College of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Jishou University, Jishou, 416000, China.
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
Environ Monit Assess. 2018 Dec 15;191(1):20. doi: 10.1007/s10661-018-7131-3.
Along with rapid economic development and population growth, anthropogenic disturbances to natural ecosystems increase the progressively worsening environmental problems in and around water resources, making the potential ecological risks more severe and unpredictable. In order to cope with the increasingly serious issues related to the ecological environment and poverty alleviation, the Government of Yunnan in Southwest China launched a large-scale afforestation campaign (plantation forestry) on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which is the main source of several major river systems in Southeast Asia. In this study, we use GIS to investigate the impacts of a large-scale afforestation on the water storage balance of Southeast Asia. Results show an expansion of the arid zone in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in recent years, and runoff from rivers has decreased year after year. In contrast to natural forests, planted forests are a characteristic of more water shortages, less rainfall, and higher evapotranspiration rates. Moreover, planted forests may exacerbate conflicts between humans and nature over water resources. Additionally, with respect to downstream populations affected by the government's afforestation policy, China has bore the brunt of the resultant water scarcity predicament (approximately 52.29%), followed by Vietnam (26.39%), Laos (6.78%), Cambodia (6.16%), Thailand (4.42%), and Myanmar (3.96%). To alleviate this problem and the potential crises that may result from it, the Government of China should change its policy from its focus on afforestation to promoting natural vegetation conservation practices.
随着经济的快速发展和人口的增长，人为干扰自然生态系统的现象日益增多，导致水资源及其周边地区的环境问题日益恶化，潜在的生态风险更加严重和不可预测。为应对与生态环境和减贫相关的日益严重的问题，中国云南省政府在中国西南的云贵高原上发起了一场大规模的造林运动（人工林），该高原是东南亚几条主要水系的源头。在本研究中，我们使用 GIS 来调查大规模造林对东南亚储水平衡的影响。结果表明，近年来云贵高原的干旱区有所扩大，河流径流量逐年减少。与天然林相比，人工林的特点是更缺水、更少降雨和更高的蒸散率。此外，人工林可能会加剧人类与自然之间对水资源的冲突。此外，对于受政府造林政策影响的下游人口，中国首当其冲地面临着由此产生的水资源短缺困境（约 52.29%），其次是越南（26.39%）、老挝（6.78%）、柬埔寨（6.16%）、泰国（4.42%）和缅甸（3.96%）。为了缓解这一问题及其可能带来的潜在危机，中国政府应改变其政策重点，从造林转向促进自然植被保护实践。
