Contributions to a Sustainable Management of the Indigenous Vegetation in the Foreland of Cele Oasis — A Project Report from the Taklamakan Desert

Abstract

The ecological situation of oases at the southern border of the Taklamakan desert is shortly described, and the importance of a vegetation from indigenous species at the transition from the oases to the desert is emphasized. This vegetation serves as a shelter against sand drift and as a source of livestock feed as well as of fuel and construction material. Its destruction through overexploitation and other interventions during the last decades has considerably promoted sand drift and the deterioration of arable land. Therefore, a management of this protective vegetation is to be developped that leads to a sufficient regeneration and that ensures both its preservation and its use. A research..