With rapid economic growth and urbanization in China affecting agricultural land, it is of great importance to improve eco-efficiency for sustainable agricultural development to ensure food security. ...Shandong, as a key agricultural production base in China that experiences accelerated urbanization, was chosen as our case study area. Supported by a large scale natural and socioeconomic data, we estimated land productivity in Shandong, China during 1990–2010 using the Estimation System of Land Production, then analyzed the eco-efficiency based on Stochastic Frontier Analysis. The results showed that land productivity was unevenly distributed in Shandong, with relatively lower values in regions covered by built-up area. The regional eco-efficiency in Shandong was mostly over 0.9, expect for cities located far from the political or economic centers. The results indicated there exists trade-offs between agricultural production and urbanization, and it is necessary to adjust its agricultural technological measures according to local specific conditions to improve eco-efficiency for sustainable agricultural development in Shandong.
•The ESLP is an effective approach to estimate land productivity.•Land productivity was unevenly distributed in Shandong, China.•Regional eco-efficiency in Shandong was mostly over 0.9.
Ecosystem services are substantial elements for human society. The central challenge to meet the human needs from ecosystems while sustain the Earth＇s life support systems makes it urgent to enhance ...efficient natural resource management for sustainable ecological and socioeconomic development. Trade-off analysis of ecosystem services can help to identify optimal decision points to balance the costs and benefits of the diverse human uses of ecosystems. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to provide key insights into ecosystem services trade-off analysis at different scales from a land use perspective, by comprehensively reviewing the trade-offs analysis tools and approaches that addressed in ecology, economics and other fields. The review will significantly contribute to future research on trade-off analysis to avoid inferior management options and offer a win-win solution based on comprehensive and efficient planning for interacting multiple ecosystem services.
Land cover is being continuously transformed at an accelerating pace because of urbanization and economic development, which is, in turn, impacting ecosystem services and human well-being. ...Consequently, there is a need to enhance sustainable land use management to achieve high levels of land eco-efficiency across different regions in China. Accomplishing this entails adjustments not only in terms of the spatial layout of land but also in land use management. The relationship between land use management and land eco-efficiency was explored taking Hebei, a province of China, as a case study. With the help of Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and other statistical analysis, we analyzed land use conversions and land eco-efficiency in Hebei, China. In this study, we first explored the relationship between land use conversion, ratio of cultivated land, and crop production using scatter plots. Further, we analyzed the land eco-efficiency and ecological performance of cities in Hebei based on SFA. The findings of the study revealed that land use output is the key factor linking land use management and land eco-efficiency. Spatial differences of land eco-efficiency are clearly apparent in Hebei, and the results of the study showed a corresponding decrease in land eco-efficiency with a reduction in the distance to the city center. In conclusion, a step-by-step regulatory process for improving land eco-efficiency within China’s land use management scheme is proposed.
Increasing human activities worldwide have significantly altered the natural ecosystems and consequently, the services they provide. This is no exception in Nigeria, where land-use/land-cover has ...undergone a series of dramatic changes over the years mainly due to the ever-growing large population. However, estimating the impact of such changes on a wide range of ecosystem services is seldom attempted. Thus, on the basis of GlobeLand30 land-cover maps for 2000 and 2010 and using the value transfer methodology, we evaluated changes in the value of ecosystem services in response to land-use/land-cover dynamics in Nigeria. The results showed that over the 10-year period, cultivated land sprawl over the forests and savannahs was predominant, and occurred mainly in the northern region of the country. During this period, we calculated an increase in the total ecosystem services value (ESV) in Nigeria from 665.93 billion (2007 US$) in 2000 to 667.44 billion (2007 US$) in 2010, 97.38% of which was contributed by cultivated land. The value of provisioning services increased while regulation, support, recreation and culture services decreased, amongst which, water regulation (−11.01%), gas regulation (−7.13%), cultural (−4.84%) and climate regulation (−4.3%) ecosystem functions are estimated as the most impacted. The increase in the total ESV in Nigeria associated with the huge increase in ecosystem services due to cultivated land expansion may make land-use changes (i.e. the ever-increasing agricultural expansion in Nigeria) appear economically profitable. However, continuous loss of services such as climate and water regulation that are largely provided by the natural ecosystems can result in huge economic losses that may exceed the apparent gains from cultivated land development. Therefore, we advocate that the conservation of the natural ecosystem should be a priority in future land-use management in Nigeria, a country highly vulnerable to climate change and incessantly impacted by natural disasters such as flooding.
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•Land-use/land-cover (LULC) patterns are changing fast in Nigeria.•We examined the impact of LULC dynamics on ecosystem services value (ESV).•Cultivated land sprawl over forests and savannahs was predominant from 2000 to 2010.•We estimate 4.83% decline in total ESV of the natural ecosystems during 2000–2010.•About 70% of the ecosystem service functions have been degraded in Nigeria.
In this study, we analyze the changes of indicators of ecosystem services and functions, in order to understand the main cause of grassland degradation due to climatic variation or land use changes ...in the middle-south Inner Mongolia. The soil nutrient and the water supply of supporting service got recovery during 1988–2008. The loss of net primary production declined, and the quality of the retained unconverted grassland (RUG) even increasingly degraded from 2000 to 2008. Analytical results show that environmental degradation on the land-use-changed-area is lower than that on the RUG from 2000 to 2008. It illustrates that climatic variation has more negative impacts on grassland ecosystem service, and which is significantly higher than the so-called “overgrazing” induced grassland degradation. Moreover, it cannot be excluded that those species died out on the RUG due to natural selection or competitive evolution in an evolutionary process under the deteriorative weather condition rather than overgrazing. The positive impacts of human activities such as conservation programs and wildlife protection laws also benefit to regional grassland ecosystem obviously in the study area, so that can delay the environmental degradation even if each planet has its life cycle. It indicates that an integrated regional planning involving the considerations of climatic conditions, geographical characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and ecological functions and biodiversity can benefit to regional grassland conservation based on monitoring and management via scientific methods.
•Ecosystem services assessment in the middle-south Inner Mongolia•Soil nutrient and water supply restored during 1988–2008.•Climatic variation has negative impacts on grassland ecosystem service.•Land use changes have positive impacts on grassland ecosystem service.•Uncertain climatic variation mainly causes grassland degradation.
The question of how to generate maximum socio-economic benefits while at the same time minimizing input from urban land resources lies at the core of regional ecological civilization construction. We ...apply stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) in this study to municipal input-output data for the period between 2005 and 2014 to evaluate the urbanization efficiency of 110 cities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) and then further assess the spatial association characteristics of these values. The results of this study initially reveal that the urbanization efficiency of the YREB increased from 0.34 to 0.53 between 2005 and 2014, a significant growth at a cumulative rate of 54.07%. Data show that the efficiency growth rate of cities within the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has been faster than that of their counterparts in the middle and lower reaches, and that there is also a great deal of additional potential for growth in urbanization efficiency across the whole area. Secondly, results show that urbanization efficiency conforms to a “bar-like” distribution across the whole area, gradually decreasing from the east to the west. This trend highlights great intra-provincial differences, but also striking inter-provincial variation within the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The total urbanization efficiency of cities within the lower reaches of the river has been the highest, followed successively by those within the middle and upper reaches. Finally, values for Moran’s I within this area remained higher than zero over the study period and have increased annually; this result indicates a positive spatial correlation between the urbanization efficiency of cities and annual increments in agglomeration level. Our use of the local indicators of spatial association (LISA) statistic has enabled us to quantify characteristics of “small agglomeration and large dispersion”. Thus, “high- high” (H-H) agglomeration areas can be seen to have spread outwards from around Zhejiang Province and the city of Shanghai, while areas characterized by “low-low” (L-L) patterns are mainly concentrated in the north of Anhui Province and in Sichuan Province. The framework and results of this research are of considerable significance to our understanding of both land use sustainability and balanced development.
•We examined changes in the value of the ecosystem service in the North China Plain.•The value of the ecosystem service (VES) increased by $ 21.61 billion in 2000USD.•Land-use change led to a loss of ...$ 0.08 billion in 2000USD from the VES.•Land-use change only accounted for 0.35% of changes in the ecosystem service.
Land-use change is a major factor driving ecosystem service change. Measuring the ecosystem service variation in response to land-use change is an effective way to assess the environmental costs and benefits of different approaches to policy-based planning. In the present study, we examined the changes in value of the ecosystem services (VES) in the North China Plain (NCP), which is an agricultural region, producing over 35% of the total grain in China, and estimated the changes of VES resulting from land-use change. A model mainly based on net primary productivity (NPP) and soil erosion amount was developed to assess the VES. The results show that the total VES of the NCP increased by $ 21.61 billion in 2000USD during 2000–2008. However, the land-use change led to a net loss of VES by 0.08 billionUSD. The expansion of built-up areas contributed to 84.61% of the loss of VES caused by land-use change. The increase of NPP mainly accounted for the increase of VES since it significantly improved the ecosystem service functions of gas regulation, nutrient cycling, and organic material provision. Overall, compared to other factors, land-use change only accounted for 0.35% of VES change during 2000–2008 in NCP.
► We examine the urban conversion of cultivated land in China at the national scale. ► Our model takes account of the decentralized nature of China's urbanization. ► Overall local factors play a ...dominant role in determining urban expansion. ► Agricultural investment drives farmland conversion, suggesting a policy failure. ► We identify a boosting mechanism between urban land rent and urban development.
China has undergone large-scale urban expansion and rapid loss of cultivated land for more than two decades. The goal of this paper is to examine the relative importance of socioeconomic and policy factors across different administrative levels on urban expansion and associated cultivated land conversion. We conduct the analysis for urban hotspot counties across the entire country. We use multi-level modeling techniques to examine how socioeconomic and policy factors at different administrative levels affect cultivated land conversion across three time periods, 1989–1995, 1995–2000, and 2000–2005. Our results show that at the county level, both urban land rent and urban wages contribute to total cultivated land conversion. Contrary to expectations, agricultural investment drives farmland conversion, suggesting a policy failure with unintended consequences. At the provincial level, urban wages and foreign direct investment both positively contribute to cultivated land conversion. We also find that higher GDP correlates with more urban expansion but the relationship is nonlinear.
With 80% of the world's carbon emissions coming from urban areas and most part of the world still experiencing ever accelerated process of urbanization, China faces huge pressure to achieve the ...carbon emission peaking in 2030 and realizes the goal of carbon neutrality before 2050. Therefore, this study explored the spatial variability of CO
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emissions from urban construction land among 30 provinces in China, analyzed its driving factors and estimated their potentials for emission reductions from 2000 to 2018. The results demonstrate that: (1) according to the IPCC model, both the carbon emission amounts and carbon emission intensity from urban construction land showed an upward trend from 2000 to 2018. (2) Decomposition analysis of logarithmic mean Divisia index revealed that economic level has positive impact on carbon emissions. Energy efficiency and energy structure are the negative contribution factors to the carbon emissions, and the energy efficiency effect played a more important inhabiting factor. (3) The carbon emission reduction potential indexes was provided to estimate the carbon emission reduction potential of 30 provinces in China; it indicated that 17 provinces have their carbon emission reduction potential indexes less than 1, and they confront with mandatory push to reduce carbon emission under the current national policy. Finally, promoting clean energy and applying internet of things into energy transport corridor system and more low-carbon land planning policies are suggested to facilitate more effective implementation of carbon emissions reduction actions in China.
Since the implementation of market oriented economic reform in 1978, China has been on the track of rapid urbanization. The unprecedented urbanization in China has resulted in substantial cultivated ...land loss and rapid expansion of urban areas. The cultivated land loss due to urbanization not only threatens food security in China, but has also led to ecological system degradation to which close attention should be paid. Therefore, we examined the effects of the conversion from cultivated to urban areas on the ecosystem service in the North China Plain on the basis of a net primary productivity based ecosystem service model (NESM) and a buffer comparison method. Cultivated land loss due to urbanization in the North China Plain led to a total loss of ecosystem service value of 34.66% during the period 1988–2008. Urban expansion significantly decreased the ecosystem service function of water conservation (–124.03%), nutrient cycling (–31.91%), gas regulation (−7.18%), and organic production (–7.18%), while it improved the soil conservation function (2.40%). Land use change accounted for 57.40% of the changes in ecosystem service and had a major influence on the changes in nutrient cycling and water conservation. However, climate change mainly determined the changes in gas regulation, organic production, and soil conservation.
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