Download Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Northwest

ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH 5(1): 7-16, 2014
www.climatechange.cn
DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2014.007
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in
Northwest China
ZHAO Hong-Yan1 , GUO Jun-Qin1 , ZHANG Cun-Jie1 , SUN Lan-Dong1 , ZHANG Xu-Dong1 ,
LIN Jing-Jing1 , WANG You-Heng1 , FANG Feng1 , MA Peng-Li1 , LIU Cai-Hong5 ,
LI Yan-Chun3 , FANG Jian-Gang4 , LI Lin5 , LI Hong-Mei5 , ZHENG Guang-Fen3 ,
DENG Zhen-Yong1 , DONG An-Xiang1
1
2
Northwest Regional Climate Center, Lanzhou 730020, China
National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China
3
Ningxia Climate Center, Yinchuan 750002, China
4
5
Shaanxi Climate Center, Xi’an 710014, China
Qinghai Climate Center, Xining 810001, China
Abstract
Climate change resulted in changes in crop growth duration and planting structure, northward movement of planting
region, and more severe plant diseases and insect pests in Northwest China. It caused earlier seeding for spring crop, later
seeding for autumn crop, accelerated crop growth, and reduced mortality for winter crop. To adapt to climate change,
measures such as optimization of agricultural arrangement, adjustment of planting structure, expansion of thermophilic
crops, and development of water-saving agriculture have been taken. Damaging consequences of imbalance between
grassland and livestock were enhanced. The deterioration trend of grassland was intensified; both grass quantity and
quality declined. With overgrazing, proportions of inferior grass, weeds and poisonous weeds increased in plateau pastoral
areas. Returning farmland to grazing, returning grazing to grassland, fence enclosure and artificial grassland construction
have been implemented to restore the grassland vegetation, to increase the grassland coverage, to reasonably control
the livestock carrying capacity, to prevent overgrazing, to keep balance between grassland and livestock, and to develop
the ecological animal husbandry. In Northwest China, because the amount of regional water resources had an overall
decreasing trend, there was a continuous expansion in the regional land desertification, and soil erosion was very serious.
A series of measures, such as development of artificial precipitation (snow), water resources control, regional water
diversion, water storage project and so on, were used effectively to respond to water deficit. It had played a certain
role in controlling soil erosion by natural forest protection and returning farmland to forest and grassland. In the early
21st century, noticeable achievements had been made in prevention and control of desertification in Northwest China.
The regional ecological environment has been improved obviously, and the desertification trend has shown sign of under
control.
Keywords: Northwest China; climate change; impact and adaptation
Citation: Zhao, H.-Y., J.-Q. Guo, C.-J. Zhang, et al., 2014: Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies in
Northwest China. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 5(1), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2014.007.
Received: 9 October 2013
Corresponding author: ZHAO Hong-Yan, [email protected]
1
8
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
1 Introduction
The Working Group II Report of the IPCC Fourth
Assessment Report (AR4) [IPCC, 2007b] stated that
global climate warming has had discernible impacts
on many physical and biological systems, and will has
long-term impacts on future natural ecology and socioeconomic development. To rely on policy measures of
both adaptation and mitigation could reduce the risk
of climate change.
Northwest China is located in China’s inland, far
away from the ocean, with drought and a scarcity
of rain; its vulnerable ecological environment is sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. In the context of global warming, the regional annual mean temperature has markedly increased in Northwest China,
which would inevitably affect the social and economic
life in the region. Impacts of climate change on agriculture, animal husbandry, water resources, ecology and
energy and other fields in Northwest China (including
4 provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai)
and strategies to adapt to climate change have been
elaborated, mainly to provide scientific and technological support for adaptation to climate change for
government and related industries in the region.
14–18 d [Deng et al., 2008b; Deng and Zhang, 2010; Pu
et al., 2007]. Climate change also altered the regional
crop planting structure. The planting pattern of predominant spring wheat changed into that of corn and
cotton predominance in arid irrigated areas in Hexi
Corridor. The planting pattern of spring wheat predominance changed into that of predominant winter
wheat, spring wheat and potatoes in the semi-arid dryfarming areas in central Gansu. The suitable planting
area for apple was expanded, but the fruit set percentage decreased due to high temperature events [Pu et
al., 2009; Yang et al., 2010]. Climate warming was
conducive to improving the climatic yields of cotton,
rice and other thermophilic crops [Sang et al., 2006],
but not for the yields of spring wheat, potatoes and
other cryophilic crops. The suitable planting areas
for crop were expanded northward and to high altitudes. The northern boundary of winter wheat extended 50–100 km northward, and the altitude increased by around 200 m in the eastern part of Northwest China, especially in the mountain areas of southern Ningxia by 600–800 m. The kind of crop pests
increased, which affected wider area and caused more
severe damages [IPCC, 2007a; 2007b; 2007c].
2 Major impacts of climate change
2.2 Impacts on animal husbandry
2.1 Impacts on agriculture
Damaging consequences of imbalance between
grassland and livestock were enhanced. The deterioration trend of grassland was intensified; both grass
quantity and quality declined; with overgrazing, proportions of inferior grass, weeds and poisonous weeds
increased in the plateau pastoral areas [Li et al., 2008;
Yao et al., 2007]. The growth duration of grass was
prolonged, and the livestock death rate showed obvious decrease. Grasslands in Qinghai province showed
an overall degradation trend from 1951 to 2000. By
2000, the moderate or severe degraded grassland areas accounted for 51.7% of the total available areas.
About 50%–60% of the grassland in the Three River
Source Region has shown different degradation since
the 1980s. Compared with the 1950s, the yield (kg
hm−2 ) decreased by 30%–50%, and poisonous weeds
increased by 20%–30% in the 1990s [Chen, 2007]. Vegetation coverage, grass height and productivity repre-
Climate change led to changes in crop growth duration and planting structure, northward movement of
planting region, and more serious plant diseases and
insect pests. Climate warming caused earlier seeding
for spring crop, later seeding for autumn crop, accelerated crop growth, and reduced mortality for winter
crop. The growth duration of wheat, corn and other
determinate growth habit crops was shortened, while
that of cotton, potato and other indeterminate growth
habit crops was prolonged [Yao et al., 2006; Deng et
al., 2008a; 2008b; Deng and Zhang, 2010]. For example, the growth duration of winter wheat in Shaanxi
was reduced by an average of 5 d, the whole growth
duration of corn in dry-farming areas in southeastern
Gansu was shortened by 6 d, and the whole growth
duration of cotton in Hexi Corridor was prolonged by
ZHAO Hong-Yan et al. / Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Northwest China
sented a remarkable decrease in alpine grassland at
high altitude. The degradation rate of alpine meadow
increased; the areas of degraded grassland were expanding; the alpine steppe community showed southward expansion [Wang et al., 2005; Yan et al., 2004].
About 90% of the grassland in Gansu province degraded at the rate of 10,000 hm2 per year; the degradation reached 45%; the degraded grassland area accounted for 88% of the total areas. Climate warming
resulted in earlier green-up and later withering of the
plateau grass, and the prolonged whole growth duration. The growth duration in most areas was prolonged by 3–5 d. The natural grazing period was
prolonged. The utilization period of summer-autumn
grassland was extended [QCC, 2008]. In plateau pastoral areas, increased temperatures and reduced snow
disasters were helpful for young stock to live over winter and spring. The livestock death rate decreased
markedly. The death loss of yak and sheep in Gannan
decreased respectively at the rate of 0.99% and 2.74%
per decade. Since the mid-1980s, survival rate of the
Tibetan sheep lamb has increased at 7.19% per decade
[Deng et al., 2008b; Yao et al., 2007; Chen, 2007].
2.3 Impacts on water resources
In Northwest China, the amount of regional water resources generally had a decreasing trend, and has
recovered slightly since 2000. The runoff of the upper
Yellow River and the upper Yangtze River decreased
significantly from 1961 to 2007. Compared with the
1980s, the average annual flow of the upper Yangtze
River, the upper Yellow River and the upper Lancang
River decreased by 24%, 27% and 13% respectively
in the 1990s. The average annual flow of the upper
Yellow River decreased at the rate of 5.29 m3 s−1
per decade from 1961 to 2009. The flow reduced by
206.8 m3 s−1 which was a reduction of 32% in the
1990s [QCC, 2008].
The peat swamp land in the Three River Source
Region was dried and bare. The low humid meadow
vegetation changed to mid-xeric alpine vegetation.
The vegetation biomass decreased. The function of
wetland was weakening. The swamp wetland in source
9
region of the Yellow River was 389,000 hm2 in the
early 1980s, and reduced to 325,000 hm2 in the 1990s
at an average decrease rate of 5,900 hm2 per year.
It reduced by nearly 200 km2 for 1990–2004, and the
reduction was especially remarkable [Li et al., 2009].
The wetland in the upper Yangtze River also showed
a degradation trend. The Yushu Longbao wetland reduced at the rate of 487.3 hm2 per year. Although the
annual precipitation in the Qinghai Lake Basin had a
slight increasing trend, the inflow reduced as the temperature rose. From the 1960s to the end of the 20th
century, the water level of the Qinghai Lake declined
about 3.37 m at the rate of 0.84 m per decade [Liu,
2001].
However, in recent years the control over the
degradation of wetland in the Three River Source Region had shown initial success. The lake wetland in
the source region of the Yellow River continuously
increased both in area and quantity from 2003 to
2006. The area increased from 1,462.94 km2 in 2003
to 1,594.79 km2 in 2006, and the number increased
from 71 in 2003 to 162 in 2006. The wetland area in
the source region of the Yangtze River had an overall
increasing trend in recent 10 years. It increased by
332.65 km2 from 1990 to 2004 at an average rate of
23.76 km2 per year [Li et al., 2009].
Since 2003, precipitation in the upper Yellow
River has been increasing continuously, and the flow
has also increased. The average flow of the upper Yellow River reached 604.7 m3 s−1 in 2003–2009, and increased by 81.4 m3 s−1 (15.6%) compared with 1991–
2002. Runoff of the source region of the Yangtze
River also experienced the same variation. It reached
the bottom in the 1990s. Precipitation in that region has had obvious increase since 2000. The annual
flow of the upper Yangtze River reached 500.9 m3 s−1
in 2003–2009, and increased by 137.8 m3 s−1 (37.9%)
compared to 1991–2002 [QCC, 2008]. At the same
time, the inflow runoff of the Qinghai Lake increased
due to precipitation increase since 2004. The water
level of the Qinghai Lake began to rise in 2004, and
rose by 55 cm in 2004–2009. The Lake area increased
from 4,254.38 km2 in September 2004 to 4,323.2 km2
in September 2009. Similar variations of water level
10
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
and area were seen in the Hala Lake, Zhaling Lake and
Eling Lake; both water levels and areas of these lakes
have showed an increasing trend since 2005 [Wu et al.,
2008].
2.4 Land desertification
Since the 1970s, there has been a continuous increase in desertification expansion. Increase of water demand in agricultural irrigation areas and farmlands due to climate warming, indirectly resulted in
natural ecosystem degradation, and accelerated the
regional surface desertification [Xu et al., 2007]. As
for land desertification along the Great Wall in northern Shaanxi province, there was a land area of 293.5
km2 becoming desert in 1986–2000. Among these new
desertification lands, the largest increase occurred in
Shenmu county, accounted for 23% of the desertification area. The desertification mainly occurred in
arable land, grassland and woodland. Grassland desertification was extremely severe and arable land desertification was moderate. For the new desertification land, arable land desertification was principle,
followed by grassland and woodland, accounted for
63.89%, 25.68% and 7.68% respectively of the new
desertification land [Gao et al., 2005]. The desertification land was 5,960,000 hm2 in Qinghai province
in 1959. It increased to 9,575,000 hm2 in the mid1980s, 12,558,000 hm2 in the mid-1990s, and reached
the peak of 22,200,000 hm2 in 2000 [QCC, 2008].
2.5 Soil erosion
The regional soil erosion in Northwest China was
very serious. Soil erosion area accounted for more than
2/3 of the total area. The second general survey data
of the land in 2005 showed that the soil erosion area
was 123,600 km2 in Shaanxi province, and accounted
for 60% of the provincial land area. The annual average sediment discharge was 920 Mt, accounted for
1/5 of total soil erosion in China. The Yellow River
Basin was the most serious soil erosion area. For the
Jinghe, North Luohe, and Weihe Rivers, located in the
Middle Yellow River with total area of 135,600 km2 ,
the soil erosion area was 101,000 km2 , and the annual
sediment discharge was 830 Mt [Wang, 2008].
3 Adaptation to climate change
3.1 Agriculture
Climate warming condition increases heat energy
resources and prolongs the available growing season,
which results in the higher multiple crop index, favorable conditions for multiple cropping system and agricultural carbon sequestration [Qu, 2010]. The interplanting of spring wheat and corn gradually changed
to multiple cropping of winter wheat and corn, or
winter wheat and early-maturing transplanting rice in
Ningxia [Zhang et al., 2008]. To adapt to the warm
and dry climate, optimization of agricultural arrangement and adjustment of planting structure have been
carried out. The planting area and proportion of winter wheat and other winter crops and cotton and other
thermophilic crops should be enlarged appropriately,
while the planting area of spring wheat and other
cryophilic crops should be reduced. It’s very beneficial to expand thermophilic crops in oasis irrigation
agriculture areas. For example, cotton planting areas
showed a gradually expanding trend in Hexi Corridor of Gansu province. The suitable area increased
from 1,300 km2 to 1,400 km2 . Reducing spring wheat
area, expanding winter wheat and winter oilseed rape
growing area, and expanding drought tolerant crop
area, such as potato, millet, P. miliaceum, flax and
so on, are good in dry-farming areas [Deng et al.,
2008a; 2008b; Deng and Zhang, 2010]. The planting areas of millet, P. miliaceum, beans, buckwheat
and other minor grain crops, which are able to bear
drought, cold, and barren, were expanded in northern
Shaanxi province [Zhang et al., 2007]. At the same
time, the resistant varieties such as potato, flax, and
beans, which have strong capability to resist drought,
water-logging, high (low) temperature and plant diseases and insect pests, were cultivated more [Ma et
al., 2004]. Water-saving agriculture has been developed rapidly within the region to improve the agricultural water-use efficiency. For example in semi-arid
and semi-humid climatic regions, application of water
harvesting and water-saving irrigation was of universal significance in areas with annual precipitation of
300–800 mm, and even more significant benefits could
ZHAO Hong-Yan et al. / Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Northwest China
be obtained in areas with annual precipitation of 400–
700 mm [Deng et al., 2008a; 2008b; Deng and Zhang,
2010], where 1/3–1/2 of rainfall runoff can be collected
for irrigation. In case of serious spring drought, the
benefit of applying film mulching technology to preserve soil moisture, to protect seedlings and to increase
production was significant, especially in dry year when
sowing was impossible due to low soil moisture. For
example, the average yield of mulched corn per mu
(1 mu=667 m2 ) could increase by 88.3% than uncovered corn [Chen, 2001; Deng et al., 2003; 2004]. Potato
production could increase by over 30% compared with
the open cultivation in dry-farming areas [Lu, 2008].
Solar light and heat resources were sufficiently utilized
to break the regional and seasonal natural limit of traditional agriculture and to develop facility agriculture
[Chen et al., 2002].
3.2 Animal husbandry
Ecological animal husbandry was developed to
promote the balance between grassland and livestock.
To restore the grassland vegetation, to increase the
grassland coverage, to reasonably control the livestock
carrying capacity, and to prevent overgrazing, measures such as returning farmland to grazing, returning grazing to grassland, fence enclosure and artificial
grassland construction had been implemented. Establishment of the Three River Source Natural Reserve
and large-scale implementation of ecological environment protection and construction projects since 2003,
grassland ecological community productivity and vegetation coverage have showed a significant increasing
trend. In general, the grass coverage, height and yield
have increased year by year. Grassland ecosystem has
an obvious trend toward restoration. Grassland with
middle or high coverage in the Three River Source Region increased yearly from 2003 to 2009. In particular,
grassland with high coverage increased significantly.
It increased by 3,613,200 hm2 in 2009 compared with
the average of 2003–2008. At the same time, grassland with high yield also showed a significant increasing trend. Grassland with yield of 400–500 or 500–
600 kg per mu increased by 200% and 130% respectively in 2009 compared to 2008. The average yield
11
of fresh grass of natural grassland in Qinghai province
was 2,388.93 kg hm−2 in 2009, with an increase of
0.7% than 2008 [QCC, 2008]. In source region of the
Yellow River, vegetation height increased by 22.19%,
vegetation coverage increased by 17.32%–23.43%, and
the yield increased by 9.98%–24.38%. The proportion
of grasses and sedges increased and that of weeds decreased in the community [Nie et al., 2008]. It is worth
mentioning that, since the implementation of returning grazing to grassland in meadow grassland of Gannan in 2004, vegetation coverage has increased from
60% to 75% on average. After enclosure in natural
grassland of Yanchi, the grassland vegetation coverage, height, yield and density increased in different
degrees, and the livestock carrying capacity also increased [Ma and Wang, 2004]. The grass composition
changed significantly due to fence enclosure. Species
and yields of good Cyperaceae and Gramineae increased, and those of weeds decreased [Du and Zhang,
2007]. The implementation of breeding in pastoral areas, fattening in agricultural areas, seeding in agricultural areas and supplementary feeding in pastoral
areas made the new animal husbandry development
pattern of complementary resources among pastoral
areas, agricultural areas and half pastoral farming areas become reality. By 2006, the total area of grassland rodents control was 35,706,000 hm2 in Qinghai
province for the past 40 years. The vegetation coverage recovered to 40%–90% after killing and preventing the rodents. Increased forage quantity not only
restored the grassland vegetation, but also greatly alleviated the pressure of natural grassland grazing, as
a result, the grassland productivity rose by a large
magnitude [An, 2008]. After deratization and deinsectization, the grassland vegetation gradually restored
in Qinghai province, and the grass yield increased by
1,487,600–2,479,300 t per year, equivalent to the annual forage quantity of 815,100–1,358,500 sheep. By
preliminary estimation, repairable grassland ecosystem service value reached up to $80,213,000 each year
due to ecological restoration [Cai, 2006].
3.3 Water resources
A series of measures, such as development of ar-
12
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
tificial precipitation (snow), water resources control,
regional water diversion, and water storage project,
were used effectively to mitigate the impact of climate change on water resources. Artificial precipitation (snow) was the main way to exploit cloud water resources, and played an active role in improving
the situation of water shortage. Rainfall increased by
11,563 million m3 in the Three River Source Region
during the artificial precipitation period of 2007–2008.
The cumulative area of aircraft precipitation (snow)
operation was 1,560,000 km2 , and surface rainfall increased by 4,350 Mt in Shaanxi province in 2003–2008
[SWMO, 2010]. The assessment of artificial precipitation effect showed that the rainfall increased by 21.5%.
From 2003 to 2008, 20.85 million RMB was used directly for artificial precipitation, and the direct economic benefits was 2,610 million RMB (increased precipitation was converted to 0.6 RMB each ton). The
cumulative operation area was about 8,378,000 km2 ,
and the cumulative rainfall increase was 7,219 Mt in
Ningxia from 1988 to 2008. An economic benefit of
about 1,060 million RMB was created, and the inputoutput ratio was 1:25.
In view of the increasingly serious ecosystem deterioration in the Heihe River Basin and prominent
conflicts about water allocation, a unified dispatch of
water resources was implemented at the end of 1999.
Five years later, a significant change in temporal and
spatial distribution of water resources in the basin occurred. The discharged water at the middle reaches of
the river increased every year. According to the water allocation curve for the Heihe River, when the annual inflow of Yingluo Gorge was 1,580 million m3 , the
outflow of Zhengyi Gorge increased from 730 million
m3 (1997–1999 mean before the dispatch implementation) to 800, 830, 900, and 950 million m3 respectively
from 2000 to 2003. Water in the Heihe River reached
Bukhen-Torei, capital of Ejina Banner in 2001. In
2002, the water ran into the East Juyanhai Lake which
had dried up for 10 years. The maximum water area of
the East Juyanhai Lake reached 23.5 km2 . In 2003, the
water entered the West Juyanhai Lake that had dried
up for 40 years. The water has been transferred to
the East Juyanhai Lake for 10 times since 2002. From
August 20, 2004 to April 17, 2006, the East Juyanhai
Lake was not dry for 605 consecutive days. When a
certain amount of water was kept in the East Juyanhai Lake for a long time, groundwater in the lake areas was effectively supplemented, where the biological
diversity increased significantly and the ecological environment was gradually restored [Qiao et al., 2007].
The Taohe River is the great first tributary of the upper Yellow River. The Taohe River water was transferred to the central region of Gansu province, which
benefited total area of 19,700 km2 and total population of about 3 million people. Conflict over water resources arising from the imbalance between supply and
demand in the central arid region of Gansu province
represented by Dingxi was solved fundamentally [Liu
et al., 2009; Wang, 2003; Yan, 2005]. Water from the
Yellow River is the main agricultural water in Ningxia
province and water-saving irrigation has been popularized since 1998 [Peng et al., 2006; Xu et al., 2004;
Kang, 2005; Yang, 2004]. The water-saving irrigation
control technology for rice field saved water at 404 m3
per mu (31.4%–43.5%). By 2006, the water-saving
irrigation area had reached an accumulative total of
213,800 hm2 . The annual water transfer out of the
Yellow River decreased from 8,860 million m3 in 1999
to 6,845 million m3 in 2006, with a decrease area of
13,000 hm2 .
3.4 Soil erosion
In Northwest China, natural forest was very rare
but played a very important role in inhibition of soil
and water loss, soil erosion control, water conservation,
adjusting river flow, and reducing natural disasters in
the local and downstream areas. With the overall start
of national natural forest protection project in Gansu
province in September 1998, public welfare forest construction of 10.7 million mu had been completed by
2008. Among them, artificial afforestation, aerial seeding afforestation and closed forest were 2.2, 1.68, and
6.82 million mu respectively, which was equivalent to
52.12 Mt of carbon dioxide absorbed. Water conservation and ecological functions were significantly enhanced. The area affected by soil erosion continuously
decreased, and the intensity of soil erosion also decreased year by year [Zhao, 2007; Guan et al., 2006;
ZHAO Hong-Yan et al. / Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Northwest China
Yang and Yang, 2006].
Noticeable results were
achieved in controlling grassland desertification, rodents and black soil patch by the implementation of
ecological protection in 2007 in the ecological function
areas of Gannan where the Yellow River is the main
water supply [Ge, 2009]. By the end of March 2003, an
area of 2,724.9 km2 affected by soil erosion had been
controlled. Annual average soil erosion modulus decreased from 335–568 t km−2 to 200–500 t km−2 .
In recent years, the soil erosion control became
more powerful. Returning farmland to forest and
grassland played an important role in improving the
vegetation coverage and reducing slope erosion. In addition, decreased strong wind days and wind speed reduced the wind force to soil erosion. Increased precipitation slowed down the vegetation degradation trend,
which had a certain controlling effect on soil erosion.
The areas affected by soil erosion had been obviously
controlled under a wide-range popularization of integrated management projects in small watersheds. Accumulative total area of 75,000 km2 affected by soil
erosion was dealt with just in Gansu province in recent years. The control area was 48% in Gansu of
the Yellow River Basin. By the end of 2009, in Qinghai province accumulative total area of 812.32 km2 affected by soil erosion had been dealt with. Compared
to 2000, area affected by water erosion and wind erosion in the Three River Source Region decreased by
3,309.08 km2 (1.3%) and 1,369.8 km2 (0.5%) respectively [QCC, 2008].
3.5 Land desertification
In the early 21st century, noticeable achievements
have been made in desertification control and prevention in Northwest China. The regional ecological environment has been improved obviously, and the desertification trend has seemed to be under control. The
protection system based on building windbreak and
covering materials along the leading edge of the Tengger Desert in Zhongwei of Ningxia was established. In
the 1970s, afforestation for sand control and establishment of shelter forest or net were carried out on both
sides of the North Trunk Canal along the edge of the
desert. By the mid-1980s, the protection system of five
13
zones in one formed within the protection zone, which
effectively controlled and prevented mobile dunes from
moving southward [Sun et al., 2003]. In 2006, the third
national desertification monitoring results showed that
a total desertification land of 467,000 hm2 had been
governed in Ningxia. The desertification land and
sandy areas were decreased by 233,000 hm2 and 25,400
hm2 respectively compared to 1999. Ningxia became
the first province in which the control speed was faster
than the desertification expansion speed in China. Its
ecological construction entered a new stage of overall containment and partial improvement. There had
been a reversal of the desertification process which
can be described as human advances and desert recedes [Jing, 2008]. By aerial seeding afforestation and
planting grass, large areas of desertification prevention and control in Maowusu sandy land in Yulin of
Shaanxi province had also achieved great success. The
Psammophyte planting mode was adopted to control
the sand outlet and the mobile dunes areas and reduce wind speed, which had achieved good results for
wind-prevention and sand-fixation in Gansu province.
In the early 21st century, because of increased precipitation in some areas and vigorously implementation
of the ecological deteriorated land control construction, the desertification trend slowed down in Northwest China and there was even a reversal in some areas. The desertification area reduced to 12.6 million
hm2 in Qinghai in 2009, reaching the level of the mid1990s. In Gonghe, Xinghai, and Haiyan, the dune
height reduced by 0.1–1.0 m compared to the average
of 2004–2007; the dune horizontal movement speed reduced at 2.5–12.2 m per year compared to the average
speed of 2003–2008. The desertification areas reduced
by 83,600 hm2 in Gansu province in 2004 compared to
that of 1999.
4 Conclusions
(1) Climate change resulted in changes in crop
growth duration and planting structure, planting region moving northward, and more serious plant diseases and insect pests. Climate warming caused earlier seeding for spring crop, later seeding for autumn
crop, accelerated crop growth, and reduced mortality
14
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
for winter crop. The growth duration of determinate
growth habit crop was shortened, while that of indeterminate growth habit crop was prolonged. To adapt
to the warm and dry climate, optimization of agricultural arrangement and adjustment of planting structure had been carried out.
(2) Damaging consequences of imbalance between
grassland and livestock were aggravated in some areas. The grassland deterioration trend was intensified; both grass quantity and quality declined; with
overgrazing, proportions of inferior grass, weeds and
poisonous weeds increased in the plateau pastoral areas. The grass growth duration was prolonged, and
the livestock death rate decreased obviously. Measures
such as returning farmland to grazing, returning grazing to grassland, fence enclosure and artificial grassland construction had been implemented to restore the
grassland vegetation, to increase the grassland coverage, to reasonably control the livestock carrying capacity, and to prevent overgrazing.
(3) The amount of regional water resources had a
general decreasing trend in Northwest China. A series
of measures, such as development of artificial precipitation (snow), water resources control, regional water
diversion, water storage project and so on, were used
to deal with the negative effects of climate change.
(4) Increases in agricultural irrigation area and
farmland water demand caused by climate warming,
indirectly resulted in natural ecosystem degradation,
and accelerated the regional surface desertification. In
the early 21st century, noticeable achievements have
been made in desertification control and prevention in
Northwest China. The regional ecological environment
has shown noticeable improvements, and the desertification trend has seemed to be under control.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Special Climate
Change Research Program of China Meteorological Administration (No. CCSF2010-5). Cordial thanks are extended to the editors and the anonymous reviewers for
their professional comments and suggestions, which greatly
improved this manuscript.
References
An, B.-J., 2008: Review and prospect of integrated man-
agement of grassland rodents in Qinghai province.
Prataculture & Animal Husbandry, (5), 46-47.
Cai, D., 2006: Benefits analysis of grassland rodent and
pest prevention and control in Qinghai province.
Grassland and Turf (in Chinese), (2), 69-72.
Chen, Q.-G., 2007: Grassland deterioration in the
source region of the Yangtze-Yellow Rivers and integrated control of the ecological environment. Acta
Prataculturae Sinica (in Chinese), 16(1), 10-15.
Chen, S.-Q., 2001: Current situation and further development thinking for water-saving agriculture in
Qinghai. Qinghai Agrotechnical Extension (in Chinese), (2), 8-10.
Chen, Z.-G., Z.-T. Dou, H.-C. Gao, et al., 2002:
Outlook of installment agriculture-suggestions on
installment agriculture development in Qinghai
province. Science and Technology of Qinghai Agriculture and Forestry (in Chinese), (1), 39-40.
Deng, Z.-Y., and Q. Zhang, 2010: Impact of climate
warming and drying on food crops in northern China
and the countermeasures. Acta Ecologica Sinica (in
Chinese), 30(22), 6278-6288.
Deng, Z.-Y., Y. Zhang, and Z.-Y. Hao, 2003: A
study on agricultural technology of water harvesting
and watersaving irrigation in semiarid and semihumid climatic regions. Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology (in Chinese), 24(4), 16-18.
Deng, Z.-Y., Q. Zhang, and J.-F. Xu, 2008a: The
progress in researches on the impact of global warming on agriculture-forestry-stockbreeding production
and agricultural structure adjustment in Northwest
China. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology (in
Chinese), 30(5), 835-842.
Deng, Z.-Y., A.-X. Dong, Z.-Y. Hao, et al., 2004:
Drought and sustainable development: Drought prevention and disaster reduction. Meteorological Science and Technology (in Chinese), 32(3), 187-190.
Deng, Z.-Y., Q. Zhang, J.-Y. Pu, et al., 2008b: The
impact of climate warming on crop planting and
production in northwestern China. Acta Ecologica
Sinica (in Chinese), 28(8), 3760-3768.
Du, Y.-T., and D.-J. Zhang, 2007: Effect of enclosure and grazing prohibition on the improvement of
deteriorated grassland in Alpine area. Pratacultural
Science (in Chinese), 24(7), 22-24.
Gao, X.-H., Y.-M. Wang, J.-M. Wang, et al., 2005:
Analysis on desertification dynamics based on remote sensing and GIS in zone along the Great Wall
in northern Shaanxi province. Journal of Desert Research (in Chinese), 25(1), 63-67.
ZHAO Hong-Yan et al. / Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Northwest China
Ge, S.-Y., 2009: The eco-compensation mechanism in
Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Gansu
province (in Chinese). Accesssed http://www.riel.
whu.edu.cn/article.asp?id=29829.
Guan, W.-K., X.-X. Zhang, and Y. Li, 2006: Protection of natural forest in Xinjiang and ecological
benefit of forest. Protection Forest Science and
Technology (in Chinese), (S1), 66-67.
IPCC, 2007a: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the
Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change. Solomon, S. et al. Eds.,
Cambridge University Press, 996pp.
IPCC, 2007b: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working
Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Parry,
M. L. et al. Eds., Cambridge University Press,
976pp.
IPCC, 2007c: Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III
to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Bert, M. et al.
Eds., Cambridge University Press, 851pp.
Jing, P.-Y., 2008: Investigation of the natural forest protection project implementation in Ningxia.
Ningxia Forestry Communication (in Chinese), 4,
24-26.
Kang, J.-H., 2005: Study on the irrigation technique of
slight saline water in Ningxia diversion Yellow River
irrigation area (in Chinese). Ningxia University,
66pp.
Li, L., F.-X. Li, X.-D. Zhu, et al., 2009: Quantitative
identification of driving force on wetland shrinkage
over the source region of the Yellow River. Journal
of Natural Resources (in Chinese), 24(7), 1246-1255.
Li, Y.-N., X.-Q. Zhao, H.-K. Zhou, et al., 2008:
The dynamic features of ecosystem environment
and plant productivity in the source regions of the
Changjiang River and Yellow River. Acta Ecologica
Ecologica Sinica (in Chinese), 26(6), 678-683.
Liu, J.-P., Y.-K. Yi, and L.-J. Fei, 2009: The feasibility demonstration of Tao River water diversion
project based on regional water resources carrying
capacity. Yellow River (in Chinese), 31(6), 60-61.
Liu, X.-Y., 2001: Analysis on the change trend of water
level of Qinghai Lake. Arid Zone Research (in Chinese), 18(3), 58-62.
Lu,
15
H., 2008-08-06: A revolution of dry-farming:
Thoughts on summarizing and popularizing the
techniques of whole plastic-film mulching on double
ridges and planting in catchment furrows. Gansu
Daily (in Chinese), 1.
Ma, H.-B., and N. Wang, 2004: A study on effects
of enclosing on fencing natural grassland in Yanchi
county of Ningxia. Journal of Sichuan Grassland
(in Chinese), 12, 25-26.
Ma, L., S.-Y. Hou, and G. Zhang, 2004: Occurrence and integrated controlling of major diseases
and pests of spring wheat in Qinghai. Science and
Technology of Qinghai Agriculture and Forestry (in
Chinese), (2), 14-16.
Nie, X.-M., C.-Z. Zhao, and G.-H. Zhang, 2008:
Investigation of present situation and achievements
of grazing withdrawal project in source region of
Yellow River. Grassland and Turf (in Chinese), (2),
59-63.
Peng, S.-Z., N.-H. Xu, and H.-Z. Fu, 2006: Practice
of water-saving irrigation in the Yellow River irrigation areas: Successful demonstration of irrigation
control technology for rice in Ningxia (in Chinese).
Accessed http://ncsl.mwr.gov.cn/infomationlist.do?
method=showDetailInfoList&catalogid=11&formId
=5723.
Pu, J.-Y., X.-Y. Yao, X.-H. Yao, et al., 2009: Impacts of climate warming on phonological period
and growth of apple tree in Loess Plateau of Gansu
province. Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology (in
Chinese), 29(2), 181-183.
Pu, Y.-Y., Y.-B. Yao, P.-L. Ma, et al., 2007: Responses of winter wheat growth to winter warming
in Gansu province. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology (in Chinese), 18(6), 1237-1241.
QCC (Qinghai Climate Center), 2008: Assessment report of Qinghai province on climate change (in Chinese). 61pp.
Qiao, X.-X., X.-H. Jiang, J.-N. Chen, et al., 2007:
Effect of transferring water on ecological environment in east and west Juyanhai Lake at the lower
reaches of Heihe River. Journal of Northwest A & F
University (in Chinese), 35(6), 190-194.
Qu, Z.-J., 2010: Variation of heat resources in crops
growing season and its response to climate change
in Shaanxi. Journal of Arid Land Resources and
Environment (in Chinese), 24(1), 75-79.
Sang, J.-R., Y.-L. Liu, and W. Jiu, 2006: Impact of
climate warming on rice yield in irrigation area of
16
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
Ningxia. Journal of Desert Research (in Chinese),
26(6), 953-958.
Sun, J.-Z., H.-B. Wu, R.-G. Liu, et al., 2003: A
study on the growth and decline and the continued
development of plant community of Shapotou national protected region in Ningxia. Acta Botanica
Borealioccidentalia sinica (in Chinese), 23(4), 544549.
SWMO(Shaanxi Weather Modification Office), 2010:
The material about weather modification of Shaanxi
province (in Chinese). 32pp.
Wang, H.-L., 2008: On the soil conservation in Shaaxi
province. Shaanxi Journal of Agricultural Sciences
(in Chinese), (6), 65-67.
Wang, M., Y. Yong, R.-Q. Huang, et al., 2005: The
effects of climate warming on the Alpine vegetation
of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau hinterland. Acta
Ecologica Sinica (in Chinese), 25(6), 1275-1281.
Wang, X.-S., 2003: Effect of Tao River water diversion project on soil environment in irrigation areas.
Gansu Nongye (in Chinese), 11, 35-36.
Wu, S.-X., G.-G. Chang, F.-X. Li, et al., 2008:
Recent lake changes in Maduo county, source region
of the Yellow River. Journal of Lake Sciences (in
Chinese), 20(3), 364-368.
Xu, J.-X., H.-W. Wang, H.-W. Li, et al., 2004:
Application irrigation technology in Ningxia district
irrigate from Yellow River. Journal of Heilongjiang
Hydraulic Engineering College (in Chinese), 4, 1417.
Xu, X.-K., H. Chen, and F. Zhang, 2007: Temporal
and spatial change of vegetation cover in the northwest of China and factors analysis influencing on
vegetations variation. Chinese Journal of Environmental Science (in Chinese), 28(1), 41-47.
Yan, L.-D., G.-S. Zhang, L. Li, et al., 2004: Impact analysis of climate change on the nature
grass growth duration, height, and yield in Qinghai province. Symposium on Climate Change and
Ecological Environment (in Chinese), 426-434.
Yan, W.-X., 2005: Study on the optimal allocation of
water resources in Tao River diversion project water
supply area in Gansu province (in Chinese). Xi’an
University of Techology, 77pp.
Yang, W.-J., and F. Yang, 2006: Present situation
and countermeasure of constructing natural forest
protection in Shaanxi. Journal of Shanxi Administration School and Shanxi Economic Management
School (in Chinese), 20(3), 90-95.
Yang, X.-L., and G.-S. Jiang, 2010: Responses of
apple trees growth to climate change in typical stations of Longdong Loess Plateau. Chinese Journal
of Agrometeorology (in Chinese), 31(1), 74-77.
Yang, Z., 2004: Study on management mode for irrigation district diversion from Yellow River and
methods of discharge measurement (in Chinese).
Xi’an University of Technology, 94pp.
Yao, Y.-B., Z.-Y. Deng, and R.-Y. Wang, 2006:
Effects of climate change on flax productivity in
Gansu. Chinese Journal of Oil Crop Sciences (in
Chinese), 28(1), 49-54.
Yao, Y.-B., R.-Y. Wang, Z.-Y. Deng, et al., 2007:
Climatic changes over the grassland around the first
meander of Yellow River and its iinfluence on animal
subsistence. Journal of China Agricultural University (in Chinese), 12(1), 27-32.
Zhang, X., W. Dong, and L.-X. Wang, 2007: Rainfall productive potential of main grain minor crops
in loess hilly and gully region of north Shaanxi
province. Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation
(in Chinese), 27(4), 155-158.
Zhang, Z., L. Lin, and P. Liang, 2008: Climate
change and its impacts on agricultural production
in Ningxia. Agricultural Meteorology (in Chinese),
29(4), 402-405.
Zhao, J.-B., 2007: The analysis on the protection of
wild wood and the countermeasure of sustainable
operation of Shaanxi (in Chinese). Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, 48pp.