Assessing Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Conversion on Changes in Ecosystem Services Value on the Loess Plateau, China

Wei Jiang, Bojie Fu and Yihe Lü
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Wei Jiang: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.18 Shuangqing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, China
Bojie Fu: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.18 Shuangqing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, China
Yihe Lü: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.18 Shuangqing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-26

Abstract: The Loess Plateau is not only a critical region that suffers from ecological threats but also a valuable region that provides various fundamental ecosystem services, including provisioning, regulating and cultural services to about 8% of the Chinese population. The specific natural environment and extensive human activities have led to substantial land use/land cover changes between 1990 and 2015, such as the decrease in cropland with the increase in forests and grasslands due to the implementation of the Grain for Green Program since 2000 and the expansion of built-up areas with economic development and population growth. However, the effects of these changes on ecosystem service values have not yet been considered. In this study, the approach based on a combination of land use/land cover proxies and benefit transfer is applied to assess ecosystem service value changes resulting from land use/land cover changes in the 1990–2000, 2000–2010 and 2010–2015 periods. The results reveal that the total value of ecosystem services has been reduced by $6.787 million from 1990 to 2000 and increased by $4.6 million from 2000 to 2015. The elasticity analysis shows that a 1% area conversion has induced average value changes of 1.03%, 0.38% and 0.05% in the three periods, respectively. Elasticity is developed as an indicator for locating unusual changes among different regions and identifying specific needs for ecosystem management.

Keywords: land use/land cover change; ecosystem service value; benefit transfer; elasticity analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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