Abstract
Land consolidation projects play an important role in promoting agricultural land use transitions, ensuring national food security, and accelerating the construction of ecological civilization. The Loess Plateau in China is a typical ecologically fragile area, where the Gully Land Consolidation Project (GLCP) has been implemented recently and had a major impact on local ecological safety. In this study, we established a quantitative evaluation model for ecological safety effects from the four aspects of dam safety, slope stability, efficient farmland, and effective management, and then scientifically measured the ecological safety effects of land use transitions promoted by land consolidation projects. Three small watersheds (Gutun, Yangjuangou and Luoping) within the GLCP area were employed to verify the evaluation model for ecological safety effects. The results showed that the GLCP can effectively improve the ecological environment and promote the development of modern agriculture, but the ecological safety of gullies and slopes in some areas may also facing a series of threats due to improper project management measures. Among them, Gutun had the highest ecological safety evaluation value, followed by Yangjuangou, while Luoping had the lowest value. The indicator system and evaluation method established in this research could be helpful to systematically diagnose the problems and scientifically guide the implementation of the GLCP from the perspective of ecological safety.
Highlights
Since the beginning of the new century, the rapid advancement of urbanization and industrialization has promoted the rapid transformation of land use, which has brought about considerable land-use problems worldwide, such as the large-scale occupation of cultivated land, soil degradation and land pollution, and severely restricted the sustainable development of the social economy [1,2,3,4]
Land Consolidation Project (GLCP) on the Loess Plateau, the foreign soil reconstruction project in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, the barren hillside consolidation project in the Taihang Mountains, the comprehensive consolidation project in the Mu Us sandy land, and the rocky desertification control project in the karst area [12,13,14,15,16]. These projects have greatly changed the characteristics of local land use, and promoted the rapid transformation of agricultural land use, which has had a significant impact on the local ecological environment [17,18]
Taking the Gully Land Consolidation Project (GLCP) in Yan’an City as an example, this paper aims to: (1) establish a quantitative evaluation model to measure the ecological safety effects of land use transitions promoted by GLCP; (2) compare and analyze the ecological safety effects of GLCP in Gutun, Yangjuangou, and Luoping project areas; (3) systematically diagnose the problems of GLCP
Summary
Since the beginning of the new century, the rapid advancement of urbanization and industrialization has promoted the rapid transformation of land use, which has brought about considerable land-use problems worldwide, such as the large-scale occupation of cultivated land, soil degradation and land pollution, and severely restricted the sustainable development of the social economy [1,2,3,4]. Land Consolidation Project (GLCP) on the Loess Plateau, the foreign soil reconstruction project in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, the barren hillside consolidation project in the Taihang Mountains, the comprehensive consolidation project in the Mu Us sandy land, and the rocky desertification control project in the karst area [12,13,14,15,16] These projects have greatly changed the characteristics of local land use, and promoted the rapid transformation of agricultural land use, which has had a significant impact on the local ecological environment [17,18]
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