Two Research Achievements of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography won the second award of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award of China

　　In the morning of January 9, the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party and the State Council held ceremoniously the National Scientific and Technological Encouraging Meeting in Beijing, and two research achievements of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences won the second award of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award of China.

　　In the research achievement of the “Technologies for Oasis Agriculture and Ecological Comprehensive Improvement in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Tarim River”, the technologies for water-saving farming and high-yield cotton planting in oasis were put forward based on considering the serious water consumption, low productivity, reduction of the oasis-desert ecotone, and serious desertification in oasis agriculture in the Tarim River Basin as well as the seriously degenerated desert ecosystem in the lower reaches of the Tarim River, the area of the regions where the technologies were popularized in 3 years was 1.5×10⁶ hm², and the regional agricultural economic development was promoted; the accumulated area of converting land for farming to forests and grass plots was about 1.36×10⁶ hm², and the ecological construction in the regions where the ecology was fragile was obviously promoted; after developing the platform of the “digital Tarim River Basin”, the management level of water resources in the drainage basin was effectively raised, and the capability of real-time monitoring and redistribution of water resources was increased; the scheme of town system and industrial spatial pattern provided the scientific bases for the regional development in the lower reaches of the Tarim River Basin.

　　In achieving the research achievement of “Development and Application of Construction Technology for Shelter-forest Ecological Project along the Tarim Desert Highway”, about hundred scientists and technicians and more than two thousand erectors strived against wind-blown sand disasters for 16 years, the technical solutions were provided for selecting and nursing the drought-resistant and salt-tolerant plant species, irrigating forests with high-mineralization groundwater, sustainable management of shelter forests, etc., and an important contribution was made for blown sand prevention and control in the world; the technique of planting Cistanche salsa in the shelter forests in mobile desert provides a new way of developing the ecological industry in desert. Application of the technical achievement can annually save maintenance costs of the desert highway for 1.68×107 yuan. Completion of the shelter-forest ecological project can guarantee the unblocked traffic of the desert highway, accelerate the exploration and exploitation of natural resources in the Tarim Basin, the big economic returns and social effects can be brought about, and the international honour of China in desertification control can be raised.