Eco-economic Zone Research Articles

Assessing the carbon neutrality capacity of wetland and non-wetland ecosystems in a typical coastal region

To achieve carbon neutrality in 2060, increasing carbon sequestration and reducing carbon emissions are necessary to mitigate climate change. In this study, we developed a framework for assessing the carbon neutrality of wetland and non-wetland ecosystems, by clarifying the wetland, non-wetland carbon sinks as well as carbon emissions, and selected the Yellow River Delta High-efficient Eco-economic Zone (YRDHEZ) in China as a case study. The results indicated that the total ecosystem carbon sinks fluctuated between 18.0 and 23.5 MtCO2 yr−1, with a decrease of 15.3 % during the study period. The carbon sinks decreased from 9.1 to 5.2 MtCO2 yr−1 in wetland ecosystems and from 15.1 to 11.2 MtCO2 yr−1 for non-wetland ecosystems. The total anthropogenic carbon emissions showed a trend of initial increase, followed by a decrease, peaking at 111.0 MtCO2 yr−1 in 2015. The carbon neutrality capacity decreased from 31.7 % to 6.8 % for wetland ecosystems, from 44.8 % to 17.3 % for non-wetland ecosystems, which did not reach carbon neutrality. Comprehensive policies are proposed by forming a wetland carbon offset restoration system, optimizing low-carbon patterns, developing carbon emission trading. These results revealed a significant imbalance between carbon sinks and anthropogenic carbon emissions, highlighting the urgent need for carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability.

Quantification and Flow Simulation of Ecosystem Service Supply and Demand in the Yellow River Delta High-Efficiency Eco-Economic Zone

The identification of supply and demand areas for ecosystem services (ES) and the simulation of ES flows are essential for optimizing ESs to achieve socio-economic sustainable development. However, the selection of investigation methods and simulation model remains a persistent challenge. This study selected the Yellow River Delta High-Efficiency Eco-Economic Zone in China as the case study area and assessed the habitat quality and carbon sequestration services for 2000, 2010, and 2020. The quantile regression method was employed to quantify the impacts of land use structure on balancing the supply and demand of ESs. The minimum cumulative resistance model, circuit corridor model, and wind direction model were utilized to analyze changes in flux and flow direction of ESs’ supply and demand. The results demonstrated that the following: (1) the supply of ESs generally increased, with a significant rise in demand for carbon sequestration service and a declining trend in habitat quality service demand. (2) A clear spatial mismatch existed between the supply and demand of ESs. (3) The impact of land use structure on the balance of ES supply and demand is complex. (4) Habitat quality and carbon sequestration services exhibited distinct spatial clustering patterns. (5) The flow patterns of habitat quality service were characterized by specific supply and demand areas, with corridors and pinch points indicating the flow paths and potential barriers; not all demand areas for carbon sequestration service can be satisfied due to variations in service levels and geographical distance. The innovation of this study lies in the following aspects: (1) it acknowledges the uniqueness of ecosystem services, with a focus on assessing habitat quality and carbon sequestration services; (2) it precisely quantifies the flow of ecosystem services, analyzes the spatial dynamics of service flows, and investigates the impact of changes in land-use structure on these flows; (3) it strengthens the correlation between the supply and demand of ecosystem services and socio-economic activities, uncovers the contradictions between supply and demand along with their underlying causes, and proposes effective strategies for resolution. The findings can provide theoretical and methodological references for the optimization of ES.

Spatiotemporal characteristics and socio-ecological drivers of ecosystem service interactions in the Dongting Lake Ecological Economic Zone

Uncovering the spatiotemporal characteristics of ecosystem services and their complex interactions is a prerequisite for managing multiple simultaneously. However, the prior research has predominantly overlooked cultural service objects and neglected the indirect socio-ecological impact pathways on ecosystem services. To delve into the dynamics and developmental trends of ecosystem alterations prior to and following the inception of an Eco-Economic Zone, this study quantitatively assessed four pivotal ecosystem services within the Dongting Lake Ecological Economic Zone spanning from 2000 to 2020. These services encompassed:crop production(CP), carbon sequestration(CS), habitat quality(HQ), and forest recreation (RS). The trade-offs and synergies between them were explored, and the driving mechanism of ecosystem services was explained based on the partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that: (1) during the study timeframe, the crop production witnessed a pronounced upward trajectory, whereas the carbon sequestration, habitat quality and forest recreation remained relatively stable. Notably, the low habitat quality area (HQ ≤ 0.3) has been expanding, with a growth rate of 29.4 %; (2) the most trade-offs were observed between crop production and other ecosystem services, among which the trade-off effect between crop production and habitat quality was the strongest, with the highest average proportion of trade-off area, reaching 57.8 %. Among the six ecosystem service pairs, two are in a state of deterioration: the crop production and forest recreation, the carbon sequestration and habitat quality; (3)topographic factors were identified as the primary drivers of crop production, carbon sequestration, and habitat quality, whereas forest recreation was chiefly influenced by landscape configuration factors. Land use intensity and landscape configuration played crucial intermediary roles, with socio-economic elements adversely impacting all four ecosystem services directly, yet significantly contributed to the crop production and carbon sequestration through Suppression Effects. The research endorses the combined utilization of lake area land to improve human welfare, based on the principle of protecting the primary services of various functional sub-regions.

Regional ecological risk assessment through the application of production-living-ecology land use function indicators: a case study of the eco-economic zone of Yellow River Delta.

To date, land use structure information has been employed extensively for ecological risk assessment (ERA) purpose in regional/landscape scales; in contrast, land use function (LUF) information-based ERA research is still scarce. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out more ERA case studies in macroscale with the help of pertinent LUF indicators. As an important way to construct production-living-ecology LUF indexes, this study employs the weighted stacking method and related economic statistical data for regional ecological risk assessment (RERA) purpose within Yellow River Delta High-efficiency Eco-economic Zone (YRDHEZ), China. This YRDHEZ-RERA research pointed out that (1) it was rational to use a series of economic statistical data to more comprehensively and precisely characterize regional production and living function grades in YRDHEZ. (2) The Yellow River Delta had lower agriculture and non-agriculture production functions, whereas the rest of the zone had higher production functions. (3) Most people lived in the south part, whereas north coastal zone had very low population density; the east part had higher per capita disposable income of urban/rural households than that of west. (4) The south part of the zone had higher production/living functions and integrated ecological risk source intensity than those of north coastal zone, whereas the coastal zone had higher ecology function, eco-environmental vulnerability, and final integrated ecological risk than those of inland region. As for regional ecological risk management, establishing nature reserve with strict spatial governance for coastal/estuarine wetlands and coordinating production/ecology functions of coastal salterns/breeding ponds are relevant feasible measures.

Increasing overall agricultural productivity in the Yellow River Delta Eco-economic Zone in China

AbstractImproving the efficiency of agricultural production in infertile areas contributes to reducing hunger, ensuring food security, and promoting eco-economic development. This study examines the effects and mechanisms of the Yellow River Delta High Efficiency Ecological Economic Zone policy on agricultural total factor productivity. The data from prefecture-level cities and a difference-in-difference model were used, and descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were conducted. The results show that the establishment of the zone increased agricultural total factor productivity by 40%. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this positive effect is particularly pronounced in regions with a high proportion of agriculture and high per capita disposable income. However, this effect has diminished year by year since 2010. Mechanism tests suggest that the increase in agricultural R&D, the improvement in mechanization, and the application of ecological technologies have boosted agricultural total factor productivity. The results confirm the positive effects of the ecological economic zone policy and highlight the need for further measures to maintain and increase these positive effects in the long term. Future research should explore specific micro-management and technological measures to improve agricultural performance.

Construction of coordination evaluation system of Economy-Tourism-Ecological environment coupling based on entropy method——Taking three cities in the Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone as an example

Dongting Lake Ecological Economic Zone is an emerging development group, among which Yueyang, Changde, and Yiyang have similarities in climate, environment, history, culture, and basic industries. This paper used the entropy method to construct the evaluation system of the coupling coordination degree of the three indexes of economy, tourism, and ecological environment in Yueyang, Changde, and Yiyang, calculated Yueyang, Changde, and Yiyang’s coupling coordination degree, studied and analyzed the relationship of its three subsystems in 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018 of Yueyang, Changde and Yiyang, and analyzed their coupling coordination level. The results show: (1) the three major system evaluation indexes were generally on the rise, except for the Yiyang tourism evaluation index, which declined from 2012 to 2015; (2) These three systems’ coupling degrees were maintained at a very high level, and the development correlation is strong; (3) Some of Yiyang's data fluctuated in some years. By 2018, all the cities had reached the verge of imbalance from the extreme imbalance in 2009; The imbalance had greatly improved.

Ecosystem service tradeoff and synergistic relationship in the Yellow River Delta High-Efficiency Eco-Economic Zone.

Exploring the tradeoff and synergy relationship among ecosystem services in the Yellow River Delta High-Efficiency Eco-Economic Zone is of great practical significance for regional ecosystem service function zoning and high-quality development. Using the InVEST model, spatial auto-correlation and trade-off synergism (ESTD) model, we analyzed the spatial and temporal variations of five ecosystem services (habitat quality, carbon storage, soil conservation, water conservation, and water purification), as well as their trade-off and synergistic relationships at the township scale from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that habitat quality, carbon storage, and nitrogen and phosphorus output decreased as a whole from 2000 to 2020, and soil conservation and water purification increased. Habitat quality showed a distribution pattern of high in the north and low in the south, and carbon sto-rage, nitrogen and phosphorus output, soil conservation and water purification showed a pattern of low in the north and high in the south. During the study period, synergistic relationships among the five ecosystem services were predominant in both time cross-section and time period, but there were still differences, with synergistic relationships mainly between carbon storage and other services in time cross-section, and between habitat quality and other ser-vices in time period. Our results can provide theoretical guidance and practical reference for the enhancement of ecosystem services and the zoning of ecosystem functions, as well as basic support for the optimization of spatial patterns of national territory.

Optimization of production-living-ecology spatial pattern in Dongting Lake Ecological Economic Zone based on comprehensive benefits of development and protection

The optimization of production-living-ecology (PLE) space is an important basis for promoting regional high-quality development. Taking the Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone as an example, from the perspective of improving the comprehensive benefits of the development and protection of the PLE space, we coupled the GMOP-FLUS model, and proposed an optimization method combining the scenario configuration and the bottom line protection of the PLE space. We compared the three optimization scenarios (economic optimization scenario, ecological optimization scenario, and multi-objective optimization scenario), and coordinated the conflict areas of two lines to clarify the comprehensive optimization scheme of the PLE space in the Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone. The results showed the characteristics of increasing production space and living space and decreasing ecological space from 2010 to 2020, resulting in the partial loss of land ecological and environmental benefits. Under the economic optimization scenario, the ecological optimization scenario promoted the rapid growth of regional economy but damaged regional ecological security. The ecological optimization scenario inhibited regional economic development. The multi-objective optimization scenario led to improvement of economic and ecological benefits of the PLE space, which increased by 2.0% and 1.3%, respectively. The multi-objective optimization scenario was the best optimization scenario among the three scenarios. By superimposing the best scenario and the two-line conflict regional coordination results, we obtained the comprehensive optimization scheme for 2030. The production space, living space, and ecological space areas of the scheme were 25777.18, 2062.94, and 32552.68 km2, respectively. Based on the natural and social conditions, combining the comprehensive optimization scheme, we put forward different control suggestions for each type of PLE space. Our results could provide reference for the rational formulation of territorial spatial planning and the formulation of policies for the coordinated development of ecological environment and social economy in the Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone.

Evaluation of Green Production Efficiency of Grain in Huaihe Eco-economic Zone and Countermeasures Based on SBM-DEA

The article measured the green production efficiency of grain in 25 cities in the Huaihe Ecological Economic Belt from 2010 to 2020 based on the SBM -DEA model of non-expected output, and analyzed its evolution characteristics in two dimensions: time and space. The study found that the trend of grain green production efficiency in the Huaihe Ecological Economic Belt from 2010 to 2020 showed a slow increase in fluctuation, with 19 cities reaching the effective level of grain green production efficiency in 2020; at the same time, there was no obvious positive correlation between grain green production efficiency and economic development level, and cities with less developed economy also The cities with less developed economies can also optimise the green production efficiency of grain through such paths as large-scale production, optimising resource allocation andstrengthening the application of agricultural science and technology. In this regard, the Huaihe Ecological Economic Zone should strengthen the construction of high-standard farmland, improve the mechanism of green grain production and promote the reduction and increase of agricultural surface source pollution, so as to achieve a green transformation of grain production in the Huaihe Ecological Economic Zone.

Regional ecological risk assessment of the Yellow River Delta High-efficiency Eco-economic Zone, China, with respect to human production–living disturbance

Regional ecological risk assessment of the Yellow River Delta High-efficiency Eco-economic Zone, China, with respect to human production–living disturbance

Decoupling analysis to assess the impact of land use patterns on carbon emissions: A case study in the Yellow River Delta efficient eco-economic zone, China

Investigating how land use patterns impact on carbon emissions is crucial, as land use change is a major cause of increased carbon emission. High Efficiency Eco-economic Zone of Yellow River Delta (HEEZ-YRD) are typical of land use patterns affecting carbon emissions due to the fact they have greater dramatic land use changes. Here, we used carbon emission model and the decoupling analysis to assess the impact of land use patterns on carbon emissions based on the 30-m Global Land Cover Dataset (GlobeLand30) and socio-economic data from 2000 to 2019. The results showed that construction land increased while cropland decreased. The construction land area increased from cropland was 9.03 × 104ha from 2000 to 2010 and 1.44 × 105ha from 2010 to 2019, indicating that the increase in construction land mainly from cropland. Moreover, the HEEZ-YRD was the carbon source area. The total net carbon emissions increased from 9155.68 Gg CO2 equivalents (CO2e) in 2000–45817.44 Gg CO2e in 2019, but the increase declined. In the HEEZ-YRD, the land-use mix degree was highest in the east and north and lowest in the west and south. Zouping had the highest carbon emissions of all the cities. The decoupling of land use patterns and carbon emissions was dynamic. During the study period, the decoupling between land use patterns and carbon emissions shifted from an extended negative decoupling to a weak or even a strong decoupling. The consequences will make contributions to the establishment and implementation of low-carbon insurance policies and supply a theoretical framework for sustainable land use.

A Framework to Identify Priority Areas for Restoration: Integrating Human Demand and Ecosystem Services in Dongting Lake Eco-Economic Zone, China

The identification of priority restoration areas (PRAs) for ecosystems is a critical step in establishing restoration programs. Because the majority of existing studies focused on improving the ecosystem supply, the PRAs selected are likely to be remote from human demand, and the restoration benefits will not flow to humans. To fill this gap, we constructed an improved framework integrating the ecological restoration projects’ cost and benefits as indicators for choosing PRAs. Then, we identified PRAs for each ecosystem service (ES) with Marxan, and ranked the restoration priority grades according to the superimposed value of PRAs for each ES. Finally, we adjusted the restoration priority grades based on human demand and the concentration of those areas, and chose PRAs with a high ES supply and demand. This framework was applied to the Dongting Lake Eco-Economic Zone, one of China’s most significant ecological restoration project sites. The results indicated that the areas with “high”-, “sub-high”-, and “low”-grade PRAs, based only on the increase in the ES supply, were equal to 82, 410, and 1696 km2, respectively. After considering human demand, the PRAs moved continuously towards places with a high human demand; high-priority areas grew to reach 144 km2, while low-priority areas decreased to 1498 km2. The upgrade of the proposed framework for the identification of PRAs can contribute to increasing human well-being, while also serving as a support tool for environmental restoration management.

An Evaluation and Optimization of Green Development Strategy for the Nanjing-Hangzhou Eco-Economic Zone in China

The Analytic Hierarchy Process and Entropy Weight Method were used to measure the green development level of nine major urban areas in the Yangtze River Delta and the Nanjing-Hangzhou Eco-economic Zone. The results demonstrated that firstly, the green development level of the Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou metropolitan area shows increasingly sequential characteristics, with each city generally experiencing a “ladder” over time and displaying a hierarchy in its spatial distribution. Second, according to the green development subsystem evaluation, the Nanjing-Hangzhou Eco-economic zone is better than Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou in terms of environmental loading and green governance, but it is weaker than both regarding economic performance, social welfare, and driving innovation. Therefore, this paper focuses on the general idea of green development and proposes optimization strategies and implementation recommendations for strengthening the green development of the Nanjing-Hangzhou Eco-economic Zone with respect to the currently weak areas of innovation, economic performance, and social welfare.

Study on the effect of industrial structure transformation on regional ecological efficiency in ecological economic zone under carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy

As the main strategy for the coordinated development of China’s ecological economy in the future, the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy is an important response strategy to solve the two major problems of China’s urbanization process: the industrial structure is biased toward tradition and the economic development is biased toward high carbon. Under this development prospect, how to coordinate ecological development and economic development through the transformation of the industrial structure and form a unified development situation is an important issue for the development of the ecological economy. To solve this problem, the research starts with the theory of industrial structure change and ecological efficiency, puts forward two kinds of ecological efficiency assumptions, and establishes a mathematical model based on the C-D production function and cost function for the impact of industrial structure change on ecological efficiency. On this basis, a spatial model is formed, and empirical analysis is carried out for the important domestic ecological economic zone - the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The research results show that the industrial structure of the eco-economic zone will have a significant positive impact on ecological efficiency. At the same time, under the effect of inter-city cooperation, ecological efficiency has a significant spatial spillover effect. At the same time, the spatial lag factor and spatial error factor of urban agglomeration in the Yangtze River Delta are significant at the 10% and 5% levels, and the spatial lag factor and spatial error factor of urban agglomeration in the middle and long reaches are significant at the 5% level. It can be seen that the spatial dependence and linkage of ecological effects are strong, and there is a relatively significant interaction.

A new approach of Robustness-Resistance-Recovery (3Rs) to assessing flood resilience: A case study in Dongting Lake Basin

The frequency of natural disasters and the losses caused by global climate change and urbanization continue to increase. Traditional rigid defense methods cannot meet the needs of modern disaster mitigation and should shift to resilience approaches. However, most existing resilience studies stopped at qualitative analysis and static evaluation. Quantitative evaluation of dynamic resilience is quite rare. In this study, focusing on flood resilience, we applied the process-based “Robustness-Resistance-Recovery (3Rs)” quantitative assessment framework, and used the Dongting Lake Basin as an empirical area. The results showed that the resilience of the whole Dongting Lake Basin was high, but the Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone had poor flood resilience. The low value of robustness was concentrated in the north and central part of Hunan Province, affected by the distribution of water systems. The resistance was relatively low and the administrative units with the top two low levels accounted for 61.99%, while the recovery level was high with obvious good performance in the west. In addition, the synergy of robustness and resistance dominated the flood resilience. This study proposed a resilience assessment framework based on the “3Rs” and provided a new process perspective for improving the flood resilience.

Spatiotemporal pattern and driving forces of ecological carrying capacity during urbanization process in the Dongting Lake area, China

Ecological carrying capacity (ECC) is a key indicator for assessing the sustainable urbanization. The Dongting Lake area, as a national eco-economic zone, is urgently required to focus on the spatiotemporal pattern of ECC based on interactive mechanism of urbanization and ECC, which is revealed through quantitative research method in 2001–2019. The results show the ECC value appeared a fluctuating downward trend from 1.4645 to 0.8527, and the bearing state changed from under-loading to overloading. The bearing states of 17 counties showed spatially higher heterogeneous with Moran’s I value from 0.2635 to 0.3194. Yuanjiang City, Nanxian County and Taojiang County were in an under-loading state and the remaining 14 counties in an overloading state. The spatial distribution pattern displayed an “M”-type spatial differentiation pattern from southwest to northeast, the central region was evidently better than the surrounding regions. The bearing state had a positive global spatial autocorrelation. Spatial distribution of hot spots showed that the central area was a cold spot area, the edge area was a hot spot area, and the peripheral area was a sub-cold and sub-hot area. Factor detector results reveal that the urban population concentration, economic growth, land expansion, technology levels, and government policies were the main driving factors that formed the spatiotemporal pattern of ECC. The results could make up for the research shortcomings of spatiotemporal pattern of ECC, provide support to control ecological protection red line and urban exploitation boundaries, and help Chinese government formulate effective measurements to optimize the spatiotemporal pattern of ECC.

Sustainable Livelihood Security in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone: Ecologically Secure, Economically Efficient or Socially Equitable?

Sustainable Livelihood Security (SLS) remains a rarely considered yet important issue for rural sustainability and natural resource management. Particularly in China, rural SLS research in a typical area is urgently needed, but insufficient under the background of National Rural Revitalization and Ten-year Fishing Ban of Yangtze River. Focusing on the policy-targeted inland lake area, we proposed a Livelihood Security Analysis (LSA) framework by establishing an adaptive indicator system and integrating multiple econometrical and geographical methods. This study aims to evaluate the SLS in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone comprehensively from the three aspects of ecology, economy and society, analyze their spatial patterns, identify the main constraints, and finally give specific suggestions for improving rural sustainability management. The results showed that rural SLS in the inland great lake area tended to be vulnerable mainly due to the lagging economic efficiency and unbalanced social equality, and mediated by regional ecological characteristics. The overall SLS and Ecological Security Index (ESI) were higher in the north and lower in the south, while Economic Efficiency Index (EEI) and Social Equality Index (SEI) were at the middle level and circularly distributed around Nanchang City. The dominating factors which have greatly shaped the spatial pattern of SLS include rural per capita electricity consumption, fishery breeding area, population dependency ratio, urbanization rate, and fishery population. The obstacle degree is ranked as economic system > social system > ecological system. An outdated economy and incomplete social services are the main constraints, characterized by weak electricity consumption, limited beds in hospitals, low urbanization rate, deficient agricultural machinery power, and a small agricultural output value. Therefore, one urgent need is to activate the rural economy by reinforcing rural electric power facilities and promoting agricultural mechanization. In addition, transforming the peasants/fishermen to the non-agricultural sector should be accelerated, which will help to reduce ecological pressure, boost urban-rural integration and narrow the income gap.

Ecosystem Service Values in the Dongting Lake Eco-Economic Zone and the Synergistic Impact of Its Driving Factors.

Ecosystem service values (ESVs) are crucial to ecological conservation and restoration, urban and rural planning, and sustainable development of land. Therefore, it is important to study ESVs and their driving factors in the Dongting Lake Eco-Economic Zone (Dongting Lake). This paper quantifies the changes in ESVs in the Dongting Lake using land use data from 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2018. The eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model is used to study the effects of individual driving factors and the synergistic effects of these driving factors on ESVs. Our analysis suggests that: (1) From 2000 to 2018, the largest dynamic degree values in the Dongting Lake are in unused land types, followed by construction lands and wetlands. The ESVs of the Dongting Lake show an increasing trend, with those of forestlands being the highest, accounting for approximately 44.65% of the total value. Among the ESVs functions, water containment, waste treatment, soil formation and protection, biodiversity conservation and climate regulation contribute the most to ESVs, with a combined contribution of 76.64% to 76.99%; (2) The integrated intensity of anthropogenic disturbance shows a U-shaped spatial distribution, decreasing from U1 to U3. The driving factors in descending order of importance are the human impact index, total primary productivity (GPP), slope, elevation, population, temperature, gross domestic product, precipitation and PM2.5; (3) When the GPP is low (GPP < 900), the SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanation) value of the high human impact index is greater than zero, indicating that an increase in GPP increases the ESVs in the Dongting Lake. This study can provide technical support and a theoretical basis for ecological environmental protection and ecosystem management in the Dongting Lake.

Spatio-temporal differentiation and policy optimization of ecological well-being in the Yellow River Delta high-efficiency eco-economic zone

With the development of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, more people are becoming aware of the importance of ecosystem protection. As a crucial part of the human well-being, ecological well-being has always had essential scientific research value. In this paper, authors take the Yellow River Delta high-efficiency eco-economic zone as a case study, based on the theory of land ecosystem services to study the ecological well-being. With the help of expert coefficient value assessment for different types of land use, authors have researched the spatiotemporal differentiation and influence mechanism of regional ecological well-being, using the Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) model and Geographic Weighted Regression (GWR) model. The results found small differences in change of resource well-being (RW) and large differences in change of environmental well-being (EW) from 1990 to 2020, and the RWs and EWs of the central cities including Dongying Core, Hekou Core, Kenli, Hanting Core and Changyi are higher than those of their surrounding counties. The coupling coordination relationship of RW and EW in the central cities including Dongying Core, Hekou Core and Changyi is larger than in their surrounding counties. Population urbanization (PU) and industrial urbanization (IU) are important factors of change in land use and ecosystem services which influence the human well-being, PU affects RW more significantly, and IU affects EW more significantly. In order to further promote the sustainable ecological well-being of the Yellow River Delta region, authors recommend the conservation of land resources, technological innovation of environmental management and the formulation of environmental law. It provides significant enlightenment and decision support for strengthening the environmental protection of the Yellow River Delta high-efficiency eco-economic zone.

Spatial-temporal evolution and drivers of ecosystem service value in the Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone, China

With the rapid urbanization, research on the spatial-temporal evaluation and drivers deduction of ESV is important for regional social-economic-ecological coordinated and sustainable development. Based on remote sensing data of Dongting Lake Eco-economic Zone in four years (2005, 2010, 2015, and 2018), we investigated the spatial-temporal pattern deduction characteristics of ecosystem service value (ESV) from a grid scale of 3 km × 3 km with the technological support of ArcGIS and GeoDa, as well as combining the equivalent factor, spatial auto-correlation and hot-spot analysis method. We further explored the dominant drivers of spatial heterogeneity of ESV and the interaction mechanisms among different drivers using geo-detector. The results showed that, during the study period, the construction land area had the most significant growth by 49.2%. Nevertheless, grassland and water area had a relatively large decrease, while the other land area did not change. The ESV decreased gradually in general during the study period. The ESV of unused land increased rapidly, while that of the other lands all showed decrease to different extents. The overall spatial layout of ESV in the study area was "high in the middle and low in the surroundings". The spatial cluster effect of ESV was significant, but the cluster effect of high and low values of ESV tended to weaken during the study period, showing a trend of gradually decreasing. The spatial heterogeneity of ESV was affected by the coupling and coordination of natural environmental factors and socio-economic factors in the study area, with largest contribution from the human active index.