New perspectives on the impact of human activities on natural resources in oasis areas

Abstract

Rapid economic development, accompanied by various human activities, leads to a severe loss of natural capital. Human activities also have specific positive effects, such as technological progress of enterprises and ecological engineering construction. The mixed results are attributed to a nonlinear relationship between the variables (in contrast, most earlier studies assumed a linear relationship). Therefore, the present study was conducted to re-examine the effects of urbanization, population density, planted forests, and scientific research and development on the sustainability of natural capital. A nonlinear relationship among the variables was considered, and the causal relationships among the variables were explored to gain insights into the underlying mechanisms and effects. The results demonstrated that the human occupation of the natural capital in the study area showed a fluctuating upward trend during the study period and exceeded the local ecological carrying capacity long ago. In addition, although investments in scientific and technological development positively influenced the sustainability of the natural capital, this positive effect was lagging behind the actual human appropriation of natural resources. Notably, the degree of depletion of the natural capital due to ecological reconstruction (planted forests) was heterogeneous. In particular, artificial afforestation projects were found to be unsuitable for long-term urban development in water-scarce drylands.