As far as drylands are concerned, water resource availability is the significant limiting factor for endurable development. Northern China’s drylands consist of just 19% of the country’s complete water resources but house one-third of the national population, and are thus under substantial water stress.
Inner Mongolia, which is a normal dryland province, plays a significant role in retaining ecological security in northern China. Over the last few years, its anthropogenic water consumption has gone up four-fold, from 6.68 billion m3 in 1987 to 27.11 billion m3 in 2015.
This increase has seriously endangered regional grasslands, which also depend on water resources to retain ecological integrity.
The dispute between social-economic and ecological…
