Balancing the international benefits and risks associated with implementation of ecological policy on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shows accelerating degradation due to climate change and human activities, leaving residents facing the dual challenges of ecological degradation and poverty. To restore the ecosystems and achieve sustainable regional development, one of the Chinese extensive ecological restoration policies has been implemented since the 1980s. Traditional policies focused on meeting local development goals, but ignored impacts on neighboring countries, leading to international disputes. To minimize disputes, this study proposed a universal framework to quantify the impacts of regional ecological policy on the plateau and surrounding countries by combining ecosystem service (ES) models and flows process. The simulation flows process was programmed with Interactive Data Language (IDL) and analyzed with ArcGIS. The results showed that the plateau’s ecosystem structure, ecological health, and ecosystem services can be protected while improving the livelihoods of residents (revenue increasing and disasters mitigation) with implementation of ecological policy. Based on the cross-regional movements of the physical and economic flows of ES, this study revealed that regional ecological policy increased the benefits of soil conservation and sandstorm prevention in neighboring countries, however, reduced the surrounding water supply, which could aggravate the risk of water conflicts between humans and nature.. Ecological policy implementation that accounts for cross-regional impacts provides a new way to alleviate international resource allocation disputes.