Development of a protocol to identify land function based on multifunctionality and suitability analysis: A case study of the Nanyuntai Forest Farm, China

Abstract

Accurately identifying regional land functions is important for balancing and coordinating multiple ecosystem services. Identification of land functions should be guided by the ecological suitability analysis framework, highlighting the primary ecological function and considering the temporal and spatial trends of land functions to resolve the contradictions among various needs of land ecology, production, and life. Taking Nanyuntai Forest Farm in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, as a case study, we used the Analytical Hierarchical Process to construct a systematic and complete land multi-function evaluation and spatial suitability evaluation system, and used the ArcGIS spatial analysis technology to analyze its land function changes from 2011 to 2021. Finally, the results of multifunctionality and suitability analysis were integrated to identify the land's ecological, production, and living functions by constructing the algorithm using Python. Our results showed that the proportions of ecological, production, and living functions of the land in the study area were 56.82, 34.03, and 9.15%, respectively. This study highlighted that the results of land function identification based on comprehensive land-change-trend and spatial suitability analyses were more precise and coordinated. This comprehensive evaluation is a valuable and practical method for decision-makers and land managers to create land use maps and determine high-priority areas that require conservation measures for sustainable management. Moreover, this approach can be practically applied to other planning units.