An evaluation of the ecological and environmental security on China's terrestrial ecosystems

Coordination analysis of flood-sediment transportation, eco-environment, and socio-economy coupling in the governance of the Yellow River Basin system

The watershed system has a complex game relationship between the benign operation and coordinated development of various elements of flood-sediment transportation, eco-environment, and socio-economy (FES). With the increasing breadth, depth, and intensity of human activities in watersheds, it is urgent to coordinate the FES. The relationship of water-sediment in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is complex, with a prominent contradiction in water supply and a fragile ecosystem. This research tries to build a comprehensive evaluation model for FES and explore the complex interaction between FES in the YRB from 2000 to 2020. The results demonstrated that (1) the comprehensive flood-sediment transportation index (CFTI) and comprehensive eco-environment index (CEI) presented fluctuating growth. In contrast, the comprehensive socio-economy index (CSI) revealed a linear growth trend. The CFTI of Sanmenxia, CEI of Toudaokuan, and CSI of Ningxia had the highest growth rates, with 36.03%, 6.48%, and 107.5%, respectively. (2) FES's positive and negative effects were alternating, with heterogeneity in both time and space. (3) The coupling coordination degree (CCD) in the YRB indicated an increasing trend, ranging from 0.53 to 0.87, from reluctantly coordinated development to good coordinated development. The lagging subsystem was CFTI (2000-2001 and 2008-2020) and CSI (2002-2007), and the CEI was not lagging. (4) Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) demonstrated significant differences in the CCD of the YRB, and areas with similar CCD within the basin tend to be centrally distributed in space. At the same time, there was negative spatial autocorrelation in coordination. The results provide a scientific theoretical and methodological framework for strategic research on the YRB system's governance, protection, and management.

Spatial-temporal pattern of change in production-living-ecological space of Nanchong City from 2000 to 2020 and underlying factors

This study analyzed the spatial-temporal change pattern and underlying factors in production-living-ecological space (PLES) of Nanchong City, China, over the past 20 years using historical land use data (2000, 2010, 2020). A land use transfer matrix was calculated from the historical land use maps, and spatial analysis was conducted to analyze changes in the land use dynamics degree, standard deviation ellipse, and center of gravity. The results showed that there was a rapid spatial evolution of the PLES in Nanchong from 2000 to 2010, followed by a stabilization in the second decade. The transfer of ecological-production space occurred mainly in the Jialing and Yilong River basins, while the reduction of production space and the increase of living space were most prominent in the intersection of three districts (Shunqing, Jialing, and Gaoping districts). The return of production-ecological space was observed in the south and northeast of Yingshan, and there was little notable transfer of other types. The distribution of production space in Nanchong evolved in a north-south to east-west trend, with the center of gravity moving from Yilong to Peng'an County. The living space and production space expanded in a north-south direction, and the center of gravity position was in Nanbu, indicating a more balanced growth or decrease in the last 20 years. The changes in the spatial-temporal pattern of PLES in Nanchong were attributed to the intertwined factors of national policies, economic development, population growth, and the natural environment. This study introduced a novel approach towards rational planning of land resources in Nanchong, which may facilitate more sustainable urban planning and development.

Assessing Regional Ecosystem Conditions Using Geospatial Techniques-A Review

Ecosystem conditions at the regional level are critical factors for environmental management, public awareness, and land use decision making. Regional ecosystem conditions may be examined from the perspectives of ecosystem health, vulnerability, and security, as well as other conceptual frameworks. Vigor, organization, and resilience (VOR) and pressure-stress-response (PSR) are two commonly adopted conceptual models for indicator selection and organization. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is primarily used to determine model weights and indicator combinations. Although there have been many successful efforts in assessing regional ecosystems, they remain affected by a lack of spatially explicit data, weak integration of natural and human dimensions, and uncertain data quality and analyses. In the future, regional ecosystem condition assessments may be advanced by incorporating recent improvements in spatial big data and machine learning to create more operative indicators based on Earth observations and social metrics. The collaboration between ecologists, remote sensing scientists, data analysts, and scientists in other relevant disciplines is critical for the success of future assessments.

Exploring Spatio-Temporal Variations of Ecological Risk in the Yellow River Ecological Economic Belt Based on an Improved Landscape Index Method

Intense human activities have led to profound changes in landscape patterns and ecological processes, generating certain ecological risks that seriously threaten human wellbeing. Ecological risk assessment from a landscape perspective has become an important tool for macroecosystem landscape management. This research improves the framework and indices of the ecological risk assessment from a landscape perspective, evaluates the land use pattern and landscape ecological risk dynamics in the Yellow River Ecological Economic Belt (YREEB), analyzes the spatiotemporal variation, and identifies key areas for ecological risk management. The results indicate the following: The main land use types in the region are grassland and cropland, but the area of cropland and grassland decreased during the study period, and with the accelerated urbanization, urban land is the only land use type that continued to increase over the 20-year period. The ecological risk in the YREEB tended to decrease, the area of low ecological risk zones increased, while the area of high ecological risk zones gradually decreased. Most areas are at medium risk level, but the risk in central Qinghai and Gansu is obviously higher, and there is a dispersed distribution of local high- and low-risk zones. A total of 37.7% of the study area is identified as critical area for future risk management, and the potential for increased risk in these areas is high. These results can provide a basis for sustainable development and planning of the landscape and the construction of ecological civilization in ecologically fragile areas.

Dual-level eco-efficiency analysis in sustainable management: An empirical study on textile manufacturers and supply chains in China

Eco-efficiency analysis at multi-levels can address the disconnection between its macro-level necessity and micro-level contribution. This cross-level analysis helps policymaking on systematically improving the sustainability of industry. Therefore, in this study, the dual-level eco-efficiency evaluation combing with interactive econometric analysis was applied for contributing a more holistic view of sustainable management in the heavy pollution industry. The empirical study was based on 12 international clothing brands and retailers' textile supply chains and their 202 major upstream manufacturers in China from 2015 to 2019. The dual-level evaluation uncovered a significant improvement in eco-efficiency both at the textile manufacturer and supply chain levels during the five years. The manufacturers' average eco-efficiency increased by 54%. The dyeing and finishing companies' efficiency of emissions to air, energy use, GHG emissions, and water use averagely increased by 165%, 39%, 28%, and 19%, respectively; discharges to water did not change significantly. Meanwhile, the interactive econometric analysis revealed the effects of green management certification, technological innovation, and the number of buyers/suppliers on dual-level eco-efficiency. The influencing mechanism of the same factor on eco-efficiency was demonstrated heterogeneous at manufacturer and supply chain levels. Adopting green management certification was an efficient facilitator to promote textile manufacturers' eco-efficiency, but not sufficient to advance supply chain's ecological performance until 2018. Conversely, inducing technological innovation can promote industry sustainability benefitting from knowledge search and absorption at the supply chain level. Depending on the multi-level lens, this study underlines that the same factor may have heterogeneous impacts at different levels and provides a drawable approach that can support decision-making on improving overall eco-efficiency for stakeholders such as companies, brands and retailers, and the government.

Fuzzy evaluation of the ecological security of land resources in mainland China based on the Pressure-State-Response framework

The extensive exploitation and use of land resources has caused a variety of land degradation problems including soil erosion, desertification and salinization in China, which gradually raises our concerns of ecological security. However, there still lacks an understanding of ecological security of land resources at the national scale. Moreover, few studies conduct the validation and uncertainty analysis of models for ecological security evaluation, which tends to undermine the reliability of evaluation results. Here we followed the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework to systematically construct the evaluation index system for ecological security, and developed fuzzy evaluation models to convert the original index data into individual index scores. After that, we used the multiplicative model to aggregate the individual index scores into a comprehensive evaluation score for the ecological security level of land resources across the Chinese mainland. To enhance the reliability of evaluation results, we validated our results by comparing with the proxies of ecological effects including landscape pattern index, land use change rate and net primary productivity, and made uncertainty analysis using the Monte Carlo method. Finally, we applied an obstacle model to quantify the negative contribution of pressure, state and response which would deter the security from achieving the optimal condition. The results showed that our model could effectively reflect the ecological security level of land resources. The pressure was higher in the east and lower in the west of China, and that of urban areas was much higher than the rural areas, reflecting the disturbance of socio-economic activities. The state condition was strongly related to natural conditions. The response level, determined mainly by socio-economic conditions, was higher in the southeast and northwest of China but lower in the northeast and southwest of China. The ecological security level was structured by natural and socio-economic conditions and demonstrated a high level of security in the southeast while a low level in the northwest. Developed urban areas often had low security due to strong socio-economic pressure. Areas with unfavorable natural and environmental conditions had poor state level, which tended to cause lower response capability, and consequently led to a low security level. Our research improves the understanding of national ecological security and its obstacle factors, which supports the management and sustainable use of land resources at the national scale.

A SEEC Model Based on the DPSIR Framework Approach for Watershed Ecological Security Risk Assessment: A Case Study in Northwest China

The DPSIR model is a conceptual model established by the European Environment Agency to solve environmental problems. It provides an overall framework for analysis of environmental problems from five aspects: driving force (D), pressure (P), state (S), impact (I), and response (R). Through use of the DPSIR model framework, this paper presents the SEEC model approach for evaluating watershed ecological security. The SEEC model considers four aspects: socioeconomic impact (S), ecological health (E), ecosystem services function (E), and control management (C). Through screening, 38 evaluation indicators of the SEEC model were determined. The evaluation results showed that the ecological security index of the study area was >80, indicating a generally safe level. The lowest score was mainly attributable to the low rate of treatment of rural domestic sewage. The water quality status was used to evaluate the applicability of the SEEC model, and the calculation results indicated that the higher the score of the ecological security evaluation results, the better the water quality status. The findings show that the SEEC model demonstrates satisfactory applicability to evaluation of watershed ecological security.

Delimitating the Ecological Spaces for Water Conservation Services in Jilin Province of China

Mastering the spatial distribution of water retention capacity and scientifically delineating the ecological space for water conservation are of great significance to the management of regional land and water resources. In this paper, a water conservation ecological spatial delimitation framework suitable for water-deficient areas was put forward. The water retention capacity of the study area in 1983, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2016 was evaluated by using the InVEST Water Yield model and water balance method, respectively. On this basis, a flexible inflection point model based on the contribution degree of functional units was established. Then the ecological space for water conservation was delimited. The framework was applied to the delimitation of the key water conservation areas in Jilin province, China. The results showed that: (1) the spatial distribution pattern of water conservation in Jilin province gradually decreased from east to west. The spatial difference was significant. The maximum value of water conservation in Jilin province was 730 mm. From 1983 to 2016, water conservation, which accounted for 75.71% of the area, showed an upward trend. The overall water retention capacity showed the characteristics of the overall increase and the local decline. (2) From the absolute amount of the effect of unit area change on water conservation, the intensity from the high to the low was forestland, cultivated land, grassland, unused land, buildings, and water. (3) The area of water conservation less than 474 mm accounted for more than 80% of the total study area. The overall water retention capacity was low. High importance ecological space area of water conservation was comprehensively defined as 36.97%, which was mainly distributed in the natural forest area of Changbai Mountain in the east and the south of Song Liao Plain. Therefore, this study provided a basic layout of relatively concentrated ecological spatial distribution for water conservation types at different levels in Jilin province. The study results and conclusions of this paper will provide a reference for water conservation assessment and the regional land’s natural resources management.

Chitosan functionalized with heptadentate dinucleating ligand applied to removal of nickel, copper and zinc

The preconcentration of metal ions present at low concentration levels in aqueous systems and the selective removal of potentially toxic metals are important applications of adsorption processes. In this study, a heptadentate dinucleating ligand was anchored to chitosan for use in adsorption studies on Zn(II), Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions. The novel adsorbent was characterized by ¹³C NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA and BET surface area analysis. The degree of substitution of the ligand in chitosan, obtained from CHN analysis, was 0.73. The adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order model. The rate constants and the adsorption capacities for multicomponent systems decreased in the order Cu(II) >> Ni(II) ∼ Zn(II), indicating the preferential adsorption of Cu(II). For Cu(II) ions, the Langmuir model provided the best fitting to the experimental data, and the monolayer Cu(II) adsorption capacity was 0.404 mmol g^-1, while the linear isotherm described Zn(II) and Ni(II) ion adsorption.

Examining the spatiotemporal change of forest resource carrying capacity of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

Rapid urbanization and the excessive human harvesting of forests have led to a continuous decline in the carrying capacity of forests in China. As a result, quantitative means of measuring forest resource carrying capacity are greatly needed, with a view to identifying problem areas and their causes and formulating effective response strategies. This paper puts forward a framework and methodology for constructing a forest resource carrying capacity index (FRCCI). To do this, we first calculate a forest ecological security index (FESI), using an evaluation index system. Ideal FESI values are then simulated by introducing a forest ecological location coefficient (FELC), and the FRCCI is obtained as the difference between the ideal FESI and the FESI. The study considers the 1086 counties that compose the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China, using forest and socioeconomic data for 2015. The resulting FRCCI values indicate that the forests of Yunnan province are generally in a state of "no overload," while Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces occupied a state of "critical overload" and Anhui and Jiangsu provinces experienced "general overload." The spatial pattern of the FRCCI in the study region presented significant centralization, with high FRCCI values mainly clustered in areas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and low FRCCI values mainly clustered in areas in the midstream and downstream reaches of the River. The study identifies 416 counties identified as forest carrying capacity problem areas (38.31% of the study area); these areas were mainly concentrated in Shanghai and Anhui province. We argue that a number of measures would be helpful in improving FRCCI values, including promoting the forest state index by strengthening reforestation as well as afforestation, reducing the external pressure on forests by means of energy saving and emission reduction strategies, and formulating comprehensive policy measures to promote the carrying capacity of forests in the whole study area and in the problem areas.

Assessment of Ecological Carrying Capacity and Ecological Security in China’s Typical Eco-Engineering Areas

The implementation of ecological restoration programs is intensively changing the original ecological carrying capacity and the status of ecological security. To evaluate the spatiotemporal variation of ecological carrying capacity and ecological security in China’s eco-engineering areas, an indicator system of ecological carrying capacity and ecological security should be developed. This study developed an evaluation indicator system that contains 29 indicators. The indicators were generated by long-time series and multi-source data. The indicator system presents the relationship between ecological carrying capacity and ecological security and reflects the dynamic change of them in eco-engineering areas. We selected the Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR) and implemented the Ecological Conservation and Construction Program (ECCP) as a case study. The results showed the variation of ecological carrying capacity (ECC) and ecological security (ES) in the TRHR before (2000–2004), during early term (2005–2009), and during medium term (2010–2015) implementation of ECCP, and limiting factors of ecological carrying capacity and ecological security in TRHR was analyzed. The results showed that the ECC index and the ES index were significantly increase, indicating that the ECC improved and that the ES state got better in the TRHR after implementing ECCP. The water conservation was the major factors limiting the increase of the ECC. The leading factors limiting the improvement of the ES were educational expenditure before 2010 and turned into proportion of tertiary industry and investments for ecological restoration after 2010. The implementation of the ECCP has improved the ES state but has also resulted in new problems. It provides a scientific reference for future research on the indicator system of ecological carrying capacity and ecological security in eco-engineering areas and also has vital practical significance to guide the sustainable development of ecological restoration programs.

The assessment of forest ecological security and its determining indicators: A case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

This study put forward an evaluation index system for measuring forest ecological security index (FESI). Taking the 1086 counties located in the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a case study, we investigated the change and its spatial pattern of FESI, as well as the determining indicators (both natural and socio-economic), with the support of Arcmap and GeoDA software. The average FESI value of the study counties in 2010 and 2015 was found to be 0.4226 and 0.4990, increased by 18.08%. Spatially, an evident spatial gradient change was identified, with FESI values in the upstream areas of the Yangtze River being higher than those in midstream areas, and the values of midstream areas in turn being higher than those in downstream areas. The eight tributary basins within the economic belt witnessed significantly different FESI values. Based on the results of this evaluation of FESI and its sub-evaluation indexes, we identified 46.04% of the total counties as constituting "problem areas". These problem areas were mainly concentrated in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, followed by counties around Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake and in Sichuan province. A regression analysis was conducted in order to identify the determining indicators behind forest ecological security, with results indicating that the ratio of secondary industry, the urbanization rate, the per capita financial institution loan balance, accumulated temperature and wind speed all negatively impacted on FESI values, while population structure, soil organic matter and rainfall were revealed to play a positive role; all of these indicators were highly significant. Given these findings, we also set out a series of policy measures intended to promote the sustainable forest development of the study region. These include the vigorous development of tertiary industry and moves to reduce the proportion of the secondary industry in the national economy, the development of a circular economy, slowing the pace of urbanization, and continued increases in forestry investment in central cities - particularly in problem areas.

Sustainable use zoning of land resources considering ecological and geological problems in Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, China

The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is one of the fastest growing areas of China's social and economic development. However, the contradiction between people and land, the deterioration of ecological environment and the damage of urban ecological security have become more serious problems. In previous studies there was single land utilization type in small-area and the evaluation method was not suitable to large areas, this study proposes a new method. Firstly, the study implements ecological land zoning from assessing the importance of ecosystem services functional in four aspects: biodiversity, water conservation, soil conservation and coastal protected zone. Then, the suitability evaluation index system of agricultural and construction land is established from the geological environment perspective, and introduces variable weight-analytical hierarchy process-comprehensive index model to evaluate the suitability of agricultural land and construction land. Re-zoning the type of land that has a special effect on the socio-economic, the mining land, protected area of geological relics and groundwater resources, respectively. Finally, considering the actual condition use status and suitability distribution of land, the results of comprehensive zoning of land utilization is got. The results of this study can provide some geological basis for the future land utilization zoning.

Exploring the regional differences of ecosystem health and its driving factors in China

A better understanding of regional differences in ecosystem health and its driving factors is conducive to ecosystem management and restoration. Although various studies on ecosystem health have been carried out in different regions, few studies have been devoted to the insightful exploration of the spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem health and its driving forces at a national scale. In this study, we used an evaluation framework in terms of vigor, organization, resilience, and ecosystem service functions to assess the ecosystem health level in China from 2000 to 2015. Then, spatial agglomeration and regional differences in ecosystem health were examined using the spatial autocorrelation method and K-means clustering analysis, and the factors driving the regional differences of ecosystem health were explored based on the geographical detector model. Our results showed the following: (1) the ecosystem health level in China spatially increases from the northwest to the southeast, exhibiting significant global spatial autocorrelation and local spatial agglomeration; (2) eleven zones with three types were identified to indicate the regional differences of ecosystem health; (3) In terms of the driving factors, the moisture index and land use intensity contributed 24.5% and 20.7% to the variation in ecosystem health at the national scale. The ecosystem health changes were influenced by the interaction of meteorological and socio-economic factors in most regions with high ecosystem health types. Socio-economic factors act as a bridge that linked and reinforced the other factors in most regions with low and medium ecosystem health types. Ecologically protected factors were found to exert a remarkable impact in the southwestern region and the Loess Plateau region. Our findings can provide more effective and detailed decision-making support for ecosystem conservation and management in China.

On Consistency Test Method of Expert Opinion in Ecological Security Assessment

To reflect the initiative design and initiative of human security management and safety warning, ecological safety assessment is of great value. In the comprehensive evaluation of regional ecological security with the participation of experts, the expert's individual judgment level, ability and the consistency of the expert's overall opinion will have a very important influence on the evaluation result. This paper studies the consistency measure and consensus measure based on the multiplicative and additive consistency property of fuzzy preference relation (FPR). We firstly propose the optimization methods to obtain the optimal multiplicative consistent and additively consistent FPRs of individual and group judgments, respectively. Then, we put forward a consistency measure by computing the distance between the original individual judgment and the optimal individual estimation, along with a consensus measure by computing the distance between the original collective judgment and the optimal collective estimation. In the end, we make a case study on ecological security for five cities. Result shows that the optimal FPRs are helpful in measuring the consistency degree of individual judgment and the consensus degree of collective judgment.