Abstract: To explore the impact of the establishment of the closed nature reserve on the life of the residents of sandy land under different ecosystem types, questionnaires and interviews were used. This study analyzes different economic indicators such as the average annual gross income, Engel coefficient, and income structure index, and other ecological indicators such as resource dependence, population activity impact index, and ecological awareness sensitivity of the closed and closed restricted area (project area) and unsealed restricted area (control area) families in Maqu, Minqin, and Shandan pilot counties, Gansu Province, China, which were under closed protection in 2017. Results reveal that the average annual gross income and income structure index of the economic indicators show the characteristics of Maqu < Minqin < Shandan. However, opposite behavior is observed with the Engel coefficient of the counties which are 0.35 and 0.33 for Maqu, 0.34 and 0.29 for Minqin, and 0.30 and 0.26 for Shandan in the project area and in the control area, respectively. The Engel coefficient is negatively correlated with the average annual gross income of the family with correlation coefficients of 0.946 and 0.923 for Maqu, 0.894 and 0.927 for Minqin, and 0.901 and 0.961 for Shandan in the project area and control area, respectively. The ecological index resource dependence and human activity index are of the order Maqu > Shandan > Minqin, and the ecological awareness sensitivity index shows the characteristics of Maqu < Minqin < Shandan. The economic index Engel coefficient and the income structure index of Minqin are project area > control area, while the average annual gross income of families and the income structure index of Maqu and Shandan are project area < control area. Except for the Engel coefficient, significant differences (P<0.05) are observed. The resource dependence, human activity index, and ecological awareness sensitivity of ecological indicators are higher in the project area than in the control area with significant differences of P<0.05. On the whole, the ecological and economic status of the control area is better than that of the project area. However, the trend of ecological damage in the project area has been restrained to a certain extent, and the income structure has changed from single to diverse. The conclusion provides a basis for guiding the transformation of economic growth mode, rational division, and regional sustainable development of the closed and forbidden desertification reserve.

Key words: prohibition, desertified land, Engel coefficient, resource dependence