Proposal for the protection of natural heritage of Singing Sand Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring in Dunhuang City,China
敦煌市鸣沙山月牙泉自然遗产保全的研究

Singing Sand Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring in Dunhuang City,a natural herita-ge located in the northwestern part of Gansu Province,China,is a rare and unique desert wonder in the world.With the development of local tourism and irrational exploitation of ground water, Crescent Spring is on the way of drying up and the ecological environment around Singing Sand Mountain is under severe threat of degradation.Accordingly,the local government and the Nati-onal Tourism Bureau have put it on the list of natural wonders deserving urgent protecting meas-ures.Based on the analysis of these factors,the following measures might be adopted to prevent the water level of Crescent Moon Spring from declining.First of all,measures must be taken to restrain the groundwater level of the surrounding area from declining constantly,which is fundamental is to improve the ecological condition of the spring and to keep a certain water level of the spring.Secondly,other water sources than replenishing water for the spring should be provided for the local people,so as to secure a constant water level of the spring by reducing water discharge from the spring.As to the protection of Singing Sand Mountain,two projects are proposed.One is to establish an isolated green shelterbelt to make sure the mountain not be attacked by the strong wind and avoid desertification of the whole Dunhuang area.The other is to make the mountain a National Desert Park for the sake of protecting the environment.