Grain For Green Program Research Articles

黄土高原生态系统服务权衡与协同时空变化及影响因素——以延安市为例

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 黄土高原生态系统服务权衡与协同时空变化及影响因素——以延安市为例 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201808141730 作者: 作者单位: 陕西师范大学 地理科学与旅游学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地项目（14JJD840004）；国家自然科学基金项目（41371523） Spatial and temporal changes in the synergy and trade-off between ecosystem services, and its influencing factors in Yanan, Loess Plateau Author: Affiliation: School of Geography and Tourism，Shaanxi Normal University Fund Project: The Major Project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Science of the Ministry of Education; National Nature Science Foundation of China 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:明确黄土高原生态系统服务权衡与协同的时空变化特征及影响因素，深刻理解能源开发和经济发展背景下黄土高原多种生态系统服务之间的相关关系，为实现经济与生态保护的协调发展提供理论依据。以黄土高原典型区延安市为例，探讨1993-2013年间生态服务价值（植被净初级生产力、土壤保持、水源涵养和食物供给）之间权衡与协同关系的时空变化特征，以及退耕还林政策和地形坡度对生态系统服务权衡与协同关系动态变化的影响。结果表明：①各类生态系统服务之间呈现不同的相关关系，食物供给与土壤保持、水源涵养以及NPP之间均为权衡关系，NPP与土壤保持、水源涵养之间为协同关系，土壤保持与水源涵养呈现协同关系；②20年来延安市生态系统服务整体表现为权衡加强协同减弱的趋势；③对比退耕还林区与非退耕还林区权衡与协同的动态变化，发现退耕还林区各类生态服务多呈协同关系且不断加强，而在非退耕还林区多表现为权衡关系；④坡度为15°-25°地区生态服务冲突最为显著，大于25°地区生态服务协同作用显著；⑤NPP与水源涵养的协同关系呈现北部高南部低的分布规律，NPP与食物供给权衡程度在延安市北部较强而东部较弱，水源涵养与食物供给的权衡关系在延安市西南部更为突出而北部最弱。 Abstract:Clarifying the temporal and spatial changes in the trade-off and synergy between ecosystem services and its influencing factors in the Loess Plateau (LP) provides the basis for a better understanding of the interaction of ecosystem services in the background of energy and economic development. It also provides a theoretical basis for the coordinated development of economy and ecological protection. Using the partial correlation spatial statistical analysis, we investigated the spatio-temporal variation in the trade-off and synergy between ecosystem services (net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation, water conservation, and food supply) and analyzed its influencing factors through the study of Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP) and non-Grain-for-Green Program (non-GFGP). We also assessed the effect of terrain slope on the dynamic changes in the trade-off and synergy during 1993-2013. The results obtained were as follows. (1) Various kinds of ecosystem services in Yanan have different correlations. We found that food supply and soil conservation, food supply and water conservation, and food supply and NPP have a trade-off relationship. There was a synergistic relationship between NPP and soil conservation, NPP and water conservation, and soil conservation and water conservation. (2) In addition, between 1993 and 2013, this synergistic relationship showed a downward trend, whereas, the trade-off relationship demonstrated an upward trend. (3) Furthermore, a comparison of the dynamic changes in the trade-off and synergy between GFGP and non-GFGP showed that various ecosystem services in GFGP have a synergistic relationship, and it continued to increase, but it showed a conflicting relationship in non-GFGP. (4) The conflict between ecosystem services in the area of 15°-25° was obvious, but in the area of > 25°, the synergistic relationship was evident. (5) In terms of the synergistic relationship between NPP and water conservation, the strongest evidence was found in the north of Yanan and the lowest was observed in the south. Moreover, the strongest trade-off relationship between NPP and food supply was in the north, whereas, the weakest was in the east. While exploring the trade-off between water conservation and food supply, we found that it is the strongest in the southest of Yanan and the lowest in the north. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Impact of the Grain for Green program on forest cover in China

ABSTRACTChina’s Grain for Green (GFG) program, one of the world’s largest Payments for Environmental Services programs, has been implemented for more than ten years. However, empirical evidence on its impact on increasing the forest cover is still lacking. The goal of this research is to estimate GFG’s effect on the total forest cover and examine its heterogeneity across four types of forests. To do so, we utilize a rich panel of GIS data set (1988–2008) containing 409 counties in four provinces. We found a small but significant treatment impact on increasing the total forest cover as well as three out of four types of forest cover, but that the impact is not equal across the forest types. We discuss the implications of these findings in future program design.

Ecosystem Services and Their Relationships in the Grain-for-Green Programme—A Case Study of Duolun County in Inner Mongolia, China

Grassland restoration projects are currently being implemented to mitigate human disturbance to the natural environment and reduce grassland degradation. China’s Grain-for-Green Programme (GFGP), including one project implemented in Duolun County, China, in 2000, has significantly improved the overall ecological health of this region. Using a modeling approach, this study quantified changes in four ecosystem services (ESs), including Net Primary Production (NPP), soil conservation (SC), water yield (WY), and sandstorm prevention (SP), in Duolun County between 2000 and 2016. We found the total NPP, water yield, and soil conservation increased by 80.44%, 248.2%, and 12.2%, respectively, during this period, while the sandstorm prevention decreased by 55.9%. Unlike other areas of GFGP implementation, the improvement of the ecological environment in Duolun County is largely attributed to the increased of vegetation coverage (88%) instead of land use circulation (12%). We found the grassland is a factor that reduces the trade-off while this effect was related with the grassland coverage. Future policies should be based on the mechanisms of vegetation underlying the ESs change and the relationships of ESs in order to achieve sustainable provision of ESs.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture driven by ‘Grain for Green’ program on the Loess Plateau, China

The continuous afforestation has led to significant changes in soil moisture (SM) dynamics on the Loess Plateau, China (LPC). However, evaluating the spatio-temporal distributions and driving factors of the SM changes following afforestation is challenging because of the difficulty of accessing areas and the lack of long-term series records. Here, we evaluated the accuracy of Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) SM product by comparing with in-situ SM data in LPC, and quantified the spatio-temporal variations of SM in different periods from 1982 to 2015 under the ‘Grain for Green’ program (GGP). The results showed that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was well matched with the SM variations in more than 46% area of LPC from 1982 to 2015, which mainly located at the vegetated areas. The variations of SM responding to revegetation displayed obvious southeast-negative and northwest-positive patterns, which was the wet region (annual precipitation >450 mm) to be dry and dry region (annual precipitation ≤450 mm) to be wet. Path coefficient value revealed that the positive effect of vegetation activity for grassland on SM was ascribed to its promotion on the occurrence of rainfall (mean path coefficient = 0.278). Precipitation played vital impact on the SM in bareland and sparsely vegetated area, and evapotranspiration played a dominant role in the SM dynamic of the forestland, especially at the early stage of GGP (From 2000 to 2010), while precipitation and NDVI had stronger effects than evapotranspiration on the SM dynamics of grassland. Our study suggests that in arid and semi-arid areas, vegetation achieves the optimal water retention capacity when the vegetation fractions are 1.4%–3.7% and 3.8%–7.2%, respectively. Hence, vegetation should not be further expanded in semi-humid areas, but should be further restored in arid and semi-arid areas with sparse or excessively sparse vegetation cover (especially in desert).

Landscape Change and the Sustainable Development Strategy of Different Types of Ethnic Villages Driven by the Grain for Green Program

The Grain for Green Program (GGP) is an important ecological project in China that was implemented to tackle serious soil erosion and forest loss for sustainable development. Investigating landscape change is an efficient way to monitor and assess the implementation of GGP. In this paper, 180 ethnic villages, including 36 Miao and Dong (MD) villages with combined populations of Miao people and Dong people, 65 Dong villages, and 79 Miao villages in Qiandongnan Prefecture were selected to investigate the influence of GGP on ethnic villages by evaluating the landscape changes before and after the implementation of the GGP within 1-km and 2-km distance buffers around ethnic villages. The results show that the GGP has more significant positive impacts on reforestation around Miao villages than Dong villages and MD villages because Miao villages are mostly located in higher and steeper areas, which are the focus of the GGP. Based on the analysis, a continuation of the GGP in Qiandongnan Prefecture is recommended, as it can incentivize the recovery of forest cover in steeper slopes. More attention should now be paid to the Dong villages and MD villages, which were not previously a focus of the GGP.

Targeted control measures for improving the environment in a semiarid region of China

Land degradation results from the interactions among multiple climate and human factors. Solving the problem requires a holistic strategy that deals with all significant factors simultaneously. However, it is difficult to solve such problems because few researchers have studied the simultaneous effects of these interactions, making it difficult to develop a truly holistic strategy. To help land managers find such a strategy, we have proposed and tested a new approach for ecological restoration in which we calculated the simultaneous contributions of multiple factors during vegetation cover change in Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, China, from 2000 to 2016. After implementing the new approach, the vegetation cover increased by 35.7% during the study period, which is 2.3 times the rate in the rest of Shaanxi Province, where only the national Grain for Green program was implemented. The new approach accounted for 74.0% of the increased vegetation cover in the first year, and comparable values in the second and third years. Our results provide important information to guide sustainable development in China, and our approach can be adapted for use in other nations that are facing similar problems.

Cropland abandonment enhances soil inorganic nitrogen retention and carbon stock in China: A meta‐analysis

AbstractTransforming cropland into a semi‐natural ecosystem is an effective approach to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen sequestration. However, we know little about large‐scale response patterns of SOC, soil inorganic nitrogen (SIN), and their interactions over long time of ecosystem restoration. Here, we conducted a meta‐analysis to examine changes in SOC, SIN, and their relationship along 50 year's ecosystem development from cropland transformation in China's ‘Grain for Green’ Programme. Our results showed that SOC and SIN were consistently enhanced by 57% and 35% with transformation, respectively. Similar with SOC, SIN had higher response magnitudes when cropland was restored to forests (47%) than to shrublands (36%) and grasslands (24%). Both SOC and SIN response ratios showed a quadratic relationship with precipitation. Moreover, we found a strong linear relationship (R2 = 0.36) between SOC and SIN response ratio, with the slope indicating a 0.43% increase in SIN per 1% of increasing SOC. This SIN retention capacity (the slope) significantly increased with restoration time but reduced with precipitation, temperature, and initial SOC. Restored forest had a lower SIN retention capacity than had shrubland and grassland. Overall, this study represents the first to regionally uncover SIN retention mechanism with increasing SOC during ecosystem development. It suggests that ecosystem restoration will contribute more to relieving serious environmental problems (i.e., N leaching and N2O emission) by enhancing SIN retention in China's Grain for Green Programme.

Assessing the influences of ecological restoration on perceptions of cultural ecosystem services by residents of agricultural landscapes of western China

Landscape change caused by ecological restoration projects has both positive and negative influences on human livelihoods, yet surprisingly little research on the cultural consequences of ecological restoration in agricultural landscapes has taken place. Cultural consequences can be captured in the ecosystem services framework as cultural ecosystem services (CES). However, assessment and valuation of these services to support decision-making for this essential ecosystem is lacking. To help fill this gap, we assessed the opinions of Chinese rural communities about CES and the changes in their perception under the Grain for Green program (GFG), a nationwide program to relieve the pressure on ecosystems (soil erosion and land degradation) by converting cultivated land or barren land on steep slopes into grassland and forests. We used Guyuan City in China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as a case study, using a workshop to identify the CES provided by the agricultural landscape, followed by semi-structured household interviews to quantify perceptions of these CES. We found that all eight CES types identified by the workshop were perceived by the rural communities. Reforestation changed their perceptions of CES directly due to land cover change and indirectly due to the resulting economic changes and migration of mostly young workers in search of better jobs. Cultivated land was perceived as more important than forest for CES provision. In addition, residential areas were perceived as providing significant CES because of local traditions that produce close and highly social neighborhood bonds in agricultural landscapes.

Assessing divergent consequences of payments for ecosystem services on rural livelihoods: A case‐study in China's Loess Hills

AbstractPayments for ecosystem services (PES) are often used as a tool for arresting land degradation and desertification. Nevertheless, deeper investigation of farm household systems (FHSs) changes during PES projects is rather limited. It is important to understand how various FHSs evolve with the divergent resource allocation strategies aiming at livelihood security in response to the PES scheme. Taking the Grain for Green Programme (GGP) in China as an example, the intended and unintended consequences of a PES scheme on land management and conservation are analyzed. Using principal component analysis and cluster analysis, FHSs types are identified, whereas composite indices regarding environmental, economic, and food security are created to assess the livelihood security of each type. This is followed by a regression analysis to explore the determinants of the livelihood security, as well as a cost–benefit analysis that investigates the multidimensional costs and benefits of FHSs types. The results show that seven distinct FHSs types evolved under the GGP PES scheme, with significant differences in livelihood security components. The strategy of setting aside the optimal share of land for ecosystem services, such as erosion reduction, and then compensating the economic loss with permanent and market‐oriented farming activities (greenhouse horticulture and orchards) can establish a positive link between economic development and environmental protection. Findings indicate that careful consideration of market, institutional, and policy interventions for supporting FHSs reorganization under PES schemes is needed to align the environmental goals with food and economic security goals of farm households, ensuring sustainability of the benefits while limiting the unintended consequences.

Biomass carbon storages and carbon sequestration potentials of the Grain for Green Program-Covered Forests in China.

The Grain for Green Program (GGP) was the most all‐embracing program of ecological reconstruction implemented in China. To estimate carbon storages and carbon sequestration potentials of the GGP forests, the study presented in the paper collected data spanning from 1999 to 2010, such as tree species, tree planting area relevant to the GGP, empirical growth curves suitable for different planted tree species in China, as well as wood density (WD), biomass expansion factor (BEF), carbon fraction (CF) of different trees species, and estimated the carbon storages of the biomasses of GGP forests from 1999 to 2050. It showed that the total carbon storage of the biomass of GGP forests was 320.29 Tg upon the GGP completion in 2010; the total carbon sequestration is higher during the early GGP‐implementation stage than at the late GGP‐implementation stage, and the annual mean carbon sequestration of GGP forests was 26.69 Tg/year. The potential of GGP forests as carbon sink presented an increasing increment. In China, the potential increments of GGP forests as carbon sinks were estimated to be 397.34, 604.00, 725.53, and 808.90 Tg in 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050, respectively, and the carbon sequestration rates were 1.72, 0.89, 0.52, and 0.36 Mg ha−1 year−1, respectively, corresponding to 2010s, 2020s, 2030s, and 2040s. Therefore, the GGP forests had bigger carbon sequestration capacities and potentials in China.

Impacts of China's Grain for Green Program on Migration and Household Income.

In the late 1990s, China's Yangtze and Yellow River Basins suffered devastating natural disasters widely attributed to the degradation of soil and water resources. The Government of China responded with a number of major environmental programs, the most expensive and influential of which, the Grain for Green (GfG) Program, was implemented widely from 1999. Under the GfG Program-also known as the Sloping Land Conversion or Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program-the central government compensates farmers to convert cropland on steep slopes or otherwise ecologically sensitive areas to forest or grassland. Its long-term success depends on households' ability to make sustainable changes to their household income streams and income diversification strategies. In this paper, we use a difference-in-difference estimation approach to examine the role of migration as a household-level response to the GfG Program, testing the extent to which individuals migrate following a reduction in land available for farming. Importantly, we exploit 15 years of data on migration decisions and establish that participating and non-participating households were on parallel migration paths before the program, thus refuting a key threat to causality in a difference-in-difference model. We find that participating families do, in fact, choose migration as an income diversification strategy more frequently than non-participants. The program effects varied over time but peaked post-Great Recession in 2011 when migration rates in GfG households exceeded those of non-GfG households by 5.9% points (p = 0.003) or about 26%. Our findings should encourage policymakers that families are making long-term adjustments to their livelihood strategies to avoid poverty in anticipation of the eventual withdrawal of government supports.

An estimation of the extent of cropland abandonment in mountainous regions of China

AbstractWith the wages for migrant workers increasing dramatically in China since 2003, the size of the agricultural labour forces has been shrinking rapidly. Intensively substituting agricultural machinery for the shrinking farm labour force is hardly possible for croplands in the mountainous regions of China where mechanization is difficult to achieve due to small field size and rough terrain. This has eventually led to cropland abandonment in these regions. Considering the high pressure for food security in China, cropland abandonment in the mountainous regions should not be ignored. By employing a novel method, this study estimates the extent of recently abandoned croplands (period 2000–2010) and the changes that can be expected in the future in China's mountainous areas. The results show that the total extent of abandoned croplands in Chinese mountainous counties during the period 2000 to 2010 is estimated at 147 million mu (1 mu = 666.67 m2); in total, about 28% of croplands in mountainous counties was abandoned, including croplands converted in the Grain for Green Programme. With 3 scenario assumptions, a sizeable extent, 114 to 203 million mu, of croplands may be abandoned from 2010 to 2030 with the rapid decrease and ageing of projected farm labour forces. This could exacerbate the future challenges of maintaining China's food security. A substantial increase in agricultural project investments, including land consolidation and agricultural productive fixed assets, especially microtillage machines, could help mitigate the risk of cropland abandonment. Additionally, land‐use and environmental policymaking should take into account the expanding cropland abandonment in mountainous regions.

Conservation Payments, Off-Farm Labor, and Ethnic Minorities: Participation and Impact of the Grain for Green Program in China

The Grain for Green program in China, a nationwide cropland set-aside program aimed at soil erosion prevention and poverty alleviation, was begun in 1999 and quickly expanded to 25 provinces, covering 32 million households. Its effects on participating households are well studied, but the role of ethnic characteristics is less well investigated. Given the overlap of areas covered by Grain for Green and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, where development is a long-unresolved problem, it is important to determine how ethnic minorities react to, and benefit from, the Grain for Green program. This study investigates participation in the program by ethnic minorities and estimates its impact on their off-farm labor supply, compared with that of the ethnic majority, Han. We find that ethnic minorities were more likely to participate in the program, but enrolled similar area of land per household. However, ethnic minorities did not increase off-farm labor supply after participation in Grain for Green, while Han participants increased their off-farm labor supply significantly. These findings raise concerns that Grain for Green may have widened the income gap between Han and ethnic minorities. This study also provides important policy implications on sustainable land management for less-developed regions.

Energy modeling simulation of changes in ecosystem services before and after the implementation of a Grain-for-Green program on the Loess Plateau—A case study of the Zhifanggou valley in Ansai County, Shaanxi Province, China

Understanding the relationship between land use change and ecosystem services is critical for achieving sustainable ecosystem services and for developing scientifically effective eco-conservation policies. The Zhifanggou watershed is a typical hill and gully region on the Loess Plateau that has experienced a process of serious damage and rapid recovery in recent decades, and the accompanying land use changes have been dramatic. Taking the Zhifanggou watershed as an example, this study built an energy flow model for the watershed considering croplands, woodlands and grasslands as components. This study evaluated the changes in ecosystem service values before and after the implementation of a Grain for Green (GFG) program using the method of equivalent value factor per-unit of ecosystem area. Then changes in ecosystem service values in the Zhifanggou watershed were simulated. The results were as follows: (1) the total value of ecosystem services showed a linear increase (P < 0.01) from 1995 to 2010, increase 44.2% over this time. In addition, the provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural service values showed a cooperative growth trend (P < 0.01). (2) The change in ecosystem service values in the watershed was very small over the period examined and if the GFG program continues, it will stabilize after a slight net increase. Provisioning services showed a downward trend, while regulating, supporting and cultural services show an upward trend, furthermore, provisioning services showed a trade-off relationship with the other three services (P < 0.01). (3) If the cycle of deforestation and reclamation to agriculture continues, the ecosystem service values will decrease by approximately 83% in the next 30 years, the ecosystems will be seriously damaged again, and the values of all four types of ecosystem services will show a decreasing trend (P < 0.01). In general, the ecological environment of the Zhifanggou watershed has been stabilized by the Grain for Green program. However, the government’s scientific and rational policies to ensure that the GFG program results are not destroyed and to achieve stable and sustainable development on the Loess Plateau are still needed.

Livelihood changes matter for the sustainability of ecological restoration: A case analysis of the Grain for Green Program in China's largest Giant Panda Reserve.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are expected to promote ecological restoration while simultaneously improving human livelihoods. As an adaptive management tool, PES programs should be dynamic and adjusted according to changing natural and socio‐economic contexts. Taking the implementation of China's famous ecological restoration policy known as the Grain for Green Program (GGP) in the Wolong National Nature Reserve as an example, we analyzed changes in the livelihood capitals and strategies of local households that had participated in the GGP over a 10‐year period and discussed the implications of these changes for the next stage of the program's implementation. Data were collected from a locally implemented questionnaire in both 2004 and 2015. We found that local livelihood capitals and strategies had experienced dramatic change over the 10‐year period. Natural capital decreased and was unequally distributed among local respondents. In terms of financial capital, despite that agricultural and nonagricultural income increased, compensation from the GGP decreased and did not keep pace with increasing cost of cropland, household income and more broadly national economic development and inflation. Regarding human capital, the local labor force is facing huge transformational pressures. In particular, there is a increase in the supply of local labor force aged between 21 and 40 and the implications of this for the future of the GGP should be given more attention. The findings have demonstrated that: Some changes in participants’ livelihood were expected by the GGP but were not evenly distributed among the participants; and PES programs are embedded in changing and multi‐dimensional socio‐economic contexts, and so their design and implementation must be coordinated with other related policies if they are to achieve long‐term success.

Impacts of Drought and Human Activity on Vegetation Growth in the Grain for Green Program Region, China

The Chinese government adopted six ecological restoration programs to improve its natural environments. Although these programs have proven successful in improving local environments, some studies have questioned their performance when regions suffer from drought. Whether we should consider the effects of drought on vegetation change in assessments of the benefits of ecological restoration programs is unclear. Therefore, taking the Grain for Green Program (GGP) region as a study area, we estimated vegetation growth in the region from 2000–2010 to clarify the trends in vegetation and their driving forces. Results showed that: 1) vegetation growth increased in the GGP region during 2000–2010, with 59.4% of the area showing an increase in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This confirmed the benefits of the ecological restoration program. 2) Drought can affect the vegetation change trend, but human activity plays a significant role in altering vegetation growth, and the slight downward trend in the NDVI was not consistent with the severity of the drought. Positive human activity led to increased NDVI in 89.13% of areas. Of these, 22.52% suffered drought, but positive human activity offset the damage in part. 3) Results of this research suggest that appropriate human activity can maximize the benefits of ecological restoration programs and minimize the effects of extreme weather. We therefore recommend incorporating eco-risk assessment and scientific management mechanisms in the design and management of ecosystem restoration programs.

Is afforestation-induced land use change the main contributor to vegetation dynamics in the semiarid region of North China?

Quantitatively analyzing the response of vegetation dynamics to land use change is very important, especially it relates to gaining a better understanding of the effects of ecological restoration projects. Previous studies have focused on the effects of land use change caused by the Grain for Green Project (GGP) on vegetation dynamics, but the effects from other changes in land use have less been explored. Therefore, in order to bridge this gap, Landsat images and MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data were used to examine how land use had changed from 2000 to 2014 as well as to study its influence on vegetation growth in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia, China. For this, four major land use change processes were identified through land use trajectories analysis: the Grain for Green Program (GGP), agricultural intensification, cropland abandonment, and cropland degradation. The GGP caused 36.60% of the total land use change in our study area, while three other processes caused the remaining of 44.40%. Anthropogenic activities significantly influenced vegetation coverage in 10.47% of the research area based on residual trend analysis. Pixels analysis showed 8.72% of the research area experienced a significant increase in vegetation coverage, where 39.53% of this increase was caused by afforestation while 33.25% was attributable to agricultural intensification. However, vegetation degradation was observed in 1.75% of the research area, of which 12.91% was caused by afforestation, an amount that was lower than that caused by the combined effects of the other three practices. Overall, afforestation can effectively increase vegetation coverage, but the overall effects can be undermined by other unstainable land use. However, although agricultural intensification contributed greatly to an increase in vegetation coverage, it also caused severe land degradation. This study demonstrates that ecological restoration projects and regional ecological systems are facing increasing pressure in Ulanqab City caused by an increase in human activity. Managing and maintaining restoration projects sustainably and appropriately in fragile areas will help land managers to achieve better results during vegetation restoration as well as to contribute to sustainable development.

Land use optimization based on ecosystem service assessment: A case study in the Yanhe watershed

Regional land use change can significantly change the ecosystem patterns and processes, resulting in changes of ecosystem services supplies. Large-scale ecological restoration programmes have been implemented in China to restore and sustain ecosystem services. We selected the Yanhe watershed on China’s Loess Plateau, which has experienced the Grain for Green Programme (GFGP), as study area, and we used specialized models to quantify four ecosystem services (water provision, soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and agricultural production) under land use scenarios relative to actual land use change from 2000 to 2015. These scenarios were set according to slope, land use type and water constraint of the watershed to improve water quantity, carbon sequestration, soil retention, agricultural production, and sub-watershed water sustainability. The results show that from 2000 to 2015, 66% of farmlands converted to grassland, 12% of farmlands converted to forest, and farmland proportion declined from 42.0% to 5.3%, while water provision and agricultural production services declined by 12% and 87%, and soil conservation and carbon sequestration services increased by 13% and 3%. Furthermore, under five specific scenarios that converted all retired farmland to grassland in the water-short area and maintained farmland at 0–10° slope in the water-adequate area, all four ecosystem services improved compared with 2015 levels. By identifying optimized land use scenario of retired farmland, we refined general principles of future analyses and decision making in ecological restoration. Comprehensively analyzing slope, land use type and water constraint of the watershed when choosing land use scenarios for GFGP can effectively resolve trade-offs among multiple ecosystem services and can promote regional sustainable development.

Bamboo vs. crops: An integrated emergy and economic evaluation of using bamboo to replace crops in south Sichuan Province, China

Based on long-term monitoring conducted in Chang-ning county, a pilot site of the 'Grain for Green Program' (GFGP), an integrated emergy and economic method was applied to evaluate the dynamic ecological-economic performance of 3 kinds of bamboo systems planted on sloping farmland. The results confirmed the positive effects of all 3 kinds of bamboo systems on water conservation and soil erosion control. The benefits gained progressively increased during the first 8 years after conversion, going from 4639 to 16127 EMyuan/ha/yr on average. All three bamboo plantations were much more sustainable than common agricultural crops planted on sloping land (CP) on both the short and long-term scales with their Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI) and Emergy Index for Sustainable Development (EISD), respectively, being 14.07-325.71 and 80.35-265.80 times that of CP. However, all 3 bamboo plantations had a Net Economic Benefit (NEB) less than that of CP during the first 8 years after conversion. Even with the government-mandated ecological compensation applied, the annual NEBECs of the Bambusa rigida (BR) and Phyllostachys pubescense (PP) plantations were, respectively, 3922.03 and 7422.77 yuan/ha/yr lower than the NEB of CP. Emergy-based evaluation of ecosystem services provides an objective reference for applying ecological compensation in strategy-making, but it cannot wholly solve the economic viability problem faced by all bamboo plantations. Inter-planting annual herbs or edible fungus, such as Dictyophora echinovolvata, within bamboo forests, especially in young bamboo plantations, might be a direction for optimizing bamboo cultivation that would improve its economic viability.

A New Regionalization Scheme for Effective Ecological Restoration on the Loess Plateau in China

To prevent potentially unsuitable activities during vegetation restoration, it is important to examine the impact of historical restoration activities on the target ecological system to inform future restoration policies. Taking the Loess Plateau of China as an example, a regionalization method and corresponding scheme were proposed to select suitable vegetation types (forested lands, woody grasslands/bushlands, grasslands, or xerophytic shrublands and semi-shrublands) for a given location using remote sensing technology in order to analyze the vegetation growth status before and after the largest ecological conservation project in the country: The Grain for Green Program (GTGP). To design the scheme, remote sensing data covering the periods before and after the implementation of the GTGP (the 1980s and 2001–2013) were collected, along with soil, meteorological, and topographic data. The net primary production (NPP) values for 2001–2013 were calculated using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model. Locations representing the native vegetation and the restored vegetation were first recognized using maps of vegetation cover. Then, for the restored vegetation area, the places suitable for planting the covered vegetation type were selected by comparing the NPP value of the corresponding vegetation type in the native vegetation area to the NPP value in the site under consideration. Third, half of these sites were uniformly selected based on their NPP value, and these areas and the native vegetation area were used as training regions. Based on weather, soil, and topographic data, a new regionalization scheme was designed using standardized Euclidean distances. Finally, data from the remainder of the Loess Plateau were used to validate the new regionalization scheme, which was also compared to an existing Chinese eco-geographical regionalization scheme. The results showed that the new regionalization scheme performed well, with an average potential classification accuracy of 81.81%. Compared with the eco-geographical regionalization scheme, the new scheme exhibited improved the consistency of vegetation dynamics, reflecting the potential to better guide vegetation restoration activities on the Loess Plateau.