Search Results (18)

As the world’s third-longest river supporting 40% of China’s population, the Yangtze River Basin exemplifies the critical challenges of balancing riparian development and ecological resilience for major fluvial systems globally. This study analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution, proximity dynamics to the Yangtze River, and driving mechanisms of the “three types of spaces” (urban, agricultural, and ecological) in 130 counties along the Yangtze River mainstem from 2000 to 2020, utilizing an integrated approach incorporating land use transfer matrices, centroid-based distance metrics and GeoDetector models. Key findings reveal: (1) Urban space exhibited significant irreversible expansion while agricultural space continued to shrink, with ecological space maintaining overall stability but showing high-frequency bidirectional conversion with agricultural areas in localized zones. (2) Spatial proximity analysis demonstrated contrasting patterns—eastern riparian counties showed urban spatial agglomeration towards the river, whereas most mid-western regions experienced urban expansion away from the watercourse, with marked regional disparities in agricultural and ecological spatial changes. (3) Driving mechanism analysis identified topography as the dominant natural factor influencing ecological space evolution, while socioeconomic factors exerted stronger impacts on proximity variations of agricultural and urban spaces, with natural–socioeconomic interactive effects showing the most significant explanatory power. These spatial dynamics reflect universal trade-offs between economic development and ecosystem conservation in large river basins worldwide. We advocate differentiated spatial governance strategies, including rigorous riparian ecological redlines, eco-agricultural models in agricultural retreat zones, and proximity-based real-time monitoring for ecological early warning. The integrated methodology and spatial governance framework offer transferable solutions for sustainable management of major fluvial systems under rapid urbanization pressure. These findings provide scientific evidence and implementable pathways for coordinating socioeconomic development with ecosystem resilience in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Full article

Balancing ecological conservation and rural livelihoods in protected areas remains a global challenge, particularly under strict land use regulations and economic development constraints. Territorial spatial planning (TSP) in an ecological function area (EFA) faces constraints such as land use restrictions, ecological redlines, and economic development limits. This study investigates how ecological land resources influence farmers’ incomes in ecological function areas (EFAs), with a focus on the moderating role of advanced livelihoods (ALI). Using an integrated Fixed-Effects–SVM–Genetic Algorithm framework, we quantify nonlinear policy-livelihood interactions and simulate multi-scenario governmental interventions (e.g., ecological investment, returning farmland to forest/RFF) across Beijing’s EFA, which can obtain the key findings as follows: (a) Ecological land resources have a significant positive effect on farmers’ incomes due to production-manner adjustment guided by governmental green strategy and corresponding TSP in an ecological restoration area of an EFA, while they have a non-significant impact in the core ecological reserve areas on account of the strict environmental protection restrictions on economic activities. (b) Differences in financial support between lower and higher economic development zones can bring about adverse impact results on farmers’ incomes in an EFA. (c) ALI significantly amplifies the positive impact of ecological land use on farmers’ incomes, demonstrating its critical role in bridging ecological and economic goals. (d) Sensitivity analysis results under RFF, targeted government investment, and ALI can maximize income gains through policy interaction from the government and farmer sides jointly. The above obtained results are beneficial to balance ecological protection and economic interests of farmers’ sustainably in an EFA. Full article

This study, taking Anhui Province as a case study, systematically evaluated the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of six ecosystem services (biodiversity maintenance, water yield, carbon fixation, vegetation net primary productivity (NPP), soil retention, and crop production) from 2000 to 2020 through the integration of multi-stakeholder decision-making preferences and the Marxan model. Four conservation scenarios (ecological security priority, social benefit orientation, minimum cost constraint, and balance synergy) were established to explore the spatial optimization pathways of ecological protection zones under differentiated policy objectives. The findings indicated that: (1) The ecosystem services in Anhui Province exhibited a “low north and high south” spatial gradient, with significant synergies observed in natural ecosystem services in the southern Anhui mountainous areas, while the northern Anhui agricultural areas were subjected to significant trade-offs due to intensive development. (2) High service provision in the southern Anhui mountainous areas was maintained by topographic barriers and forest protection policies (significant NPP improvement zones accounted for 50.125%), whereas soil–water services degradation in the northern Anhui plains was caused by agricultural intensification and groundwater overexploitation (slight soil retention degradation covered 24.505%, and water yield degradation areas reached 29.766%). Urbanization demonstrated a double-edged sword effect—the expansion of the Hefei metropolitan area triggered suburban biodiversity degradation (significant degradation patches occupied 0.0758%), while ecological restoration projects promoted mountain NPP growth, highlighting the necessity of synergizing natural recovery and artificial interventions. (3) Multi-scenario planning revealed that the spatial congruence between the ecological security priority scenario and traditional ecological protection redlines reached 46.57%, whereas the social benefit scenario achieved only 12.13%, exposing the inadequate responsiveness of the current conservation framework to service demands in densely populated areas. This research validated the technical superiority of multi-objective systematic planning in reconciling ecological protection and development conflicts, providing scientific support for optimizing ecological security patterns in the Yangtze River Delta region. Full article

This study investigates the institutional innovation pathways for integrating comprehensive transportation networks into China’s territorial spatial planning system, with a focus on resolving the conflicts between ecological conservation and infrastructure development. By proposing a ‘constraint-coupling-innovation’ framework, this research addresses the gaps in existing spatial governance mechanisms, particularly the insufficient alignment between transportation planning and the ‘three zones and three lines’ (ecological conservation, agricultural production, and urban development zones with binding redline) system. The study employs mixed-method approaches, including geospatial conflict analysis (GIS), AI-driven policy coordination tools, and case studies from the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It demonstrates that rigid ecological constraints (e.g., ecological sensitivity veto power) can reduce planning conflicts effectively, while adaptive governance models enhance land use efficiency and stakeholder collaboration. Key findings reveal a significant negative correlation (R² = 0.75) between ecological protection redline (EPR) coverage and transportation network density, underscoring the necessity for differentiated governance strategies in high-conflict regions. A comparative analysis with the EU’s Natura 2000 sites and TEN-T networks further highlights China’s unique hierarchical governance model, which integrates top-down ecological mandates with localized technological innovations, such as digital twins and polycentric decision making. This study contributes to global debates on sustainable spatial planning by offering actionable pathways for balancing infrastructure expansion with ecological resilience, while also proposing institutional reforms, such as a National Transportation Spatial Governance Index (NTSGI), to standardize ecological compliance. These insights provide both theoretical advancements in spatial institutionalism and practical tools for policymakers navigating the dual challenges of urbanization and climate resilience. Full article

Despite declines in biodiversity and habitat quality (HQ) at a global scale, our understanding of the HQ and matches between HQ and biodiversity under management scenarios is incomplete. To address this deficiency, the study examined trends in HQ and (mis)matches between biodiversity and HQ over four decades in Shandong province, China, identified the key drivers, and assessed the effectiveness of ecological policies, including Ecological Redlines (ERLs) and the Grain for Green (GG) program. During the 40-year period, HQ and matching degrees (indicated by related coefficients) between biodiversity and HQ decreased obviously. Correlation analysis showed that related coefficients between HQ and four biodiversity indices (vertebrate, vascular plant, and vegetation formation type richness, and comprehensive biodiversity index) were all significant (p < 0.01), and coefficients were highest for the biodiversity composite index. An analysis of relative importance by the random forest algorithm indicated significant variation in driving factors for spatial distribution of HQ, biodiversity, and matches between them. The key determinants of biodiversity distribution were biophysical factors, such as NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index), DEM (digital elevation model), and temperature. However, the main drivers of HQ distribution were social factors, such as the accessibility of anthropogenic activities, urbanization, and population density. Ecological policy scenarios, ERLs and GG, are clearly effective and could improve HQ and the matching degree between HQ and biodiversity significantly. Furthermore, the improvement in HQ under ERLs was less than that under GG, while the increase in the matching degree was opposite. The results of this study can be integrated by ecological managers and planners for biodiversity conservation. Full article

Land use change is a key factor affecting the carbon storage of terrestrial ecosystems. Most studies focus on formulating different land development strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of land development, while fewer discuss the effectiveness of these strategies. In the context of varying socio-economic development and limited budgets for ecological conservation, evaluating effectiveness is essential for selecting the most suitable land development strategy. This research proposed a Patch-Generating Land Use Simulation-Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs–Propensity Score Matching (PLUS-InVEST-PSM) model to evaluate the effectiveness of different land use development strategies in the Greater Bay Area of China as a case study. Specifically, this study analyzed the historical land use changes from 2000 to 2020 and mapped the multi-scenario patterns of land use and carbon storage with the PLUS and the InVEST models from 2030 to 2050. Then, this study employed the PSM model, along with a series of criteria (i.e., similar ecological backgrounds and parallel historical trends), to evaluate the effectiveness of the ecological development strategy and ecological protection redlines on carbon storage compared with the natural development strategy. The results indicate that the ecological development strategy and the ecological protection redline can prevent the decline in carbon storage. However, in the ecological development strategy, implementing the ecological redline policy may hinder the growth of carbon storage within the ecological redline area. Compared with the PLUS-InVEST-PSM model, the comparison between the subregions could underestimate the efficiencies of evaluation, partly due to underestimating the negative impact of urban development on carbon storage. These findings will help governments develop comprehensive and systematic land use policies to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Also, the approach would help to further explore the broader impacts of land use development strategies on the overall regional ecological environment, such as biodiversity and ecosystem services. Full article

Water conservation is crucial for sustainable ecosystem development in loess gully regions. The redlines of permanent basic farmland protection and ecological protection are key land use control zones in China, yet their impact on water conservation is understudied. The study focuses on Yan’an and constructs three scenarios: natural development (NDS), farmland protection (FPS), and ecological protection (EPS). Then, land use simulation for the three scenarios in 2025, 2030, and 2035 is carried out using the patch-generating land use simulation model. Finally, the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs model is combined to calculate water conservation. The findings suggest the following: (1) From the temporal perspective, the water conservation of the three scenarios exhibits an incremental trend by period from 2025 to 2035, with an annual growth rate of approximately 0.65‰ for the NDS, 0.60‰ for the FPS, and 0.64‰ for the EPS. (2) From the scenario perspective, from 2025 to 2035, the annual water conservation under the FPS is 0.35‰ less than that under the NDS, while the impact of the EPS is weak at only ±0.1‰. (3) Across all scenarios, the average water conservation depth of grassland surpasses that of forestland. This study provides scientific evidence to help optimize China’s land space governance policy as well as methodological and theoretical support for related studies. Full article

Delineating conservation priority areas for both preservation and restoration is essential for developing adaptive ecosystem management strategies across production–living–ecological spaces (PLES). This study developed a coherent framework with four steps: (1) mapping spatial distributions of biodiversity and ecosystem services, (2) ranking the relative importance of ecosystems across spaces, (3) delineating priority areas for preservation and restoration according to the human footprint and priority ranks, and (4) contrasting with current conservation networks and overlapping with PLES. This framework was applied in Ganzi, China, to delineate the preservation priority areas (PPAs) of 8714.2 km² and 11,308.1 km², and restoration priority areas (RPAs) of 36,817.7 km² and 63,578.4 km² under the target to conserve 30% and 50% of territories, respectively. The priority areas, including PPAs and RPAs, achieve higher conservation capacity than the current Ecological Conservation Redline (ECR) in terms of biodiversity conservation or ecosystem service delivery. Roughly 67% of PPAs, 40% of RPAs, and a total of 75% of large patches with high priority are covered by ECR, indicating the necessity to adjust boundary and conduct restoration for ECR. As for PLES, the conservation priority areas encompass proportionally more ecological space (67–76%) than ECR (63.5%) or Ganzi (61.4%), implying the lower potential conflict between local residents’ production and conservation, and meanwhile, new opportunities and challenges in sustainable development in human-dominated spaces. The coherent framework to delineate PPAs and RPAs is flexible in terms of threshold in human impact or ecological degradation and can be improved by considering the complex relationships between indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This study highlights the importance of incorporating ecosystem features, land uses, and human activities in developing different strategies according to different conservation purposes in the context of sustainable development. Full article

Facing the serious challenge of human pressure on biodiversity conservation, a growing interest has been aroused in adaptive pathways for conservation law and regulations. Unlike studies that discuss improvement pathways based on well-established systems in the developed world, building up a scientific, effective regulatory system is the major challenge faced in China. We analyzed the evolution of protection regulations and divided them into three main stages. In the first two stages, conservation regulations followed a parallel core logic of national reform and development, resulting in rules that were too stringent or served only departmental interests. In the third stage, the reform of territorial spatial planning incorporated various PAs, reconciling ecological protection with the needs of agriculture and urbanization for land use. We attribute the success of the third stage to a more comprehensive policy and legal framework that integrates the system of protected areas and spatial planning, making conservation rules more scientific and enforceable. Several suggestions to enhance current reforms are then proposed. This study also provides international insight into limiting the impact of human activities on protected areas through scientifically integrated spatial planning and strict use controls. Full article

In the past 10 years, the implementation of grassland ecological compensation policy has played an important role in the sustainable development of the pastoral economy. How much impact on herders will delineating the ecological conservation redline have? Such delineation is significant for the smooth implementation of the ecological conservation redline. Based on this, taking the three banner counties with a large area under the control area of the ecological redline of the Xilin Gol as examples, OLS and quantile regression were used to analyze the impact of a grassland ecological compensation policy on herdsmen’s income level, and the ordered Probit model was used to analyze the influencing factors of herdsmen’s satisfaction with the policy. The results show that: (1) grassland ecological compensation has a significant positive impact on low-income herders in ecological protection redline areas; (2) grassland ecological compensation, income and the implementation of current policy have a positive impact on the satisfaction of herders in the redline area; (3) herdsmen are highly satisfied with the grassland ecological compensation policy, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in the compensation policy after the redline is delineated. In this regard, we should increase compensation for areas with a high proportion of ecological conservation redlines, and explore ways to increase income from animal husbandry products. At the same time, we should strengthen the publicity of ecological protection redline policies and promote the timely disbursement of funds, reconstruct the grassland ecological compensation mechanism by strengthening policy incentives and hardening regulatory constraints, and effectively improve the policy efficiency of ecological protection redlines. Full article

Urban fringe areas are locations that compete between urban development and ecological protection; their ecological spatial boundaries face the risk of erosion and degradation. Previous studies have so far focused on the core area inside the ecological space. However, research on the ecological boundary zone has so far been insufficient. The delineation of ECR is based on large-scale administrative units, while it is less precise at the level of small-scale rural areas. This study selected Paifang village in Nanjing City as the study area and built a Bayesian network model to predict the ecological space boundary for 2030. The study also identified the driving factors and their mechanisms affecting the changes in the rural ecological space in an urban fringe area and put forward targeted suggestions for its protection. The results suggested that: (1) The ecological space of Paifang village will expand in 2030. Specifically, agricultural land has the greatest potential for restoration of ecological space, followed by shrubland and grassland, and water bodies and their surrounding areas are potentially shrinking ecological space. (2) Artificial construction activities will disturb the ecological space, with the change in agricultural land being the main factor affecting the change in the ecological space boundary. (3) The Ecological Conservation Redline has a significant effect on the protection of the rural ecological space. The results of this study can provide a reference for rural planning and the formulation of protection policies in urban fringe areas. Full article

With the rapid urbanization process, the construction of lighting facilities is increasing, whereas artificial light at nighttime (ALAN) negatively affects organisms in protected areas and threatens ecosystems. Therefore, a deep research of ALAN within protected areas is significant for better preserving biodiversity by scientific ALAN management. Taking the ecological conservation redline (ECR) in Zhejiang Province as a case study, we consistently applied remotely sensed ALAN data from 2000 to 2020 for exploring spatiotemporal changing characteristics of ALAN. More importantly, both human living and ecological safety were considered to classify ALAN status in 2019 in order to propose rational suggestions for management. The results showed ALAN intensified and expanded, increasing from 3.05 × 10¹² nW·sr⁻¹ to 5.24 × 10¹³ nW·sr⁻¹ at an average growth rate of 2.35 × 10¹² nW·sr⁻¹·year⁻¹. Hotspot analysis and bivariate spatial clustering identified the aggregation situation of ALAN and the population. They showed that statistically significant ALAN hotspots accounted for only 20.40% of the study area while providing 51.82% of the total ALAN. Based on the mismatches between human demand and ALAN supply, two crucial areas were identified where regulation is needed most, and targeted policy recommendations were put forward. The study results can contribute to the effective regulation of ALAN in protected areas. Full article

The Ecological Conservation Redline (ECR) of China plays an important role in avoiding ecological space occupancy and maintaining regional ecological security. Anji County in Zhejiang Province is one of the first regions to implement the ECR in China. This paper takes Anji County as an example to analyze the effects of ECR. To do this, we first set up two scenarios with the CLUE-S model: a normal land-use development scenario (NLDS) and an ECR implementation scenario (ECRS); then we compare the land use of 2010 and 2015 under NLDS and ECRS. Land use, ecosystem services value (ESV), landscape metrics, and ecological product outputs were compared between the entire county and the ECR areas. The results revealed the following: (1) From 2000 to 2015, the ecological land in Anji County decreased by 4.03%, while it decreased by 1.17% in the ECR areas. (2) In the ECR areas, there was less arable land and construction land of the ECRS than in the NLDS, which indicates the ECR impeded the expansion of construction land and arable land in the ECR areas. (3) The ECR areas account for 39% of Anji County but contribute more than 80% to the ESV of the whole county. During 2000–2015, the ESV of the entire county decreased while the ESV of the ECR areas increased. (4) From 2000 to 2015, whereas landscape fragmentation of the entire county increased, that of ECR areas decreased. (5) Since the ECR’s implementation, Anji County has vigorously developed the bamboo industry, ecological agriculture, the tourism industry, and achieved rapid economic development via industrial restructuring and transformation. On the whole, the ECR has neither adversely affected land development nor economic development but instead has promoted the optimization of the land’s spatial development pattern. Full article

The Ecological Protection Redline (EPR) is an innovative measure implemented in China to maintain the structural stability and functional security of the ecosystem. By prohibiting large-scale urban and industrial construction activities, EPR is regarded as the “lifeline” to ensure national ecological security. It is of great practical significance to scientifically evaluate the protection effect of EPR and identify the protection vacancies. However, current research has focused only on the protection effects of the EPR on ecosystem services (ESs), and the protection effect of the EPR on ecological connectivity remains poorly understood. Based on an evaluation of ES importance, the circuit model, and hotspot analysis, this paper identified the ecological security pattern in Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), analyzed the role of EPR in maintaining ES and ecological connectivity, and identified protection gaps. The results were as follows: (1) The ecological sources were mainly distributed in mountainous areas of the GBA. The ecological sources and ecological corridors constitute a circular ecological shelter surrounding the urban agglomeration of the GBA. (2) The EPR effectively protected water conservation, soil conservation, and biodiversity maintenance services, but the protection efficiency of carbon sequestration service and ecological connectivity were low. In particularly, EPR failed to continuously protect regional large-scale ecological corridors and some important stepping stones. (3) The protection gaps of carbon sequestration service and ecological connectivity in the study area reached 1099.80 km² and 2175.77 km², respectively, mainly distributed in Qingyuan, Yunfu, and Huizhou. In future EPR adjustments, important areas for carbon sequestration service and ecological connectivity maintenance should be included. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the protection effects of EPR on ecological structure and function, and it has produced significant insights into improvements of the EPR policy. In addition, this paper proposes that the scope of resistance surface should be extended, which would improve the rationality of the ecological corridor simulation. Full article

Protecting areas of important ecological value is one of the main approaches to safeguarding the Earth’s ecosystems. However, the long-term effectiveness of protected areas is often uncertain. Focusing on China’s ecological conservation redline policy (Eco-redline policy) introduced in recent years, this study attempted to examine the effectiveness of alternative policy interventions and their implications on future land-use and land-cover (LULC) patterns. A scenario analysis was employed to elucidate the implications of different policy interventions for Chongqing capital, one of the most representative cities in China. These interventions considered the spatial extent of Eco-redline areas (ERAs) and the management intensity within these areas. LULC data for two different periods from 2000 (first year) to 2010 (end year) were derived from satellite images and then used for future (2050) LULC projections, incorporating the various policy interventions. Furthermore, several landscape indices, including the shape complexity, contrast, and aggregation of forest patches were calculated for each scenario. After comparing the scenarios, our analysis suggests that the current extent of ERAs may not be sufficient, although their management intensity is. Therefore, we suggest that during the optimization of the Eco-redline policy, ERAs are gradually increased while maintaining their current management intensity. Full article