The role of human activity in decreasing ecologically sound land use in China

Abstract

Ecologically sound land (ESL) represents a meaningful geographical spatial unit that provides ecological goods and services at various scales. However, few studies focusing on national‐ or regional‐scale changes in ESL use and the degradation of the land ecosystem in China have been based on reliable and up‐to‐date land survey data. The study aimed to analyze the relationship between the changes in ESL use and human activities and regional policies, as well as land ecosystem degradation. The results indicated that land capitalization, resulting from rapid industrialization, urbanization, and the effects of regional land policies and large land projects, caused a clear decrease in grassland and wetland ecosystems, and an increase in forest ecosystem, varying in extent during different periods. Land ecosystem degradation, according to the decreased ecosystem service provision index (ESPI), was concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, the southwestern regions, and the Inner Mongolia Plateau, where human activity was concentrated. From 2009 to 2015, such degraded land amounted to 9.51% of the Counties. The degradation in ESL use caused a decrease in the ecological goods and services provided by the ecosystems. Land ecosystem degradation resulting from the abandonment of natural grassland and farmland is a prominent and complex problem in China. Optimizing the regional spatial patterns of ESL use was critical for sustainable ecosystem management. Balancing compromises and synergies between providing ecological goods or socioeconomic benefits and ecological costs at a regional or national scale was found crucial for land policy making.

Mapping Impacts of Human Activities from Nighttime Light on Vegetation Cover Changes in Southeast Asia

“…We conducted the statistics for the percent of grid counts under different overall VIIRS/DNB trend ranges (Figure 3). Ten of 11 SEA countries exhibited a typical Gaussianshaped distribution, except for Singapore (SGP) with a small land area, which showed consistence with the existing research results [3,56]. Thus, we set the range (-0.2 to 0.4, peak areas of Gaussian curves) as the no VIIRS/DNB change area, and we set other regions (>0.4 or <-0.2) with large variation in human activities (V-change) as the target area for further analysis (Figure 3).…”

Monitoring ecosystem service change in the City of Shenzhen by the use of high‐resolution remotely sensed imagery and deep learning

“…For instance, domestic garbage increased from 4.57 to 6.03 million tons, and domestic sewage increased dramatically from 640 to 1392 million tons from 2005 to 2017 (Human Settlements and Environment Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, ). Improper disposal of these wastes results in deterioration of the ecological environment and its services, and this trend is being intensified (Abulizi et al, ; Wang et al, ). According to the “China Sustainable Cities Report” (), the City of Shenzhen ranks 19 out of the 35 large‐ and medium‐sized cities in China in terms of the water pollutant discharge indicator and is 30th for the solid water discharge indicator.…”

Identification and Prediction of Wetland Ecological Risk in Key Cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt: From the Perspective of Land Development

“…With the development of science and technology and the dramatic increase in population, human activities have had a major impact on the environment in the past few decades [5,6]. A series of factors, including urbanization, infrastructure construction, and agricultural activities, have led to and are accelerating environmental problems, such as the deterioration of water quality in wetlands, the decline in biodiversity, and lake shrinking [7][8][9]. These environmental problems have led to a reduction in the supply of ecosystem services [10][11][12][13].…”