Ecological Red Line Research Articles

Spatial Pattern Change and Ecosystem Service Value Dynamics of Ecological and Non-Ecological Redline Areas in Nanjing, China.

Ecological conservation red line (ECRL) is gaining increasing academic attention as delimiting the minimum space scope of ecological protection and the bottom line of ecological security. Taking Nanjing as a case study, we divided the territory into ecological and non-ecological redline areas (ERAs and NERAs, respectively). This paper highlights two key research issues based on the 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018 annual remote sensing data: (i) quantitative analysis of the Ecological Redline Policy (ERP) validity by conducting a horizontal comparison of the ERAs and NERAs; and (ii) exploration of the land-use transitions and spatial pattern changes affecting ecosystem service value (ESV). Results showed that delineating ECRL could effectively slow down the decline rate of ESV. The trend of eco-quality deterioration was greater than eco-quality improvement in Nanjing, presenting an ESV that declined slightly in the whole. According to our findings, we suggest that reasonably increasing eco-lands (woodland and water area) and decreasing construction land will enhance the regional ESV. Meanwhile, promoting the transition from production space to ecological space and depressing the encroachment of living space on other space types, will be instrumental in mitigating the ESV decline. The results of this study are expected to provide valuable implications for spatial planning and sustainable development in Nanjing.

Developing an Ecosystem Services-Based Approach for Land Use Planning

Rapid urbanization has altered many ecosystems, causing the decline in many ecosystem services (ES), and generating serious ecological crisis. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the most rapidly urbanized regions in China and has experienced a remarkable period of population growth, and built-up area expansion. To cope with these challenges, this paper proposed a four-step key ES zone delineation framework by land-use matrix for land management in a rapidly urbanizing region. This framework was applied in key ES zone delineation in the YRD region. The results showed that there was obvious spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of total ES capacities: The high-capacity levels were mainly distributed in the south of the region, while the low-capacity levels were densely distributed in the middle and north of the region. V (80–100) and II (20–40) accounted for 27.44% and 47.12% of the total area, respectively. Among the five levels, Level II occupied the largest area of the region. I (0–20) and IV (60–80) had patchy patterns in the region and clustered in the middle of the region. I and IV accounted for 13.24% and 5.48% of the total area, respectively. III (40–60) had belt distribution in the region and accounted for 6.72% of the total area. This paper not only contributes to the guidance of land management for the Ecological Redline Policy in the YRD Region but also helps to improve the application of ecosystem service approach in decision support in rapidly urbanizing regions.

Water Conservation Estimation Based on Time Series NDVI in the Yellow River Basin

Accurate estimation of the water conservation is of great significance for ecological red line planning. The water conservation of the Yellow River Basin has a vital influence on the development of the environment and the supply of ecological services in China. However, the existing methods used to estimate water conservation have many disadvantages, such as requiring numerous parameters, a complex calculation model, and using data that is often difficult acquire. It is often hard to provide sufficiently precise parameters and data, resulting in a large amount of calculation time and the difficulties in the study of large scale and long time series. In this study, a time series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was applied to estimate water conservation in two aspects using the idea of wholeness and stratification, respectively. The overall fitting results can explain nearly 30% of the water conservation by partial least squares regression and nearly 50% of it by a support vector machine. However, the results of a stratified simulation showed that water conservation and the NDVI have a certain stratified heterogeneity among different ecosystem types. The optimal fitting result was achieved in a water/wetland ecosystem with the highest coefficient of determination (R2P) of 0.768 by the stratified support vector machine (SVM) model, followed by the forest and grassland ecosystem (both R2P of 0.698). The spatial mapping results showed that this method was most suitable for grassland ecosystem, followed by forest ecosystem. According to the results generated using the NDVI time series data, it is feasible to complete a spatial simulation of water conservation. This research can provide a reference for calculating regional or large-scale water conservation and in ecological red line planning.

Using stepping-stone theory to evaluate the maintenance of landscape connectivity under China’s ecological control line policy

Developed areas are gradually expanding with the acceleration of urbanization. The degree of fragmentation of urban ecological land is increasing, and the risk of reducing the connectivity between important ecological patches is rising. In this context, the municipal governments in China have delineated ‘ecological control lines’ (ECLs) to protect landscape connectivity—however, its effectiveness has not been evaluated. In the study reported here, circuit theory was used to simulate flow among ecological sources, stepping stones carrying ecological flow were identified, and the effectiveness of the ECL, in terms of maintaining landscape connectivity, was evaluated. In this study, we classified the absence of stepping-stone protection based on stepping-stone area, distribution, and potential loss and identified key stepping-stone categories in urgent need of ECL protection, which will be useful for delineating the ecological red line in the future. The results showed that there were 1488 ecological stepping stones in Shenzhen, with an average area of 0.124 km2 and a total area of 185.2 km2. Under the current ECL protection, five stepping-stone groups were characterized as hotspots lacking protection, and this absence threatened the connectivity between some ecological sources. Through stepping stone classification and analysis, we were also able to show that there were 34 key stepping stones that were not protected effectively by the ECL, and they should be incorporate in the future. Using stepping stone and circuit theory models, our study has provided a reference for policy making that addresses connectivity under landscape fragmentation.

Air Pollution, Regulatory Reforms, and Impacts on Corporate Policies: Selective Review with Recent Evidence from China

We review the new approaches of managing air pollution and the impact of air pollution on corporate activities in China. The Chinese government’s new approaches, such as ecological conservation redline, specialized environmental courts, environmental inspector program, and air pollution tournament, appear to be effective. Several studies suggest that local governments and firms engage in more environmental investments after these regulatory reforms. In terms of corporate activities, we report that air pollution matters. Specially, air pollution has adverse effect on firm activities such as innovation, cash management, among others. Therefore, managing air pollution (or perhaps all pollution) requires innovation approaches and it is not just good for the environment. In most cases, it brings good outcomes (for shareholders).

Toward ecological function zoning and comparison to the Ecological Redline Policy: a case study in the Poyang Lake Region, China.

Faced with huge environmental problems of ecosystem degradation, "Ecological Redline Policy (ERP)" in China is a new key national-level policy to manage different land use functions in accordance with development and environmental limits. As the water-land complex ecosystem with the largest freshwater lake, wetland natural reserves and ecological importance in China, Poyang Lake Region (PLR) is selected to quantify and map multiple ecosystem services, investigate the ecological function zoning as part of research on ecological zoning control and major ecological source areas to illustrate and address the implementation of this strategy based on the importance and vulnerability analysis of ecosystem services. According to ecological function zoning results, extremely important, highly important, medium important and important zones respectively account for 26.1%, 28.1%, 17.4% and 28.4% of the total area. With an area of 5422.2 km2, the extremely important zone is 1010.6 km2 larger than the ERP. Moreover, 81.6% of the ERP is located in the extremely important zone. By discussing the implications and applications of ecological management, this study contributes to the ecological protection of Poyang Lake and provides a foundation for research on ecological function zoning at the regional scale.

西南山区生态保护红线划定方法优化—基于生态地质环境脆弱性评估

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 西南山区生态保护红线划定方法优化—基于生态地质环境脆弱性评估 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202003220642 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金重大项目（41790432）；国家自然基金青年基金项目（41701114） Optimization method of ecological redline delineation in Southwest China from the view of eco-geo environment vulnerability assessment Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: Physical and Mechanical Properties of Rock and Soil on Slope Surface Under Large Gradient Environment and Spatial Pattern of Catastrophic Conditions 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:生态系统服务功能重要性评估及生态环境敏感性评估是划定生态保护红线的基本方法。以生态系统敏感性及服务功能为核心的红线划定指标体系，未能准确反映山地复杂地质环境对生态环境的影响，使得生态红线划定缺乏地质-地理过程的支撑。以地质环境与地理环境互馈为基础，构建西南山区生态地质环境脆弱性评估指标体系，以我国典型山区四川省为研究区，通过将脆弱性格局与基本方法划定的生态保护红线叠置分析，提出了基于"生态地质环境共同体"理念的山区生态保护红线划定优化方法。结果表明：生态保护红线与脆弱性评估格局基本一致，面积有差异；生态保护红线划定方法充分刻画生态系统保护格局，脆弱性格局更好反映国土空间开发保护状况，山区地质与地理过程是塑造生态红线分布格局的关键影响因素，基于生态地质环境脆弱性评估视角的2种优化方案，集中、全面反映生态系统优先保护及国土空间开发保护格局，但应合理预留人类聚居空间及生产空间。 Abstract:Assessment of ecosystem service and ecological sensitivity are the basic methods to zone the ecological redline. However, for mountainous areas with complex geological conditions, the indicator system with ecological environment and service as the core is difficult to reflect the impact of a special geological environment, which makes the ecological redline pattern lack support of the geological and geographical process. Based on the mutual feedback of geological environment and geographical environment, this study constructed the vulnerability assessment index system of the eco-geo environment in the southwest mountainous area, Sichuan Province. The ecological redline optimization method was analyzed by superposition with the assessing the frailty, based on the concept of "eco-geo environment community". The results showed that the ecological redline and vulnerability assessment pattern was generally consistent. The vulnerable area of eco-geo environment was 189700 km2, accounting for 39.1% of the research area. The total area of the ecological redline was 148000 km2, accounting for 30.45% of the research area. Geological and geographical processes in mountainous areas were key factors to shape the distribution pattern of ecological redline. Two redline optimization methods based on the vulnerability assessment of the eco-geo environment, covered an area of 197600 km2 and 241700 km2 respectively, which was consistent with the ecological security pattern of four key ecological functional areas in the main functional divisions of Sichuan Province. The two schemes reflect the priority protection of the ecosystem and the development and protection pattern of land space, but it should reserve the living space and production space reasonably. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

珠三角城市群生态空间分区方法与管控对策

生态空间管控是维护区域生态安全，解决区域生态供需矛盾的重要手段。生态空间分区一直是生态管控的热点问题，对促进城市群可持续发展具有重要意义。以珠三角城市群为例，基于政策目标、民众需求、专家知识等方面综合构建评价体系，开展了基于生态空间质量和生态系统健康评价的生态空间分区的探索研究。结果表明：珠三角城市群生态空间约占城市群面积的82.8%，生态空间质量好，但生态系统健康水平低。城市尺度肇庆市、深圳市生态空间质量较高，珠海市、中山市生态空间质量较低；惠州市、肇庆市生态系统健康水平较高，佛山市、中山市生态系统健康水平较低。综合生态空间质量和生态系统健康，区域尺度将城市群生态空间分为重点保护区、重点修复区、潜在修复区和生态保育区。重点保护区占生态空间总面积的10.1%，是区域生态源地，应实行最严格的环境保护制度，划定生态保护红线和自然保护地，加强生态建设和生物多样性保护，并加强生态连通性建设，提升区域整体生态系统服务；重点修复区占生态空间总面积的21.6%，以生态修复，实施生态治理工程，推进生态产业为主；潜在修复区占生态空间总面积的13.1%，以保护优先、自然恢复为主，对生态空间进行全面的养护，保护和提升品质，重点提升生态系统服务；生态保育区占生态空间总面积的55.2%，重点实施生态廊道建设，同时加强区域高标准农田建设，在保护生态空间的基础上合理开展生产建设活动。对生态空间分区管控的研究可方便决策者对生态修复空间和生态保护空间进行识别和分类管理，有效指导国土空间规划和区域生态环境管理体系的完善。;Ecological space management is an important means to maintain regional ecological security and solve the imbalance between regional ecological supply and demand. The classification of ecological space has always been a hot issue in the ecological management and plays an important role in promoting the sustainable development of urban agglomeration. This paper takes the urban agglomeration of Pearl River Delta as an example, based on the policy goals, public preferences, and expert knowledge of urban agglomeration to comprehensively construct the evaluation system. The initial study of the ecological space management zoning was conducted on the basis of the evaluation of the ecological space quality and ecosystem health. The results showed that the ecological space accounted for 82.8% of the area of the urban agglomeration. The quality of the ecological space was good, but the level of the ecosystem health was low. At the urban scale, the ecological space quality of Zhaoqing and Shenzhen was higher, that of Zhuhai and Zhongshan was lower; the ecosystem health of Huizhou and Zhaoqing was higher, that of Foshan and Zhongshan was lower. Integrated with the quality of ecological space and ecosystem health, the ecological space was divided into key protection area, key restoration area, potential restoration area, and ecological conservation area at the regional scale. The key protected areas accounted for 10.1%, which were the regional ecological source areas. The strictest environmental protection system should be implemented, ecological red line and nature protected area should be delimited, strengthen ecological construction and biodiversity protection, also the construction of ecological connectivity should be strengthened to improve the overall regional ecosystem services. The key restoration areas accounted for 21.6%, mainly focusing on ecological restoration, implementation of ecological projects, and promotion of ecological industry. The potential restoration areas account for 13.1%, mainly focusing on protection and natural recovery, comprehensive conservation and protection and improve the quality of ecological space, and focus on improving the function of ecosystem service. The ecological conservation area account for 55.2%, mainly focusing on ecological corridor construction, strengthening the construction of high standard farmland, and protecting the basis of ecological space. Therefore, the production and construction activities should be carried out reasonably. In this paper, the research on the ecological space zoning could facilitate the decision makers to identify and classify the ecological restoration space and the ecological protection space, and could effectively guide the improvement of the land space planning and the regional ecological environment management system.

Research on the application of GIS technology in the spatial status grooming of village areas

The preparation of five levels and three categories of territorial spatial planning includes many aspects, and this article mainly deals with one of the levels and categories: detailed territorial spatial planning of village areas; it focuses on the preliminary work of planning preparation: the current situation combing of village territorial spatial areas. The article firstly outlines the basic application of GIS technology in the current situation combing; then introduces the relevant contents of the Third National Land Survey. Finally, with actual cases, we focus on the significant role played by GIS technology in the integration of land use data in the base period of village territorial space, the location of permanent basic farmland indicators, the location of ecological protection red line, and the statistics of conflicting patches of ecological environmental protection and basic farmland protection.

The thinking and practice of Marine Ecological Conservation Red Line Delineation in China

China has established and implemented marine ecological conservation red line (MECRL) system to strengthen the bottom line constraints and ensure ecological security. This paper introduces the concept of MECRL and the process of overall consideration of the national MECRL delineation, which is defined “spatial-division + differential control measures”. The MECRL in Bohai Sea pilot and delineation of MECRL nationwide are introduced. At present, MECRL accounts for about 30 percent of the total coastal management area, providing a good institutional guarantee for protecting marine ecology and guiding the good formation of a scientific marine spatial layout in china.

Optimization of ecological red line in the hilly region of Southern China based on InVEST and MCR model

Optimization of ecological red line in the hilly region of Southern China based on InVEST and MCR model

基于系统保护理念的弹性生态保护空间划定——以广东省茂名市为例

有效识别生态保护空间对维护区域生物多样性，提升生态系统服务具有重要作用。考虑山水林田湖草系统保护战略需求以及既往弹性生态保护研究不足，基于可持续发展目标下生态保护概念内涵，系统解析弹性生态保护空间的内在要求；立足生态系统服务视角，以沿海特色发展区——广东省茂名市为研究区，在考虑传统重要生态功能的基础上，基于区域特点选取气候调节功能、粮食供给功能、生物保护功能、水源涵养功能、土壤保护功能5项生态系统服务作为保护对象；通过改进的MARXAN模型提取弹性生态保护空间，并对相关结果的有效性进行了验证。研究结果表明：①茂名市各项生态系统服务空间分布存在差异，综合生态系统服务高值区主要分布在北部山区，低值区主要集中在南部城镇建设区；②考虑限制条件和保护成本的系统保护规划方法在生态保护空间划定上具有一定优势，系统保护规划结果与生态保护红线重叠面积1505.02 km²，占生态保护红线面积的83.43%，其余区域主要由林草地类、园地类、耕地类组成，占比分别为45.92%、19.71%、22.24%；③在未来生态保护建设中，应针对系统保护规划内生态红线核心区、一般保护区、基本农田区分别开展生态保护加强管理、生态系统服务综合提升、生态农业建设等多样化整治策略。;Effective identification of important ecological function areas plays an important role in maintaining regional biodiversity and improving ecosystem services. Considering the strategic needs of the systematic conservation of mountains-rivers-forests-farmlands-lakes-grasslands and the lack of previous research on flexible ecological protection, this paper systematically analyzed the inherent requirements of flexible ecological protection space based on the concept of ecological protection under the sustainable development goals. Based on the perspective of ecosystem services, the consideration of important ecological functions and regional characteristics, this paper took the coastal characteristic development zone-Maoming City of Guangdong Province as the research area to select five ecosystem services, including climate regulation function, food supply function, biological protection function, water conservation function, and soil protection function as protection objects. This paper has obtained the ecological protection space through improved MARXAN model, and further verified the effectiveness of research results. The research results show that:① there are differences in the spatial distribution of various ecosystem services in Maoming. The high-value areas of comprehensive ecosystem services are mainly distributed in the northern mountainous areas, and the low-value areas are mainly concentrated in the southern urban construction area. ② The systematic conservation planning method which took into account the constraints and the protection costs had certain advantages in the delineation of ecological protection space. The ecological protection red line area in the systematic conservation planning result is 1505.02 km², accounting for 83.43% of the ecological protection red line area. The rest area is mainly composed of forest and grassland, garden land, and cultivated land, accounting for 45.92%, 19.71%, and 22.24%, respectively. ③ In the future ecological protection construction, the diversified remediation strategies such as enhanced management of ecological protection, comprehensive improvement of ecosystem services, and construction of ecological agriculture should be carried out for the core ecological red line, general protected areas, and basic farmland areas in the systematic conservation planning.

Retracted] Application of Intelligent Optimization Technology for Territorial Spatial Planning Based on Edge Network

As a new type of planning after the national sectoral adjustment, there is an overall lack of methodological research on the preparation of territorial spatial planning, and scholars mainly focus on the endowment of natural resources themselves, using traditional statistics, spatial and survey data and statistical analysis, spatial analysis and inductive deduction to statically evaluate the spatial carrying capacity and suitability of the national and provincial level and to make a static evaluation of ecological red line, basic farmland protection line, and The existing studies, however, have not taken into account the human and the environment. However, the existing studies seldom consider the dynamic impact of human activities on the spatial utilization of national land and lack scientific arrangement of ecological space, agricultural space, and urban space under the new development trend. This paper introduces big data that can directly reflect the spatial and temporal changes of human activities and discusses the direction and specific methodological framework of edge network‐based optimization technology from four aspects: spatial suitability evaluation, ecological spatial planning, agricultural spatial planning, and urban spatial planning, emphasizing that “natural space” + “socio‐economic activities” are mutually beneficial. The scientific path of territorial spatial planning under the interaction of “natural space” + “socio‐economic activities” is emphasized.

Research on Evaluation of Ecological Carrying Capacity of Qinghai Province Based on PSR Model

Quantitative research and evaluation of ecological carrying capacity in Qinghai Province is in line with the requirements of the 13th five-year plan, and is of practical significance to the construction of ecological civilization in Qinghai Province. Based on the PSR model, this paper constructs the evaluation index system of ecological carrying capacity from three aspects of pressure, state ,and response, uses the entropy method to determine the index weight coefficient, and comprehensively evaluates the changing trend of ecological carrying capacity since the 12th Five Year Plan of Qinghai Province from the perspectives of economy, society, resources, and environment. The results show that: from 2011 to 2019, the comprehensive evaluation of ecological carrying capacity in Qinghai Province shows a trend of first decreasing and then increasing, the response index evaluation increases greatly, the state index evaluation shows a fluctuating growth, and the pressure index is relatively stable. Based on this, the PSR model and entropy method are typical and quantifiable, which can provide a reference for Qinghai provincial government to control the ecological environment, study ecological sustainability and delimit the ecological red line.

城市生态保护红线划定与管理——以澳门特别行政区为例

我国澳门特别行政区是世界上人口密度最高的地区之一，人地关系紧张。随着城市和经济的发展，人类空间与生态空间失调，城市生态和人居环境问题不断加剧。在建设美丽湾区、美丽澳门和人们对美好人居环境需求的背景下，通过划定城市生态保护红线以控制和维持现有重要功能生态空间，保护和改善高敏感生态空间，维护区域生态安全显得尤为重要。基于对澳门陆域生态系统调查，结合城市和自然资源特征，从生态系统服务功能、生态系统敏感性、生物多样性分布以及现有生态保护区四个方面构建了城市生态保护红线划定方法框架，选取并评估水源涵养、雨洪调节、热岛调节、土壤保持、海岸带防护五类调节服务和生态系统服务中的休闲游憩的空间格局，水土流失敏感性和海岸带风暴潮敏感性两种生态敏感性的分布，并综合澳门具有保育价值生物的栖息地分布和现有保护区范围进行了城市生态保护红线的划定。研究结果显示，澳门城市生态保护红线区域总面积6.71km²，占研究区面积的19.79%，覆盖了44%的生态空间、12.4%的海岸线、所有的重要物种栖息地及三分之一的古树名木。依照此生态保护红线研究进一步提出针对各类红线地块的保护和管理措施。研究提出的城市生态保护红线划定思路，可以为其他城市的重要生态空间保护、修复与管理提供参考。;Macao Special Administrative Region is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, and the human-land relationship is tense. The fast development of the city and economy resulted in the imbalanced pattern of human space and ecological space, and serious problems of urban ecology and human settlement environment. In the context of building a beautiful Bay Area and a beautiful Macao, and people’s demand for a better living environment, it is particularly important to control and maintain the existing vitally functional ecological space, and to protect and improve the highly sensitive ecological space by delimiting the urban ecological conservation redlines, so as to maintain regional ecological security. Based on the survey of the terrestrial ecosystem in Macao and by combining the characteristics of the city and natural resources, this paper constructed a framework for the delineation of urban ecological conservation redlines from four aspects, i.e., ecosystem service functions, ecosystem sensitivity, biodiversity distribution and existing ecological protection zones. We selected and evaluated five types of regulation services (including water conservation, rain and flood regulation, heat island regulation, soil conservation, and coastal protection) and leisure and recreation in ecosystem services, and analyzed distribution of the sensitivity of water and soil erosion and the coastal storm surge. The results were further combined with the distribution of habitats of the species with high conservation value in Macao and the scope of the existing protected areas, and the urban ecological conservation redlines were finally delineated. The total area within the delineated Macao's urban ecological conservation redlines was 6.71 km², accounting for 19.79% of the study area, which covered 44% of the ecological space, 12.4% of the coastline, all the important species habitats and one third of the ancient famous trees. Corresponding protection and management measures were also provided according to different kinds of land parcels in this ecological conservation redlines. The proposed frame and method of urban ecological redlines delineation could also provide reference for conservation, restoration and management of important urban ecological spaces in other cities.

The delineation of ecological redline area for catchment sustainable management from the perspective of ecosystem services and social needs: A case study of the Xiangjiang watershed, China

China’s river basin ecosystems are facing serious environmental and structural fragmentation problems. However, there are no complete ecological redlines specifically for watershed ecological conservation. This study considers the Xiangjiang River Basin (XJRB) to propose a framework delineating the ecological redline area (ERA) on a watershed scale and highlights policy recommendations. It combines several evaluating indicators for coupling the response mechanism between human demand and ecological protection. Overall, the water supply in the XJRB meets the social demand. However, water supply in some places, such as the core area of Changsha Zhuzhou Xiangtan Urban Agglomeration and the Hengyang urban area, is still insufficient. This study considers ecosystem service functions, ecological sensitivities, and social needs and estimates the ERA of the XJRB to be 36,057 km2, accounting for 38% of the total watershed. The key ecological functional areas account for 60% of the total redline area and are concentrated in the upper reaches. Compared with the current method conducted at the national and administrative level, the redline area defined in this study by the sub-basin scale exhibits better connectivity and integrity. Moreover, the study can help ensure an accurate placement of the ecological redline while also providing an important reference for redline delineation of other river basins.

Ecological redline policy may significantly alter urban expansion and affect surface runoff in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei megaregion of China

Urban expansion leads to surface changes that disrupt hydrological processes and increases flooding risks in cities. This increase may be severe in urban megaregions where clusters of cites have agglomerated. The China Ecological Redline Policy (ERP) is a national policy that protects priority areas with high-value ecosystem services. However, it is not clear how the ERP alters megaregion expansion and what this means for surface runoff across entire regions. By integrating specified models, we developed future urban expansion scenarios for 2030 with and without the ERP in the Chinese Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) megaregion. The annual surface runoff volume under the ERP scenario decreased by 78 million m3 compared to the non-ERP involved scenario, but the ERP effectiveness at surface runoff regulation was different between the ecological redline areas (ERAs) and the non-ERAs. This suggested that multi-solutions should be incorporated into megaregions, such as regional ERPs and local, nature-based solutions, which could efficiently reduce the risk of urban flooding across whole regions.

Improved ecological monitoring for urban ecosystem protection in China

Ecological monitoring (EM) is a significant scientific topic recognized for its potential for providing basic, but vital, data for ecosystem assessment to address sustainability issues. However, a monitoring framework that can lead to EM information and data being used accurately in ecosystem management and policy design is currently lacking. China’s Ecological Redline Policy (ERP), one of the first national policies utilizing multiple ecosystem service assessment, requires strict monitoring to reveal policy effects on ecosystem services regulation. In this study, we developed a transdisciplinary framework to build up the ecological redline monitoring network in Shanghai metropolitan area, using: biodiversity, landscape structure, ecosystem function, and stakeholder opinions. We suggest that standard monitoring be based on remote sensing monitoring, supplemented by ground truth monitoring, to form a standard ‘Space-Sky-Ground’ integrated monitoring network. We also present key lessons learnt from EM practices in Shanghai. This work provides new insights on integrating EM into ERP implementation and ecosystem management on city scale, by illustrating the science-policy process and ER monitoring standards from initial design to application in policy.

Disproportioned Performances of Protected Areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

Designing and managing protected areas (PAs) has always been value-based. While all PAs provide unique values in a region, it has not been documented if their functional contributions are proportional to their land area. A challenge also arises from the governance of PAs due to differences in supporting resources, legislations, conservation goals, and guidance. Using the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region as our testbed, we designed a study to test the hypothesis that the functional contributions of 84 PAs, measured by various ecosystem service values, vulnerability and human footprint (Hf), are not proportional to land areas relative to the regional total. Disproportionate performances are partially due to the governance (i.e., national, provincial and local) and the dominant ecosystem type of each PA. We confirm our hypothesis that the functional contributions of PAs in the BTH region far exceed their total land area, with forested PAs performing better. The functional measures of PAs are highly correlated but not equally provided among PA types and under different governances. Both governance and PA type play significant roles in determining functional values and human influences, but no significant interactive influences were detected. Results from this study are updated shreds of evidence for promoting PAs as well as for establishing new PAs through the ongoing Ecological Red Lines program.

Distribution status, driving force, and protection suggestions of vegetation in Jiangsu Province, China

To provide support for the drawing of 1:500000 vegetation maps and vegetation protection in Jiangsu, the researchers performed a review on the history of research, distribution pattern, change and driving force of vegetation in Jiangsu Province, according to the research results and field investigation of Jiangsu vegetation in recent years. The series research work of the Jiangsu vegetation map began in 1964, and the final map was published in 2001. Vegetation in Jiangsu includes cultivited vegetation, planted and natural forests, herbaceous swamps, meadows, and sparse shrub grass. Cultivited vegetation is distributed in most flat areas, which mainly includes Zea mays , Triticum aestivum , and Oryza sativa . Natural forests are primarily distributed in Xuzhou, Lianyungang, Yili, and Ningzhen mountains. The natural forests include the coniferous forests such as Pinus massoniana , Pinus densiflora forests; the deciduous broad-leaved forests such as Quercus variabilis , Quercus acutissima , and Liquidambar formosana forests; the evergreen broad-leaved forests such as Quercus glauca and Schima superba forests; the bamboo forests such as Phyllostachys heterocycle forest; the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests such as Pinus massoniana and Quercus variabilis mixed forests; the evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests such as Castanopsis sclerophylla and Quercus glauca mixed forests. Planted forests are mainly distributed in the northern Jiangsu, Lixiahe and coastal plains, including Populus spp, Platycladus orientalis , Cunninghamia lanceolate , and Pinus massoniana forests. The natural wetland vegetation is mainly distributed in the Yancheng coastal wetlands, with Phragmites communis , Spartina anglica , and Spartina alterniflora marshes. Compared with the vegetation in 1983, the area of forests represented by Pinus massoniana , Platycladus orientalis , and Robinia pseudoacacia forests decreased, and herbaceous grasslands and meadows were also drastically reduced. The salt meadows of the coastal wetlands were succeeded by Spartina anglica and Spartina alterniflora swamps, and large areas of agricultural vegetation and a part of the natural forest vegetation were transformed into towns. Human activities led by urbanization affected the distribution pattern of the vegetation in Jiangsu as the major driving force for vegetation change. According to the current situation of natural vegetation in Jiangsu, three suggestions were proposed to protect natural vegetation communities. First, ecological red line protection zones should be established in Nanjing Mufu Mountain, Zhenjiang Baohua Mountain, Lianyungang Shazhou Bay, etc., where the vegetation suffered grave human interference. Second, the development and utilization of herbs and coastal cofferdam, such as Mentha canadensis and Pseudostellaria heterophylla , should be more meticulous. Third, it is necessary to enhance the control of invasive plants, such as Spartina anglica , Solidago canadensis , and Alternanthera philoxeroides .