scholarly journals Towards Ecological-Economic Integrity in the Jing-Jin-Ji Regional Development in China

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suxiao Li ◽  
Hong Yang ◽  
Junguo Liu ◽  
Guangchun Lei

In China, the regional development policy has been shifting from solely economic orientation to ecologically sound economic growth. Using the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) region as a case study, we evaluated the temporal variations in ecosystem service values (ESVs) associated with land use changes from 1990 to 2015. We analyzed the dynamic relations between ESVs and the economy (indicated by the gross domestic product, GDP) by introducing the elasticity indicator (EI), which reflects the growth synchronism between the two, and the ecosystem service load (ESL), which reflects the ecological efficiency of economic growth. The results showed that the land use changes in Jing-Jin-Ji have been characterized by decreases in water areas, cropland, and grassland and increases in woodland and built-up areas. The ESVs of woodland and water areas contributed to 80% of the total ESV of the region, and the total ESV increased by 13.87% as a result of an area increase in woodland (26.87%). The average EI of Jing-Jin-Ji improved from 0.028 to 0.293 over the study period, indicating that the growth of ESVs was being balanced with the growth in the GDP. The average ESL decreased by 1.24, suggesting a significant improvement in ecological efficiency per unit GDP. Within the Jing-Jin-Ji region, large disparities in EI and ESL were shown to exist among Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei owing to their differences in ecological resources, GDP compositions, and development levels. The study highlights the needs to reinforce woodland and water conservation, adjust economic structures, and balance the intraregional development to achieve the ecological-economic integrity of the region.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3161
Author(s):  
Dengyue Zhao ◽  
Mingzhu Xiao ◽  
Chunbo Huang ◽  
Yuan Liang ◽  
Zitao Yang

Land use change is an important way for human activities to affect ecosystems. Based on the land use demands and policies, the simulation of future land use changes under different scenarios can test the rationality of socio-economic and policy-oriented land use changes. In this study, we set three scenarios of regular growth, ecological protection, and ecotourism development in 2030 for the Beibu Gulf area, China. We simulated the spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of the future landscape pattern using the Scenario Generator Rule Based Module of InVEST. Meanwhile, the ecosystem service value (ESV) was estimated by the improved unit area value equivalent method to reveal the trend of ESVs under different regional development models. The results indicated that the land use changes in the Beibu Gulf during 1999–2014 showed significant spatial heterogeneity. The farmland was mainly distributed in Beihai, the forestland was located in Fangchenggang, while the orchard was concentrated on Qinzhou. Due to economic construction and urban expansion, construction land and aquaculture land were gradually growing, while farmland and mud flat continued to decrease. Between 2014 and 2030, the total ESV decreased in the regular growth scenario and gradually increased in the ecological protection scenario and ecotourism development scenario. In addition, by comparing the three scenarios, the ecotourism development scenario is a more reasonable model for Guangxi Beibu Gulf area, which realized the trade-off between tourism development and resource conservation. Therefore, regional planners should not only consider maximizing ESVs when planning for ecosystem services, but also strive to maintain a reasonable structure of ecosystem services. Some suggestions were provided in this paper at the macro level and the local development model level respectively, which offered some references for the rational allocation of land resources, ecological environmental protection and ecotourism development in the coastal area of Beibu Gulf.


Author(s):  
Hui Wei ◽  
Wenwu Zhao ◽  
Han Wang

Large-scale vegetation restoration greatly changed the soil erosion environment in the Loess Plateau since the implementation of the “Grain for Green Project” (GGP) in 1999. Evaluating the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erosion is significant to local soil and water conservation and vegetation construction. Taking the Ansai Watershed as the case area, this study calculated the soil erosion modulus from 2000 to 2015 under the initial and current scenarios of vegetation restoration, using the Chinese Soil Loess Equation (CSLE), based on rainfall and soil data, remote sensing images and socio-economic data. The effect of vegetation restoration on soil erosion was evaluated by comparing the average annual soil erosion modulus under two scenarios among 16 years. The results showed: (1) vegetation restoration significantly changed the local land use, characterized by the conversion of farmland to grassland, arboreal land, and shrub land. From 2000 to 2015, the area of arboreal land, shrub land, and grassland increased from 19.46 km2, 19.43 km2, and 719.49 km2 to 99.26 km2, 75.97 km2, and 1084.24 km2; while the farmland area decreased from 547.90 km2 to 34.35 km2; (2) the average annual soil erosion modulus from 2000 to 2015 under the initial and current scenarios of vegetation restoration was 114.44 t/(hm²·a) and 78.42 t/(hm²·a), respectively, with an average annual reduction of 4.81 × 106 t of soil erosion amount thanks to the vegetation restoration; (3) the dominant soil erosion intensity changed from “severe and light erosion” to “moderate and light erosion”, vegetation restoration greatly improved the soil erosion environment in the study area; (4) areas with increased erosion and decreased erosion were alternately distributed, accounting for 48% and 52% of the total land area, and mainly distributed in the northwest and southeast of the watershed, respectively. Irrational land use changes in local areas (such as the conversion of farmland and grassland into construction land, etc.) and the ineffective implementation of vegetation restoration are the main reasons leading to the existence of areas with increased erosion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Tianshi Pan ◽  
Lijun Zuo ◽  
Zengxiang Zhang ◽  
Xiaoli Zhao ◽  
Feifei Sun ◽  
...  

The implementation of ecological projects can largely change regional land use patterns, in turn altering the local hydrological process. Articulating these changes and their effects on ecosystem services, such as water conservation, is critical to understanding the impacts of land use activities and in directing future land planning toward regional sustainable development. Taking Zhangjiakou City of the Yongding River as the study area—a region with implementation of various ecological projects—the impact of land use changes on various hydrological components and water conservation capacity from 2000 to 2015 was simulated based on a soil and water assessment tool model (SWAT). An empirical regression model based on partial least squares was established to explore the contribution of different land use changes on water conservation. With special focus on the forest having the most complex effects on the hydrological process, the impacts of forest type and age on the water conservation capacity are discussed on different scales. Results show that between 2000 and 2015, the area of forest, grassland and cultivated land decreased by 0.05%, 0.98% and 1.64%, respectively, which reduces the regional evapotranspiration (0.48%) and soil water content (0.72%). The increase in settlement area (42.23%) is the main reason for the increase in water yield (14.52%). Most land use covered by vegetation has strong water conservation capacity, and the water conservation capacity of the forest is particularly outstanding. Farmland and settlements tend to have a negative effect on water conservation. The water conservation capacity of forest at all scales decreased significantly with the growth of forest (p < 0.05), while the water conservation capacity of different tree species had no significant difference. For the study area, increasing the forest area will be an effective way to improve the water conservation function, planting evergreen conifers can rapidly improve the regional water conservation capacity, while planting deciduous conifers is of great benefit to long-term sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 10430
Author(s):  
Jiraporn Kulsoontornrat ◽  
Suwit Ongsomwang

Human activity and land-use changes have affected the water quality of Kwan Phayao, Upper Ing watershed, due to the associated high sediment load and eutrophication. This study aims to identify suitable LULC allocation scenarios for minimizing sediment and nutrient export into the lake. For this purpose, the LULC status and change were first assessed, based on classified LULC data in 2009 and 2019 from Landsat images, using the SVM algorithm. Later, the land requirements of three scenarios between 2020 and 2029 were estimated, based on their characteristics, and applied to predict LULC change using the CLUE-S model. Then, actual LULC data in 2019 and predicted LULC data under three scenarios between 2020 and 2029 were used to estimate sediment and nutrient export using the SDR and NDR models. Finally, the ecosystem service change index identified a suitable LULC allocation for minimizing sediment or/and nutrient export. According to the results, LULC status and change indicated perennial trees and orchards, para rubber, and rangeland increased, while forest land and paddy fields decreased. The land requirements of the three scenarios provided reasonable results, as expected, particularly Scenario II, which adopts linear programming to calculate the land requirements for maximizing ecosystem service values. For sediment and nutrient export estimation under the predicted LULC for the three scenarios, Scenario II led to the lowest yield of sediment and nutrient exports, and provided the lowest average ESCI value among the three scenarios. Thus, the LULC allocation under Scenario II was chosen as suitable for minimizing sediment or/and nutrient export into Kwan Phayao. These results can serve as crucial information to minimize sediment and nutrient loads for land-use planners, land managers, and decision makers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
郭亚红,阿布都热合曼·哈力克,魏天宝,木卡达斯·阿不都热合 GUO Yahong

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
LeRoy T. Hansen

Much of the research on ecosystem service values (ESVs) has limited applicability to USDA program benefit analyses, largely because the models/data/results (1) lack spatial breadth and hence cannot be applied in national analyses of USDA programs, and (2) do not link land use changes to the changes in ESs. This article provides an overview of a set of 15 ESVs related to agriculture's impacts on erosion in order to identify (1) weaknesses in methods, data, and assumptions that limit the quality of the ESVs and means of avoiding such weaknesses in future ESV development, and (2) approaches that might improve the reliability and spatial resolution of future ESV estimates.


Author(s):  
Guiyan Mo ◽  
Ya Huang ◽  
Qing Yang ◽  
Dayang Wang ◽  
Chongxun Mo

Abstract Based on the scenario hypothesis method, this paper applied a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to analyze the sensitivity of runoff to climate and land-use changes in the Longtan basin, China. Results indicated that (1) for every 1 °C increase in temperature, the average annual runoff decreased by 9.9 mm, and the average annual evaporation increased by 9.3 mm. However, for every 10% increase in rainfall, the average annual runoff and evapotranspiration increased by 96.3 mm and 11.53 mm, respectively. Obviously, runoff was more sensitive to the change in rainfall than temperature in the Longtan basin. Meanwhile, (2) forestland could conserve water resources, but its water consumption was larger. Although grassland played a relatively small role in water conservation, it consumed less water. At the same time, increasing the area of forestland and grassland could weaken peak floods, and the water retention function of vegetation could prevent runoff from increasing and decreasing steeply. Therefore, it is worth improving vegetation coverage.


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