The reservoir area is subject to frequent human activities that are damaging the fragile balance of (ecosystem) dynamics. Remote sensing(RS)

a geographical information system(GIS) and global positioning system(GPS) technology

as well as network techniques

have been utilized for the present research. A digital elevation model(DEM) was prepared; adjustment of orthographic reflection for images took place; interfusion of multi-source image data was undertaken; and multi-layer information was extracted. This work enabled comprehensive monitoring of soil and water conservation for the whole reservoir area from the middle 1980s to the late 1990s

and in 2000. Subsequently

the Three Gorges Project(TGP) commenced and has been ongoing for 7 years

and monitoring has included land use status

degree of vegetation cover

water loss and soil erosion(including wash erosion

mass erosion and mechanichal erosion)

and their dynamic variations over the 15 year study period. On this basis

the concept of this paper has been developed with the aid of the ArcGIS software platform.