西南地区是中国生态脆弱性最突出的区域，发育了中国乃至亚洲主要河流，是世界最重要的上游地区之一。河流保护是生态文明建设的关键，保护地是河流保护的空间载体。河流保护地是陆地水域保护地的主要形式，旨在保护河流的自流状态及河源区域，已经成为世界自然保护地体系的重要组成。空间确定是河流保护地建设的基础科学问题，主要解决“面”的空间体系构建和“线”的空间范围划定。在比较国外河流保护地和国内涉水保护地的基础上，以四川省省域和青竹江为案例点，通过多因子空间量化分析，识别河流优先保护区域，采用空缺分析法选择潜在保护单元，并构建河流价值框架对其进行评估；以保护河流的突出价值为出发点，叠加分析水文特征、人类干扰及游憩利用等因素，确定河流保护地 “上下游”纵向边界、“左右岸”横向边界以及纵向分段。本课题对河流保护地研究具有一定开拓意义，对完善我国保护地体系和保障西南地区生态安全具有促进作用。

The south-west region, which give birth to main rivers in China or even all Asia, is the most ecologically vulnerable areas and also one of the world's most important upstream areas. The protection of rivers is an essential part of ecological civilization and protected area is the vehicle of river conversation. River protected area, as the main type of land-based protected areas, is a crucial composition of nature reserve system, stressing river’s free-flowing condition and the protection of headwaters. Space defining is the key scientific issue of establishing river protected area, which is mainly to construct the spatial system and defining the spatial scope. Based on the comparison between foreign river protected areas and domestic water-related protected reserves, Qingzhu river, Sichuan Province, China ,was selected.as a case study area. Multi-factor Spatial Quantitative Analysis is used to figure out the prioritized conservation areas and Gap Analysis method is applied to select potential protected unit which will be evaluated by the river value framework. Focusing on the protection of outstanding values of the river, the comprehensive analysis of hydrological characteristics, and human interference and recreational usages was used to determine vertical boundaries, horizontal boundaries and vertical segments of the rivers. This project is of great importance to the research of the river protected areas, thus being beneficial to improving protected area system and ensuring ecological security in southwest China.