Comprehensive partitions and different strategies based on ecological security and economic development in Guizhou Province, China

Abstract

Global ecological degradation and rapid economic growth has increased the focus on the sustainable relationship between ecological security and economic development. This paper evaluated and partitioned Guizhou Province’s ecological security and economic development, and discussed the population, industrial structure and land use of each zone in 2010 and 2015. An ecological security assessment was performed based on land use. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to evaluate the level of economic development. Spatially, the ecological security level was high in the south and low in the north of the province, while economic development in central regions was higher than in surrounding areas. The ecological security and wealth gaps were widening. In this study, Guizhou Province was partitioned into the Coordinated Development Zone (CDZ), the Ecological Risk Zone (ERZ), the Economic Poverty Zone (EPZ), and the Dual Pressure Zone (DPZ) based on the ecological security index and economic development index. The characteristics of the population, industrial structure, and land use in the zones showed that generally: (1) Populations became more aggregated in prosperous regions, while ecological security was higher in regions with sparse populations. (2) Regions with a high proportion of primary industry (over 25% in 2010 and over 23% in 2015) lagged economically, while regions with a high proportion of secondary industry (over 35% in 2010 and over 33% in 2015) were prosperous. In poor regions, tertiary industry had less ability to drive economic growth than secondary industry. (3) Nearly half of the communities with below-median values in the ecological security index had a grassland proportion between 20% and 32%, but most of the communities with above-median values in the ecological security index had a grassland proportion of less than 20%. Most communities with better ecological security had a high proportion of forestlands (over 52% in 2010 and over 53% in 2015), and a low proportion of croplands (below 30% in 2010 and below 27% in 2015). The communities with low ecological security showed the opposite pattern. The expansion of mining fields, transportation lands, and settlements on built-up lands was conducive to economic development, but they threatened regional ecological security. Different strategies are proposed for the four zones, based on the analysis. In the CDZ, priority should be given to developing tertiary industry that will improve ecological security. In the ERZ, controls over resource-based industry should be strengthened to implement sustainable industrial development and the focus on ecological restoration and environmental governance should be increased. In the EPZ, the development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries should be integrated based on tourism, and ecological, environmental and biological resources. In the DPZ, the way of transforming lucid waters and lush mountain into invaluable assets should be explored. The Grain for Green Project should be taken seriously and ecological restoration should be combined with poverty alleviation.