Vegetation restoration is an important way to improve the sustainability of the ecosystem in the hilly Loess Plateau. The variation of vegetation coverage, caused by the combined effects of ...meteorological factors and human activities, reflects the succession trend of regional ecosystems. Given the complexity and the diversity of landform in the hilly Loess Plateau, vegetation restoration is more affected by topographic factors. Nevertheless, few studies have considered the characteristics and trends of vegetation restoration under different micro-topographic types in the long-time series. From the perspective of ecological resilience based on the fractional vegetation cover (FVC), the trend, the hurst exponent, and the geographical spatial research were used to analyze the variation and future sustainability of vegetation restoration on different micro-topographic types for 20 years. Besides, the spatial autocorrelation, principal component analysis (PCA) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were applied to identify the driving factors of vegetation restoration. The results showed: (1) the average of the overall regional vegetation coverage was 61.32%, and only 0.95% of the regional vegetation was degraded in the past 20 years. However, in the future, 69.87% of the area would be degraded from improvement, and 0.52% would be significantly decreased; (2) the vegetation coverage in descending order was as follows: ridge area with shady and steep slope, gully area with shady and steep slope, ridge area with sunny and steep slope, gully area with sunny and steep slope, gully area with shady and gentle slope, ridge area with shady and gentle slope, ridge area with sunny and gentle slope, gully area with sunny and gentle slope, valley area; (3) the difference of vegetation degradation among micro-topography was remarkable, and the valley area and gully area with sunny and steep slope have the greatest decrease; (4) the primary factors affecting vegetation restoration in the hilly Loess Plateau were temperature, moisture, soil quality, and social economical condition, and the dominant factors were various under different micro-topographic types and villages. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust ecological engineering measures by comprehensively considering the regional differences among dominant factors of vegetation restoration.
•Vegetation coverage showed a fluctuating and rising trend.•Vegetation restoration would be unsustainable in the future.
Grain for Green project has achieved substantial results in ecological reconstruction and social benefits in China. Meantime, some doubts also exist, and one of the most concerned themes is its ...sustainability. Although some studies address this topic, there are deficiencies in the research scale and depth. In this work, except for traditional growth trend analysis of vegetation restoration by using vegetation index from 2000 to 2016 in Wuqi County of China, Moran’s I was used to analyze the competition for water and nutrients among the vegetation due to restricted space, and the Hurst exponent was used to analyze the future development trends of the vegetation cover. The results show that although the vegetation coverage rate of the study area has improved steadily since the implementation of the ecological policy, limited further improvement in the study area is possible in the future; and vegetation restoration is generally sustainable in the southeastern part of the study area but not in the northwestern part of the study area from a spatial perspective. In terms of driving factors, natural factors are the decisive factors affecting the sustainability of vegetation restoration; ecological projects and maintenance measures may promote vegetation restoration generally but they should be controlled at a certain level, otherwise, the counterproductive result would be obtained. Therefore, vegetation restoration should be adapted to local conditions rather than uniform standards being adopted for the entire region, and this conclusion should apply equally to ecological restoration efforts in other regions of the world. Also, from a methodological point of view, this study proposes to analyze the sustainability of vegetation restoration based on the spatial and temporal perspectives by using the spatial autocorrelation and Hurst exponent methods, which is a development and supplement to previous studies and has a certain advantage for evaluating the vegetation restoration status.
Grain for Green project has achieved substantial results in ecological reconstruction and social benefits in China. Meantime, doubts about its sustainability also exist. Taking Wuqi County in Northwest China as study area, the EVI growth rates during 2000–2008 and 2008–2016 were calculated (Fig. 1). It was found that over time the growth rate of EVI exhibited a significant downward trend, while its relative standard deviation increased. Approximately 19.07% of the total study area is consisted of cells showing negative growth at both stages and turning from positive to negative growth, which can be defined as type 1 unsustainability, i.e. manifested unsustainability. Taking it as a starting point, this research further obtained that EVI growth was found not to be sustainable in half of the study area. This unsustainable range was mainly distributed in locations with relatively poor resource endowments, such as the western and northern parts of the study area. It would be unwise to adopt a uniform standard for implementing the GFG policy throughout the study area. Rather, the GFG policy should be adapted to local conditions to achieve the best possible results. Fig. 1 Growth rate of enhanced vegetation index during 2000–2008 (a) and 2008–2016 (b). Display omitted
•Grain for Green (GFG) ecological policy has achieved benefits in the Loess Plateau.•Doubts about GFG sustainability and environmental carrying capacity persist.•Spatial and temporal sustainability of vegetation restoration was analyzed.•Vegetation restoration sustainability varied across the one-county study area.•Vegetation restoration policies should be tailored to local conditions.
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•Establishing a framework to quantify the cross-regional impacts of ecological policy.•Simulation process of ecosystem service flows about ecological policies.•Cross-regional ...synergistic development based on benefit-risk balance.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shows accelerating degradation due to climate change and human activities, leaving residents facing the dual challenges of ecological degradation and poverty. To restore the ecosystems and achieve sustainable regional development, one of the Chinese extensive ecological restoration policies has been implemented since the 1980s. Traditional policies focused on meeting local development goals, but ignored impacts on neighboring countries, leading to international disputes. To minimize disputes, this study proposed a universal framework to quantify the impacts of regional ecological policy on the plateau and surrounding countries by combining ecosystem service (ES) models and flows process. The simulation flows process was programmed with Interactive Data Language (IDL) and analyzed with ArcGIS. The results showed that the plateau’s ecosystem structure, ecological health, and ecosystem services can be protected while improving the livelihoods of residents (revenue increasing and disasters mitigation) with implementation of ecological policy. Based on the cross-regional movements of the physical and economic flows of ES, this study revealed that regional ecological policy increased the benefits of soil conservation and sandstorm prevention in neighboring countries, however, reduced the surrounding water supply, which could aggravate the risk of water conflicts between humans and nature.. Ecological policy implementation that accounts for cross-regional impacts provides a new way to alleviate international resource allocation disputes.
Developing sustainable environmental policies in ecologically fragile and deeply impoverished areas is a global challenge. Desertification has caused serious environmental and socioeconomic issues. ...It is important to reveal the mechanisms of environmental policies when balancing desertification control and poverty alleviation. This study used comparative analysis and trend analysis methods and assessed the policy performances of national key ecological functional areas (NKEFAs) for desertified areas in northern China from 2005 to 2020. Two factors have been fully analyzed: desertification and poverty. The results indicate that adaptive adjustments of the NKEFA policy play an essential role in eradicating the vicious cycle of “degradation-poverty”. Although the improvements in ecological quality were not obvious, its trends changed substantially from decreasing to increasing. The proportions of desert control and socioeconomic improvement were more optimistic in the NKEFAs than in non-NKEFAs (e.g., expansion: 0.41% < 4.67%; improvement: 7.63% > 5.48%). The overall ecological benefit of the adjustment was 0.25%, which experienced a trend of declining first and then rising. The ecological and socioeconomic benefits of the first adjustment were − 0.96% per year and 2.1% per year, respectively. Then, the ecological and socioeconomic benefits of the second policy adjustment were 2.51% per year and 3.2% per year, respectively. The potential mechanism of the NKEFA policy effect is adaptive adjustments that are based on the complexity and variability of the issue. The results contribute to simultaneously tackling ecological degradation and poverty challenges and facilitating sustainable development.
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•Public concern affects environmental policy adjustments.•Livelihood must be considered in environmental policy.•Policy performance may be manifested as a change in trend.•Adaptive adjustment helps break the “degradation-poverty.”
Vegetation plays a vital role in ecological systems and, therefore, changes in vegetation reflect the state of the ecological environment. Anthropogenic factors significantly impact vegetation cover. ...This study investigated variations in vegetation cover and the contribution of anthropogenic factors to these variations using the resourced-based region Shanxi Province as a case study. Theil-Sen median slope analysis and Mann-Kendall tests were used to analyze the vegetation cover change. A series of quantitative and qualitative techniques including spatial econometric modeling and residual analysis modeling were used to assess the effects of anthropogenic factors including ecological policies, urbanization, and coal mining. The results showed that overall, vegetation cover increased in the study area, but parts of the region experienced degradation. Ecological policies have been implemented in Shanxi Province to benefit vegetation cover and have resulted in large-scale human-induced greening. Urbanization had a more significant influence on vegetation cover than did natural factors. The extent of mining areas was not a decisive factor compared to natural factors; however, coal mining did create government revenue and drive economic development. In this manner, government policies could guide anthropogenic factors to create “win-win” scenarios for the environment and economic development. The results of this study promote a deeper understanding of the impact of anthropogenic factors on the ecological environment in resource-based regions.
•Vegetation cover increased, but parts of the region underwent degradation.•It presented human-induce greening in resource-based region, Shanxi Province.•Ecological policies had significantly positive influence on vegetation cover.•Urbanization had vital impact on vegetation cover while considering natural factors.•Human activities give “win-win” scenarios for environment and economic development.
The paper identifies the strategical objectives of state ecological policy, which are declared in official documents of Ukraine for the stage of its independence and due to them, the vectors of the ...state ecological policy are characterized and their concretization is determined that witnesses not only about sharpening the ecological problems, but also their awareness by authority in the course of exercise of state administration activities. The state administration system significantly influences the protection, efficient use and reproduction of natural resources, the effective combination of functions of management of nature and environment defence, ensuring environmentally secure existence for the present and future generations. Such impact is carried out through the state ecological management, that is, the ecological policy formation and implementation. It is clarified that the legal mechanism is the base for the public administration in the field of the ecological policy implementation, and this mechanism must ensure the fulfilment of the scientifically substantiated principles for environment defence, the efficient use of natural resources, and the ecological security of human vital activities, establish the scientifically substantiated regulations of behavior for humans, enterprises and organizations in the area of ecology. The state ecological policy formation and implementation are inevitably connected with the formation and implementation of the corresponding policy on supranational and subjective levels, in particular, in terms of using the legal regulation as the policy tool and the base of its legal mechanism. Building the legal mechanism for the ecological policy formation and implementation with description of the legal regulation tools in terms of the policy levels allows to establish the interconnections among the levels, and determine the content of the present interaction. The author identifies and characterizes the interaction criteria for the detailed tools of the legal regulation among the policy levels.
•Vegetation restoration potential achievement (VRPA) was proposed using habitat theory and spatial sliding window model.•The growth rate of VRPA degree distinguishes between resource endowment and ...vegetation restoration.•The growth rate of VRPA degree better reflects differences from land use policy and its application.
Evaluating the effects of ecological projects is important for summarizing past experience and for exploring more effective ways to implement land use policies in the future. The base of ecological restoration is vegetation restoration. Consequently, previous studies have predominantly focused on ecological restoration from the view of vegetation coverage improvement (i.e., the growth of a vegetation index). However, vegetation coverage also reflects geographical differences in natural environmental factors. Thus, vegetation index growth rates reflect, to a large extent, differences in resource endowment, rather than in human effort. Using habitat theory and a spatial sliding window model, this study proposes the concept of vegetation restoration potential achievement (VRPA). Taking ecological restoration practices in Yan’an, China, since 1999 as an example, we evaluate the effect of ecological projects in terms of both a vegetation index and VRPA. The results show that the latter can effectively weaken the impact of resource endowment differences and highlight human factors (i.e., the ecological policy itself and its implementation). This approach improves land use policy evaluation by constructing a novel indicator. It is expected that this method will provide better support for regulating ecological restoration through land use policies.
•Vegetation index data are used to calculate the vegetation coverage improvement.•Both resource endowment and ecology policy variables are included in the modeling.•Driving forces exhibit spatial ...variation in contributing to vegetation restoration.
As a typical ecologically fragile region, the Loess Plateau of China has much improved in the ecological environment in the past two decades. In order to achieve a more efficient implementation of ecological projects in the future, it is of great importance to study the influencing factors and the driving mechanism of vegetation restoration based on past vegetation restoration practices. However, human activity and natural factors may show different coupling effects in contributing to the vegetation restoration in different locations because of their spatial heterogeneity. In that case, the traditional global regression based on the Ordinary Least Squares is at risk of failure. With Yan'an as the study area, vegetation index data in 2000 and 2011 were used to calculate the vegetation improvement map during the ecological projects; taking this map as the dependent variable, and the topographical, meteorological, socio-economic, and policy factors as independent variables, Geographically Weighted Regression model which can well deal with spatial heterogeneity, together with the Ordinary Least Squares model, was applied in this study. The results show: (1) most of the variables selected in this research have significant impacts on the vegetation restoration, while meteorological and socio-economic factors make greater contributions; (2) the effect of factors contributing to vegetation coverage improvement varies substantially across the study site, with climatic and physical factors dominating, and socio-economic/policy factors playing either positive or negative roles in different parts of the study area. It could be concluded that spatial variability in factors contributing to vegetation restoration should be well considered when performing ecological policy evaluation, and Geographically Weighted Regression method has unparalleled advantages of Ordinary Least Squares model in this aspect since it provides scientific reference for policymakers to make effective decisions according to local conditions and maximize the effectiveness of ecological policies.
Mangrove reserves promote the protection of mangroves, but they also lead to the restriction of land development rights in the region, which is unfair to society. This paper aims to evaluate the ...impact of the spillover of coastal development. Taking the Shankou Mangrove Ecological Reserve in the Beibu Gulf of Guangxi as an example, this paper conducts a research design using the choice experiment. Conditional logit and a structural equation model are used to analyze data and to calculate the respondents' choice preferences and willingness to pay for the limited right to develop the coastal zone. Also, to reveal preference heterogeneity, individual characteristic factor analysis is added. The results show that: after the establishment of the protected area, regional differences are evident in the limited space of coastal development rights. Among them, the limitation degree of sea area use is the highest, followed by beach area; the degree of limitation on land area use is the lowest. The limited spatial differences of coastal development rights may lead to an imbalance in the development of coastal land resources among regions. Other problems include the forced idleness of coastal land resources and the threat to the livelihood of residents. Overall, this is not conducive to the coordinated development of an ecological economy in the reserve. This study can provide a decision-making basis for optimizing the coastal development rights management of coastal zone ecological protection areas. A reference for the coastal development rights management in other countries is also provided.
•Coastal farmers’ dependence on land use is different from that of mainland farmers.•The externality of ecological protection policies decreases from coastal to inland.•Differences exist in preferences for land, tidal flat and sea development rights.•Land resource development in coastal zones is unbalanced between sea and land.
The aim of the article is to scientifically substantiate the role of modern EU financing instruments in stimulating ecological development. The research methodology is based on the content analysis ...of ecological development financing instruments in the EU, their comparison and scientific generalization to substantiate further priorities for the implementation of the EU strategy «European Green Deal». The authors have examined the models of management of financial resources in the EU – direct, joint and indirect management. It is found that the EU Member States and their competent authorities develop their own national programs, coordinate the selection of projects, as well as ensure the operational management of such programs and the implementation of payments. The article shows that the most used financial instrument used within the framework of the EU programs and funds for the provision of financial resources are grants. It is determined that recently in some areas of the EU policies (first of all, in regional, entrepreneurial, and innovation) such instruments as budget guarantees and bank financing instruments (loans, credit guarantees, equity investments) have been actively developing, aimed mainly at profitable and economically viable projects. In the current planned financial period from 2021 to 2027, most EU financial programs and funds have an ecological component. At the same time, a number of the EU programs are created specifically for the purposes of sustainable development, greening of production, prevention and adaptation to climate change, as well as environmental protection, including the LIFE program, the Innovation Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the Modernization Fund. The authors show that the instruments for financing ecological development in the EU cover a wide range of potential beneficiaries, which include not only government agencies and the business sector, but also research institutions and public organizations.
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