Human–desertification coupling relationship in a karst region of China

Abstract

Forward and reverse succession of karst rocky desertification (KRD) occur simultaneously and are linked to human activity, thus presenting a mutual feedback loop.Previous studies have focused on the unilateral human-driven mechanism of KRD or KRD's impact on social-economic activities. These lack quantitative measurement and an in-depth understanding of the interactions involved. Therefore, this study builds and applies a novel model for measuring the coupling relationship and degree between KRD and social-economic activity in the Guizhou karst region of China. The results show an overall improvement but local deterioration in KRD from 2000 to 2011; conversely, social-economic activity intensities increased during that time period. With their spatio-temporal variation, positive and negative humandesertification coupling relationships with an increased coupling degree are found. Different coupling relationship types between KRD and social-economic development, including urbanization, economic development, and household income, are shown. We found that KRD is strongly positively coupled with specific human behavior intensities, such as population movement, steep slope cultivation, and ecological restoration. An inverted U-shaped curve is observed in the coupling index of KRD and urbanization within different development levels. Negative coupling at a low urbanization level indicates the limitation of the karst physical environment upon social-economic development. Positive coupling with increasing urbanization implies a conflict between environment protection and social-economic development. A return to negative coupling in several counties with high urbanization levels indicates a "win-win" for ecology and the economy. The proposed coupling model's effectiveness is demonstrated, informing differentiated strategies for combating KRD and improving social-economic development.

Impact of ecological restoration on ecosystem service trade‐offs: Insight from karst desertification control

“…It is concluded that ecological quality is generally negatively correlated with economic development, which is closely related to the past model of sacrificing ecological resources for economic development (Xu & Zhang, 2021). Among them, the trade-off between greening and the economy in non-degraded ecoregions is alleviated with the time of ERP.…”

“…Instead, it is exacerbated in degraded ecoregions. Generally, the economy is closely related to land development (Xu & Zhang, 2021). On the one hand, ERP in degraded ecoregion promotes land functional transformation and agricultural livelihood shift compared to developed land, which limits land development and economic development.…”

Balancing the Effects of Forest Conservation and Restoration on South China Karst Greening

“…The third category was that the forest restoration tended to the areas with rich forest resources, while the native forest was not protected well, mainly in the karst area of Guizhou Province. The comprehensive rocky desertification control project in Guizhou Province had 78 pilot counties in 2008, covering the province's whole rocky desertification control region, and the afforestation was the main measure in this region (Xu & Zhang, 2021). The fourth was the category in which areas with rich forest resources were protected well, while the forest restoration was limited, mainly occurred in Chongqing City and the karst counties of Yunnan Province.…”

From expansion to shrinkage: Exploring the evolution and transition of karst rocky desertification in karst mountainous areas of Southwest China

“…Some have studied the relationship between KRD, natural factors and socio‐economic factors (Xu & Zhang, 2014), while others have simulated the future evolution/trend of KRD (Chen et al, 2021; Xu & Zhang, 2018), and found that geological factors play the first role in determining the macro‐ecological pattern of KRD (Jiang et al, 2020). Restoration and reconstruction efforts in the area have helped to restore vegetation cover (Qi et al, 2013), and there has been a shift from negative coupling to positive coupling, then to a negative coupling between KRD and urbanization (Xu & Zhang, 2021). In some studies, the process of landscape transition in KMA, that is, the formation process of KRD has been emphasized (Jiang et al, 2014; Wang, Xin, & Wang, 2019; Wang, Zhang, et al, 2019).…”