Abstract: The Jingdian Hydropower Project in Gansu Province, built in September 2009, lifts water from the Yellow River to the Hongyashan Reservoir every year so as to relieve the shortage of water resources in the Minqin Oasis in Gansu Province. In this study, the RS and GIS means were used to develop a model for evaluating the ecological environment by referring to both the domestic and foreign studies, and the TM images were used to assess the ecological vulnerability in the Minqin Oasis before the diversion in 2000 and after it since 2010. The results revealed that the ecological environment was extremely vulnerable in the deserts, vulnerable in the desertoasis ecotone, and moderately and slightly vulnerable in the oasis. The comprehensive evaluation index was increased in the south of the oasis and northern part in the lower reaches, but decreased in the central area of the oasis. The area of the Minqin Oasis was enlarged from 8.93% of the total Minqin area in 2000 to 11.98% in 2010, which revealed that the benefits of diversion for regenerating the ecology in Minqin Oasis in recent 10 years were significant.

Key words: water diversion project')">water diversion project,  , ecological regeneration,  , vegetation coverage,  , environment evaluating model,  , Minqin Oasis,  , Shiyanghe River