How is human well-being related to ecosystem service at town and village scales? A case study from the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract

Context: The relationships between ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HWB) have been found to be influenced by geographic locations and socioeconomic development, and vary from local to global scales. However, there is a lack of comparative analyses at fine administrative scales such as town and village scales. Objective: This study took the core region of the Yangtze River Delta of China as the study area to examine the spatial characteristics of the value of ES and the subjective perception of HWB and compare their relationships at the town and village scales. Methods: 9 ES and 11 HWB indicators were quantified using the ecosystem service equivalence factor method and the questionnaire survey, respectively. The ES-HWB relationships were then investigated using Spearman's correlation analysis. Results: The value of ES per unit area in the study area in 2020 was about 15,202.90 USD/ha, nearly three times the average level in China, but the per capita value was relatively low, at 322.11 USD/person. The score of subjective perception of HWB was relatively high, especially for the dimensions of social relations, health, and safety. As spatial scales decreased from town to village and thematic scales increased from secondary to primary indicators, the strength of the ES-HWB correlations diminished and their direction changed as well. According to secondary indicators, most of the ES-HWB relationships were positive at the town scale but became negative or nonexistent at the village scale. Conclusions: The ES-HWB relationships may vary unpredictably at local scales (e.g., counties). But “local scale” is not always local, because at the town and village scales the relationships can still vary. Thus, better understanding the relationships requires studies at multiple and broader scales and calls for the caution when using the aggregating indicators because they can also lead to different ES-HWB relationships.