Wetland Recoverability Evaluation In Sub-humid And Semi-arid Area

Wetlands recoverability evaluation is very important to ensure the balance between the input and ecological benefits of wetlands restoration projects and the development sustainability. Among the restoration work, the restoration area selection and recovery program evaluation are two core issues.However, most related strategies have focused on certain single familiar objectives, lack of judgment on the potential or feasibility of the restoration, and the restoration area selection is based on some specific rules. In addition, past studies have focused on areas with large abundant of water resources, pointing mostly on the wetland water environment and aquatic ecosystems, thus the evaluation methods can not apply to water shortage areas.In this study, a GIS-based multi-criteria comprehensive evaluation methodology for wetland restoration potential estimation is proposed, by taking the Haihe River Basin as example, considering the characteristics of the regional topography, water and weather conditions, soil characteristics, water quality and status of land use, topography, wetland structure, landscape ecological patterns and other natural and human activities at the watershed. The result of the study aimed at selecting suitable restoration areas as follows:1. Take topography types of the Haihe River Basin into account, this study was divided into mountainous and plain areas to distinguish the topographical features of the study area. Evaluation criteria directly linked to the recoverability were selected as factor parameters of suitability. The evaluation model based GIS was used to analyze the restoration suitability of the study area.2. Areas with the highest level of restoration suitability were selected to analyze the feasibility of their restoration through comparative analysis between the ecological water demand and water resources surplus amount.3.This study provides a systematic analysis method and application examples for wetland restoration work in the sub-humid and semi-arid areas, and it will make a contribution to making appropriate policy adjustments and proposed scheme in the future..