Study site description: Yan River Basin, China

Table of Contents

1. Responsible partner
2. General information
3. Bio-physical description
   1. Major natural resources available in the study site area
   2. Use of land resources
   3. Use of water resources
   4. Uses of forest resources
   5. Strengths of existing land use practices
   6. Weaknesses of existing land use practices
   7. Major degradation issues due to the use of natural resources
4. Socio-economic description
5. Institutional and political setting
6. Relevant end-users / stakeholder groups

Use of water resources

The irrigation in Yanhe River Basin is very limited because the growth period of crops is in the flood season and the cost of irrigation is very high. In the last ten years, some new practices of water saving irrigation, such as drip irrigation in orchards have been introduced.

There are some reservoirs in the basin, such as Wangyao Reservoir in An'sai County, Shengli Reservoir and Suntai Reservoir in Yan'an city, to supply fresh water for the city. Due to severe soil loss and siltation by sediments, the capacity of the reservoirs is decreasing about 1.3% to 3.3% annually.

Climate change causes a great decrease in available water resources. Compared to the average in 1960s, the annual precipitation in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in the basin, has respectively decreased by 10.5%, 11.7% and 14.0% and the annual water yield in the basin has consequently decreased by 14.1%, 13.1% and 21.4%. It is a great challenge to combat the occurring droughts.