Integrating Ecosystem Service Values and Economic Benefits for Sustainable Land Use Management in Semi-Arid Regions in Northern China

Abstract

Studies on land use structural optimization can support the sustainability of land resources. The Taipusi Banner lies in the arid and semiarid area of northern China, with rapid economic development and a vulnerable ecological condition. Taking the Taipusi Banner as a research case, we adopted a land use map and statistical data, and employed the ecosystem process model to establish five scenarios, including an economically optimal scenario, an ecologically optimal scenario, a comprehensively optimal scenario, a status quo, and a projected scenario. Based on multi-objective linear programming, the land use demand was optimized; then, the CLUE-S model and adaptability evaluation were adopted to establish spatial patterns. The ecological and economic benefits were then analyzed and policy suggestions are provided. The main results include the following: (1) The optimization outputs of various scenarios show that under optimization, cropland and forestland increased by 9.13% and 18.9%, respectively, and grassland decreased by 9.81%. (2) The land use optimization shows that comprehensive optimization aimed at achieving comprehensive benefits, ecological benefits, and economic benefits increased these benefits by 3.89%, 2.1%, and 6.2%, respectively. Compared with other scenarios, focusing on the comprehensive benefits of land use can result in the greatest increase in benefits to improve sustainability land resources. Land use optimization must consider not only the optimization of both the quantity and configuration but also the dimensions of both ecology and the economy. Land use should be based on a land suitability evaluation and optimization of the land use spatial configuration to update ineffective land uses and should gradually adjust both the ecological and engineering measures.

The Relationship of Environmental Factors and the Cropland Suitability Levels for Soybean Cultivation Determined by Machine Learning

“…In addition to cropland suitability determination, it is necessary to understand its interaction with the surrounding environment, such as land cover types and soil properties (Stoebner and Lant, 2014). This approach enables voluntary impact on suitability levels by adjusting the agrotechnical operations or agricultural land management plans (Jiang et al, 2021). Among the crops which are essential for human and animal diet in the future, soybean was positioned as one of the primary oil and protein sources.…”

The Relative Roles of Climate Variation and Human Activities in Vegetation Dynamics in Coastal China from 2000 to 2019

“…With the continuous intensification of climate change and human activities, global natural ecosystems have been severely threatened [1][2][3][4]. As one of the most critical components of the terrestrial ecosystem, vegetation has functioned as the nexus in the atmosphere, soil, and hydrology and guaranteed the supply of ecosystem services [5][6][7][8]. It is also the main factor that affects the carbon source and carbon sink, regulates the ecological process, and plays an essential role in the carbon cycle and global change [9][10][11].…”