and support for the decision-making of the environmental protection and ecological construction and management in the western regions, the enforcement of the sub-regional economic co-operation, mitigation of trans-boundary conflicts, and enhancing bio-diversity conservation.

Research progress on international rivers in Asia

With the regional population growth, socioeconomic development, more and more attention has been paid to issues on the shared water allocation and the transboundary eco-security conservation during the development of water resources in the international rivers. In this paper, the existing major problems on transboundary waters in different sub-regions of Asia, such as water shortage, transboundary waters pollution, fragile eco-environment are discussed. Then, the key scientific issues to be concerned in the next study progress on the basis of the analyses of the new research directions and focus fields are raised: (1) unpredicted changes of the hydrologic and water system, and their impacts on the allocation of the sharing waters by global changes; (2) models of the international cooperation on the international rivers on the studies of international and national water laws or regulations, policies, the relative experiences and the case studies; (3) quantificational assessment on environmental flow, available water, and the comprehensive functions and values of the international watercourse system; (4) studies on transboundary aquatic bio-diversity maintenance, transboundary pollution supervision and treatment under the rules and principles accepted by the riparian states; (5) issues on transboundary compensation at the rules of “payments for using”, “payments for harm” and “compensation for benefit”; (6) using advanced 3S techniques to promote the integrated watershed development and management; and so on.

LUCC Remote Sensing Monitoring on Manwan Dam Immigrant Settlement Area

Based on the application of remote sensing technique, integratedly considering field investigation background, the paper selects Man-Wan Dam Immigrants Settlement area as the case study to analyses and explore local LUCC. Concretely, by use of the Landsat TM satellite images in different time of 1988, 1996 and 2000, Man-Wan Dam Immigrants Settlement land cover condition were monitored, and data analysis was completed on land cover changes in class composition and spatial distribution. The results shows that, with the Dam setting up, land cover changes has its characteristic in the mountain Immigrants Settlement area. The behavior is that mountain slope dry land mix with other cover types is of dominance relative to other cover classes, and shrubbery cover area reduces rapidly while dry land mix with other cover types increase quickly. Integrated research associated with field investigation, some primary conclusion can be made like that, in mountain Immigrants Settlement area, the main reason of LUCC comes from the limit of the mountain natural conditions; another drive may be the lag of land use management manner by man-made action. So it is necessary to enhance land use plan and management of Dam Immigrants Settlement area in Lancang River basin, prompt local social sustainable development.