Converting degraded farmlands to forest or grass lands is the best approach to reduce the soil erosion, the Loess Plateau is faced with most serious ecological disaster. Loess Plateau located in the arid and semi-arid regions is a fragile region with the characteristics of little precipitation and intensive evapotranspiration. Therefore, water is the most important factor limiting the eco-restoration and construction of the vegetation in the region. According to the latest digital land use map and with GIS, the ecological water requirement for forests in Loess Plateau was estimated, and by the water balance of the forest ecosystem in their growing season, the ecological water shortage was calculated. The results revealed that the minimum and suitable ecological water requirement of the forests in Loess Plateau were approximately 262.49 x 10(8) m3 and 421.34 x 10(8) m3 respectively. Accordingly, if it is taken the minimum ecological water requirement as the quota, the area of forests suffered water shortage was about 7,639.09 km2, 9.1% of all, and the ecological water shortage was amounted to 4.77 x 10(8) m3; if it is taken the suitable ecological water requirement as the quota, the forest land area suffered water shortage was about 57.7% of all, and the ecological water shortage was roughly 58.55 x 10(8) m3.