Equilibrium Relationship between Ecosystem Service Supply and Consumption Driven by Economic Development and Ecological Restoration

The exponential increase of ecosystem utilization has instigated a serious conflict between ecosystem services and residents' needs. The Belt and Road Initiative has greatly influenced Laotian production and living, and the scientific assessment of the consumption of ecosystem services in Laos is important for exploring residents' influence on the ecosystem. Based on data for the Laotian consumption of agricultural products, fruits and livestock products during 1961–2013, normalized by either harvest index or feed conversion ratio, this study draws three main conclusions. 1) Ecosystem service consumption in Laos is centered on the consumption of farmland, forestry and grassland ecosystem services, which account for over 80%, over 10% and under 2%, showing downward, upward and constant trends, respectively. The consumption of these ecosystem services shows a trend of increasing first, then fluctuating, and finally increasing. 2) The consumption of ecosystem services in Laos was characterized by the mode of “dominance of consumption of the farmland ecosystem services” from 1961 to 2008, and the mode of “balanced development of consumption of farmland, forest and grassland ecosystem services” from 2008 to 2013, with a trend of transformation from the former into the latter. 3) The formation and change in the consumption mode of Laotian ecosystem services have been affected by both supply and trade. Laos developed agriculture mainly during the period from 1961 to 2008, forming the mode of “dominance of consumption of the farmland ecosystem services”. This development benefited from the enriched varieties of imports as well as the increased value of trade and import volume. However, the consumption of ecosystem services in Laos after 2008 changed from the mode of “dominance of consumption of the farmland ecosystem services” to one of “balanced development of consumption of farmland, forest and grassland ecosystem services”. This study provides an empirical reference for research on the consumption of ecosystem services.

Ecosystems supply goods and services to humans and are the basis for sustainable development of human society. The study of the supply of ecosystem services and the demand and consumption of ecosystem services by human society, and the analysis of the supply and demand characteristics and flow relationships of ecosystem service flows are of great significance for the management of regional ecosystems and the development of ecological compensation. Taking the Yangtze River Economic Belt as an example, this paper calculates the supply and demand indices of ecosystem services in 2015 and 2020, and determines the ecosystem spatial flow paths and flow volumes from the ecosystem supply area to the demand area based on various methods and models such as the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model and distance decay model. The results indicate that 1). In 2015 and 2020, the supply and demand of ecosystem services in the Yangtze River Economic Zone show an increasing trend numerically, and there is spatial heterogeneity in the spatial distribution. In terms of ecosystem service supply per unit area, the midstream region is higher than the upstream and downstream regions. In terms of the demand for ecosystem services per unit area, the downstream is higher than the midstream and upstream. 2). From the supply-demand balance of ecosystem services in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, the midstream region is mainly the area of surplus supply of ecosystem services, and the downstream region is mainly the area of deficit supply. From 2015 to 2020, the number of areas with balanced supply and demand of ecosystem services in the Yangtze River Economic Belt decreases and the number of areas with unbalanced supply and demand increases, which is related to the changes in the level of economic development and land use patterns. 3). The flow of ecosystem services in the Yangtze River Economic Belt shows an increasing trend, from 726.59 billion yuan in 2015 to 1,450.54 billion yuan in 2020, with Jiangxi Province being the main ecosystem service supply area and Zhejiang Province being the main ecosystem service demand area in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

A wicked problem between the supply and consumption of ecosystem services: The continuously declining degree of synergy in northeast China

With great significance in ecosystem protection and sustainable development, the study of ecosystem service consumption (ESC) has become a hot topic in ecological research. Based on FAOSTAT data, in this study the patterns, composition and evolution of ESC and ecosystem service consumption patterns (ESCP) in the “Belt and Road” were revealed on the total and regional scales, taking consumed-biomass as a main indicator. Three main conclusions were reached. 1) The total ESC was mainly contributed from farmland ecosystems along the “Belt and Road” , followed by grassland ecosystems. The ESC indicators on the whole system scale fluctuated, but increased from year 2000 to year 2016. The total ESC increased from 12911.89 Tg yr–1 to 16810.00 Tg yr–1, and the annual per capita consumption of ecosystem services increased from 3.3228 million g p–1 yr–1 to 3.6392 million g p–1 yr–1. 2) The ESC, composition and evolution varied significantly among countries, zones and ecosystems. The annual per capita ESC was highest in Mongolia on the national scale, and highest in Central and Eastern Europe and lowest in Southeast Asia on zone scale, which represented the results from the joint effects of regional resource endowments, consumption habits, levels of productive forces, and other factors. 3) Higher farmland ESC was the dominant ESCP, which accounted for about 76.7% of the total area along the “Belt and Road”, followed by higher farmland + higher grassland ESC, which accounted for about 19.0% of the total area. The other consumption patterns (i.e., those of higher grassland ESC, higher forestland ESC or higher farmland + higher forest + higher grassland ESC) were found in only a few countries. The ESCP may be related to higher regional population density or the higher proportions of developing countries. Therefore, to realize sustainable social, economic and ecological development, and to improve people's well-being, countries along the “Belt and Road” should take advantage of their own resources in developing industries, actively expand trade, achieve mutual benefits and win-win situations, and adjust and optimize consumption patterns of ecosystem services. This study can provide data support for further research on the mechanism of ESCP formation this area.

Population sizes and growth rates are two major factors used by ecologists in assessing human impacts on ecosystems and landscapes. However, the numbers of households have been increasing much faster than population sizes. As households are basic socioeconomic units (e.g., in consumption of ecosystem services) and key components of coupled human and natural systems, household proliferation has important implications for ecosystem services. On one hand, more households consume more ecosystem services. On the other hand, more households have more impacts on the supply of ecosystem services. So far, most impacts have been negative. As a result, ecosystem services have continued to degrade. It is important to use ecosystem services more efficiently, turn households from consumers to producers of ecosystem services, and incorporate household proliferation into ecosystem service research and management.

The global ecosystem is changing due to human and natural causes, and only the human aspects of this interaction are within our control. This paper provides a critical analysis of the interactions between humans and the ecosystem in terms of the human consumption of ecosystem services to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. It starts by reviewing human consumption of ecosystem services, and then develops a conceptual framework that links ecosystem services with consumption of these services and ecosystem management to construct a general functional model of the factors that affect the consumption of ecosystem services. A case study is introduced to show how the model can be used to provide specific assessments of patterns of direct human consumption of ecosystem services in China's Jinghe watershed.

Urban public parks can provide convenience for residents to get close to nature and provide places for daily ecosystem services. It is of practical and theoretical significance to choose urban public parks as the entry point to explore the changing trends and supply paths of urban residents’ daily ecosystem service consumption. Based on the government ‘s research? of urban public parks in Beijing from 1993 to 2018, this study explores the residents’ ecosystem services consumption demands and the contributions of park constructions to these demands. The results show that: (1) in the past 25 years, the frequency, duration, participation rate, and evaluation of people’s daily ecosystem service consumption have increased significantly. In other words, the ecosystem services demands are increasing. (2) different constructions of a park have distinct contributions to the increasing demands of ecosystem service consumption. The contributions from constructions of the natural landscape and the infrastructure have been in decline since 1993, yet they contribute the most to the demands of residents’ ecosystem services consumption until 2018. The contributions made by constructions of management and maintenance, and transportation around urban public parks have been on the rise and the significant points occurring after the 2008 Olympic Games. Our research proposes a method to determine the relation between the demands of residents’ ecosystem services consumption and the contributions of park constructions to these demands, which has significant implications for optimizing the constructions of urban public parks to better meet the demands of ecosystem services consumption.

Sustainable ecosystem services consumption is of vital importance to the survival and development of human society. How to balance the conflicts between ecosystem protection and ecosystem services consumption by local residents has been a serious challenge, especially in ecologically vulnerable areas. To explore the reasonable ecosystem services consumption approaches of grassland ecosystems for sustainable land system management, this study takes Hulun Buir of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as a case study region and develops an EcoC-G (ecological consumption of grassland) model based on herders’ livelihood behaviors using the agent-based model technique to simulate the dynamics of ecosystem pressure, livestock production, and living quality of herders under different grassland management scenarios over the next 30 years. The EcoC-G model links the supply and consumption of grassland ecosystem services by calculating the ecosystem net primary productivity (NPP) supply and household NPP consumption. The model includes three sub-models, namely, the individual status transferring sub-model, the households’ grassland-use decision sub-model, and the ecosystem pressure sub-model. In accordance with multi-objective grassland management practices, the following four land management scenarios were simulated: (1) baseline scenario, (2) increasing household’s living standard, (3) ecosystem protection, and (4) balancing living standard improvement with the protection of the ecosystem. The result indicates that by focusing on the NPP supply and consumption of the grassland ecosystem, the EcoC-G is capable of simulating the impacts of herders’ livelihood behaviors on grassland ecosystems. If timely grassland management strategies are implemented, it is possible to relieve the ecosystem pressure and improve the livelihood of local herders. The specific scenario simulation results are: (1) Under the current grassland management mode, the pasture could never be overgrazed, and herders could achieve the basic living standard, but the accumulated wealth decreased due to the decline of livestock. (2) With grazing control, herders can accumulate wealth by increasing the breeding amount and reducing the marketing rate, but the ecosystem consumption pressure can reach a maximum of 2.3 times. (3) With strict restrictions on the livestock number, the pressure on the ecosystem decreases; however, herders might not achieve basic living standards. (4) Modest regulation leads to rational ecological consumption intervals, meaning the ecosystem pressure will become stable and herders can gradually accumulate wealth with the achievement of basic living standards in advance.

Ecosystem services across contrasting forested landscapes in Queensland's Wet Tropics Bioregion: contemporary patterns, processes and likely future trends under a changing climate

The loess hilly region is a typical ecologically fragile and sensitive area. It is of great significance when measuring the balance between supply and demand of ecosystem services and clarify the relationship between supply and demand of ecosystem services for scientific ecological restoration zoning and realizing regional ecological security and social and economic sustainable development. We take Yuzhong County in the loess hilly region of Longzhong, China as an example; by constructing the matching and coordinating relationship between ecosystem service supply and demand and following the idea of “problem diagnosis—strategic orientation—key optimization”, this paper delimits the ecological restoration zones and proposes corresponding governance strategies. The results show that: (1) The supply and demand of ecosystem services were mainly at a low and medium level, with significant spatial heterogeneity. Overall, the spatial pattern of ecosystem services showed high supply and low demand in the southwest mountainous areas and showed low supply and high demand in the urban gully areas of Yuzhong. (2) There were four types of spatial matching of ecosystem service supply and demand: HH type, LH type, LL type, and HL type. The local spatial autocorrelation of supply and demand was dominated by high-low or low-high spatial misadjustment. The average degree of coordination between supply and demand of ecosystem services was 0.629, indicating that supply and demand were basically coordinated. (3) The ecological restoration zones in Yuzhong County can be divided into six categories: the ecological core protection area, ecological potential restoration area, key ecological restoration area, soil and water conservation restoration area, ecological agriculture development area, and ecological innovation promotion area. The results of this study can provide ideas for the refined management and targeted restoration practice of regional ecosystem services. It provides a strong guarantee for ecosystem management and decision-making in the loess hilly region.

With the acceleration of urbanization, the ecological environment has gradually deteriorated, the supply and demand relationship of ecosystem services has gradually become unbalanced, and human well-being has been seriously threatened. In particular, coal-using cities are facing the dual pressure of the ecological environment and resource depletion due to the concentration of population and resources, and environmental contradictions. Thus, exploring the relationship between the supply and demand of ecosystem services and their evolution help promote scientific ecological management. By using multi-source data from Huainan City in 2010 and 2020 and the ecosystem service supply and demand matrix and ArcGIS quantitative measurement of the supply, the demand and supply of ecosystem services in Huainan City were investigated. The result implies the following. (1) During 2010‒2020, the supply of ecosystem services in Huainan has decreased year by year. In terms of spatial distribution, the ecosystem service supply in Huainan City was high in the south and low in the north, and there is a significant regional differentiation, (2) Between 2010 and 2020, the demand for ecosystem services in Huainan City increased year by year, and its spatial distribution was similar to the distribution of ecosystem service supply. (3) Due to the decline in the supply of ecosystem services between 2010 and 2020, the demand for ecosystem services has increased, which leads to changes in the matching degree of supply and demand of ecosystem services in Huainan City.

Habitat maintenance as an ecosystem service (ES) is essential for the protection of natural capital, however, it is among the most challenging services for definition and evaluation. The present study is focused on assessing and mapping habitat maintenance ecosystem service in Rila and Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria for strategic planning purposes by better understanding the link between the potential of providing this ecosystem service and biodiversity in five protected areas (PAs). An integrated approach for the assessment of the condition of ecosystems in PAs and their potential to provide ecosystem services was applied and further developed in the present study. The results showed that the conservation regime allowed the territories to preserve a high degree of naturalness in a very good ecological condition – 96477 ha (73%) of the total case-study area, and 33078 ha (77%) of the target PAs, respectively. The potential of ecosystems to provide habitat maintenance ES is high to very high for 84% of the total studied area (81258.9 ha) and for 96.4% (31906 ha) of the area of the target PAs. A current assessment and mapping show the role of protected areas as spatial natural capital assets that purposefully and actively support their prioritized habitat maintenance functions as spatial guarantors for the sustenance of rich packages of material, regulating, and cultural functions in significant geographic areas. The results demonstrate the importance of protected site management in mountain areas in ensuring sustainable cooperation and consumption of ecosystem services in peripheral mountain communities of the European Union highly dependent on available natural capital.

Mastering the regional spatial differences of ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand is of great significance to scientifically planning the development and utilization of national land and maintaining healthy development of ecosystems. Based on the relationship analysis of ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand, this study explored the regional ecosystem service supply by ecosystem service value based on grid data and constructed an ecosystem service demand evaluation model that integrated the construction land ecosystem service demand equivalent for static aspects and the point of interest (POI) kernel density estimation for dynamic aspects on the basis of land use and POI data. In the end, it put forward a region division method for ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand and conducted an empirical analysis of Haidian District, Beijing. The following results were concluded: (1) the ecosystem service value of different grids in Haidian District was between RMB (Chinese monetary unit, Yuan) 0 and RMB 2.4787 million. In terms of spatial distribution, the ecosystem service supply took on an obvious trend of gradual decrease from the northwest to the southeast, with major ecosystem service supply coming from the northwest. (2) The construction land ecosystem service demand equivalent of Haidian District was characterized by a multicenter cluster: the high equivalent area was in the southeast, while the equivalent of the northwest was relatively low. POI kernel density estimation demonstrated cluster distribution, with a high kernel density estimation in the southeast, a lower kernel density estimation in the central part, and the lowest kernel density estimation in the northwest. The ecosystem service demand index also showed cluster distribution: high index in the southeast, low index in the northwest, and prominent sudden changes from the central part to the south. (3) The bivariate local spatial autocorrelation cluster diagram method was used to divide five types of ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand, namely non-significant correlation region, high ecosystem service supply and high ecosystem service demand region, high ecosystem service supply and low ecosystem service demand region, low ecosystem service supply and high ecosystem service demand region, low ecosystem service supply and low ecosystem service demand region. Grids with the highest ratio belonged to the non-significant correlation region; the distribution of low ecosystem service supply and high ecosystem service demand region had the greatest concentration, mainly in the southeast; the grids of high ecosystem service supply and low ecosystem service demand region were mainly present in the northwest and in a continuous way; the grids of low ecosystem service supply and low ecosystem service demand region, and high ecosystem service supply and high ecosystem service demand region were extremely few, with sporadic distribution in the central part. The research results could provide a basis for the adjustment and fine management of regional land use structure.

Identification of ecosystem services supply and demand areas and simulation of ecosystem service flows in Shanghai

Since the 1970s, resource crisis, environmental pollution and ecological degradation have become prominent globally, and the limits to growth have always been an important theoretical and policy issue. The technological system of early warning and regulation based on carrying capacity evaluation has great potential in natural resource utilization, environmental management and ecosystem conservation. In this paper, the evolution of carrying capacity research and the concept of ecological carrying capacity are summarized, and the existing evaluation methods of ecological carrying capacity are classified into ecological footprint method, comprehensive index system method, ecosystem service analysis method and human appropriation of net primary productivity method. The current problems in ecological carrying capacity study were analyzed and the trend was outlooked. Combined with the special issue, the recent proceeding of ecological carrying capacity study in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) region was narrated, from the aspects of ecological carrying capacity evaluation method and application, the supply and consumption of ecosystem services, and the resources use and environment change. Some suggestions have been proposed to improve the accuracy and reliability of ecological carrying capacity evaluation: 1) the spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamic change of ecological carrying capacity should be explored furtherly; 2) the interaction between ecological process and human activities should be simulated; 3) factors such as climate change, human activities and ecological products and ecological service flows should be integrated into the evaluation system of ecological carrying capacity.