干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Tarim River is the first large internal drainage river in China and the fifth one in the world. Its status of water shortage caused by much water requirement from it has decided that natural condition there is weak ecological environment in and and sandy area. With rapid population increase and economy development, conflict between water requirement and the fact that water supply has become serious day by day, die riverbed is shrinking, some have dried, and water quantity from the tributaries to the main stream decreases, water quantity is deteriorated, as well as natural vegetation is degenerating, natural oasis is shrinking, and soil there becomes sandy. The Tarim River faces crisis for its life. The paper proposes the concept of sustaining the Tarim River in healthy life with "one final goal and four main benchmarks". Combining practices in the basin, it presents "six approaches for treatment" to the decision - makers for reference.