China monitors changes along longest inland waterway

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will monitor land changes around the Tarim River to better protect the environment.

The project will monitor land cover changes along the river's main stem and its nine tributary areas -- an area of around 500,000 square kilometers, according to the regional surveying and mapping authority.

The data will come from satellite images collected from 2000 to now, and basic geographical information around the river basin, it said.

The project can help inform future river management, pollution treatment and protection efforts.

The 1,321-km-long Tarim River, the longest inland waterway in China, skirts the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert.

Since the 1950s, droughts have occurred in the downstream section as a result of increased human activities, unregulated use of water and climate change.

The government has invested at least 10.7 billion yuan (about 1.7 billion U.S. dollars) since 2001 to restore the ecosystem.

By the end of last year, more than 4.6 billion cubic meters of water had been diverted to the river from nearby reservoirs.