The Impact of Urbanization on the Relationship between Carbon Storage Supply and Demand in Mega-Urban Agglomerations and Response Measures: A Case of Yangtze River Delta Region, China

Abstract

Rapid urbanization in mega-urban agglomerations disturbs the balance of carbon storage supply and demand (CSD) and constrains the achievement of sustainable development goals. Here, we developed a socio-ecological system (SES) framework coupled with ecosystem services (ES) cascade and DPSIR model to systematically analyze the impacts and responses of urbanization affecting CSD. We quantified urbanization and CSD using multi-source remote sensing data, such as land use and night lighting, together with related socio-economic data, such as total energy consumption, population and GDP. We found that from 2000 to 2020, the urbanization of Yangtze River Delta region (YRD) led to a decrease of 2.75% in carbon storage supply and an increase of 226.45% in carbon storage demand. However, carbon storage supply was still larger than carbon storage demand, and the spatial mismatch of CSD is the most important problem at present. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the response measures from the comprehensive perspective of SES. We identified key ecological conservation areas using a Marxan model to protect the carbon storage capacity in ecological subsystems, and promoted a carbon compensation scheme based on both the grandfather principle and the carbon efficiency principle, reconciling the contradiction between ecological conservation and socio-economic development in the social subsystem. Finally, this study quantified the threshold of urbanization based on the carbon neutrality target at which CSD reaches an equilibrium state. This study proposed a SES framework, and a set of methodologies to quantify the relationship between urbanization and CSD, which will help mega-urban agglomerations to promote harmonious development of urbanization and ecological conservation and to achieve the carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets proposed by the Chinese government.

Quota and Space Allocations of New Urban Land Supported by Urban Growth Simulations: A Case Study of Guangzhou City, China

“…In addition, some spatialization results for the indicators are shown in Figure 3. Inverted from night-light data [35] Traffic accessibility High-speed roads' accessibility Spatial syntax [36] and kernel density analysis [37] Urban trunk roads' accessibility…”

How to Delineate the Boundaries of National Parks in Human-Land Conflict Areas – Evidence from Huangshan National Park Construction Area in China

“…In landscape ecology, boundary delineation is essential for the protection of ecosystem integrity by identifying areas of excess heterogeneity between areas of relative homogeneity at a particular scale [6]. The Huangshan National Park construction area is located in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, one of the five largest urban agglomerations in China, which has become the region with the most intense human-land conflict due to rapid urbanization [7]. Therefore, this study focuses on Huangshan National Park, and how to enhance biodiversity conservation while minimizing the impact on human society is the key issue to be addressed.…”

Trade-off Analyses of NDVI and Soil Moisture Relations on the Loess Plateau

“…In recent years, the climate has experienced major changes due to global warming. The increase in air temperature affects vegetation productivity and leads to carbon storage reduction in the ecosystem [7,8]. Concurrently, global warming has intensified evaporation, leading to accelerated soil moisture depletion.…”