Abstract: After the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the artificial operation of the reservoir may cause the periodic change of the water level, and an enormous riparian zone will be created in which the ecotone of aquatic ecosystem and the terrestrial ecosystem may come into action. This zone will be characteristic of ecological vulnerability, the periodic change and the frequency of human activity. Upon the operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the influence of human's activity will increase; furthermore, the riparian zone itself may become much ecologically vulnerable. If no effective measures were taken into effect, the operation of the reservoir would be influenced and the sustainable development in the area damaged. This paper thus studied the characteristics in the change of water and soil environment and analyzed the interaction in the riparian zone. Some countermeasures such as buffers, compound ecology，SALT (Sloping Agricultural Land Technology), watershed ecology, artificial wetland and ecological riverbank technologies have been proposed for the protection and controlling of the riparian zone.

Key words: Three Gorges area, riparian zone, ecological environment, controlling measures