Ecological Vulnerability Assessment And Public Understanding Study On Environmental Change In Minqin Oasis

The oasis at the desert edge in northern China is the ecologically vulnerable area. its environmental sensitivity and degradation trend is affecting the whole country's environmental changing, economic developing, and social improving directly or indirectly, becoming an urgent issue to the sustainable development of the region. At present, the slow, inefficient state of recovering the ecological environment in northwest arid area resulting the increasing sensitivity, aggravated vulnerability, and ecological deterioration of the oasis located in the ecological transition zone.This thesis selects Minqin oasis, located in northwest China, between the Badain Jaran desert and Tengger desert, as the study area. With detailed analysis of the vulnerability of its ecological environment, the author gives a quantitative assessment of the spatial and temporal changes about its ecological fragility, using the AHP and Comprehensive Index Evaluation. The result is that the ecological vulnerability gets a big fluctuation in the study period in Minqin Oasis and now it has obtained a remission state; however, the ecological degradation is still in a high degree. In the dam area and Quanshan area, where the ecological stress vulnerability appears higher than that in the lake area, the human damage turns to be serious.In addition, through the study of the research survey data about the public understanding of its environmental change by using SPSS software we get two results:first, there appear regional differences about the public understanding of the environmental change in the Oasis. From the Dam area, Quan Shan area to the Lake area, and also, from the inner region of the oasis to the oasis fringe, the farmers' understanding of environmental change is improving gradually, and more likely to cooperate with other social groups to protect the vulnerable environment. Second, the situation of the public understanding, that is the government, farmers, market, research institutions, media and community groups are co-operated in a restrictive status in relation to the environmental management, which has led to the slow and inefficient ecological recovery.On this basis, along with the inner contact mechanism between public understanding and ecological fragility, the author proposes that all relevant stakeholders' long-term actively sustainable cooperation is needed for the ecological environmental management in Minqin Oasis. The thesis also develops some strategies and suggestions as follows,First, government could use macro-control to reduce market price's negative influences to the environmental recovery and also use policy interventions to solve the ecological products' operational issues in the market. Besides, some relevant regulations and funding support should be developed to give incentive for research institutions, media and farmers to be involved in environmental management projects actively.Second, media need to give full play to its functions of the linking and education, opening up the relationship between the social subjects, improving public environmental awareness and capacity to participate.Third, the research institutions might build an effective and tight co-operation with the government, media and farmers in order to shorten the time period of eco-products' R&D. They also need to pay great attention to economic value of its ecological products.The last, farmers should change passive situation in environmental governance to active one, and make the ecological environment management a way of life in their daily lives.