The Impacts Of Shiyang River Basin Governance Policies On Rural Households Livelihood In The Marginal Land Of Minqin Oasis

The marginal land of Minqin oasis due to its special geographical location, has attracted worldwide attention,the government has introduced various policies and invested a lot of money for natural resources and environmental management in Shiyang River Basin and the ecological environment conservation and restoration in Minqin. Many scholars from geography, environmental science, biology and other natural science have conducted many researches on natural ecological environment evolution process and countermeasures to conserve ecological environment in the Minqin oasis. But it is lack of investigation on the experience and practice of the life of the local people living in Minqin, and is lack of research on the farmers’ living standards improve and the development of rural areas. In2007, the State Council approved the Shiyang River Basin planning which mainly includes implementing the allocation of water rights, reducing the number of irrigating pump-well and the area of cultivated land, adjusting the industrial structure, and a series of integrated measures to achieve both protection of the ecological environment of the Shiyang River Basin and development of rural area.This paper use the field survey data collected in the marginal land of Minqin County Oasis to study the impacts of the Shiyang River Basin governance policies on the livelihoods of rural households resided in the Minqin land of Minqin Oasis.The study shows that the Shiyang River Basin government policies have a direct impact on the livelihood capital of rural households of the Minqin oasis marginal area, and indirect impact on the livelihood strategies of rural families.The affected rural households livelihoods capital results in the farmers’adopting certain livelihood strategies. In addition to allocating water rights, fixing sand-dune and afforestation, and reducing the number of irrigating pump-well and the area of cultivated land, the government encourage the farmers to increase income by the measures of building vegetable greenhouse, livestock barn, or out-migration, etc. Meanwhile, the farmers take full-time or seasonal off-farm job outside their living place in order to increase income. As more ecological protection policies will be implemented, the government should put forward more policies to encourage and introduce farmers to diversify their livelihoods according to their own conditions which will increase their income and improve the ecological environment of the Minqin.