Great changes have been taken place in the basin of Heihe river after 10-year allocation of water and ecological restoration

which needs overall and scientific evaluation for future related policy making.The results of our investigation indicate that the agricultural water usage increased substantially because of ineffective farming structure.The promotion of the water-saving irrigation was restricted as lack of financial support in comparison of low water price.There were high risks to keep the current achievement through the previous ecological restoration.Much of the restored vegetation was at risk of being converted once again into farmland and rangeland when the project′s living subsidies ended

which will severely undermine the environmental sustainability achieved through the project.Poverty alleviation would be the key factor to sustain the ecological achievement.Based on these findings

we concluded that successful environmental restoration projects must include both education and economic development components