Ecological indicators for immigrant relocation areas: a case in Luanjingtan, Alxa, Inner Mongolia

Abstract

Grassland ecological migration project is implemented in Northwest China as an attempt to restore the deteriorative ecosystems. People are relocated from uninhabitable areas to immigrant areas, resulting in land use changes, which would significantly impact the ecological environment. Therefore, it urgently needs quantitative evaluation and analysis of the trends of ecological change in these immigrant areas. We selected Luanjingtan, which is the largest ecological immigrant area in Alxa, Inner Mongolia, as our case. In this case, we chose ecological carrying capacity (EC) and ecosystem services value as indicators to evaluate the ecological changes from 1992 to 2011. Due to the expansion of cropland and grassland, the total EC increased from 320.0 gha in 1992 to 86,214.6 gha in 2011, and the total ecosystem services value increased from 570.0 million yuan in 1992 to 963.1 million yuan in 2011. The expansions of cropland and grassland were closely related to agricultural development and a project for returning grazing land to pasture in Luanjigntan. These measures provided a livelihood as well as alleviated the grazing pressure. Therefore, creating a sustainable long-term industry to address the conflict between environmental protection and the needs of those affected by the plan is one of the most important considerations in a grassland ecological migration project.