Geospatial Drivers of China’s Nature Reserves: Implications for Sustainable Agricultural Development

Shasha Ouyang and Jun Wen ()
Additional contact information
Shasha Ouyang: College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Jun Wen: College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-25

Abstract: The establishment and management of nature reserves play a crucial role in protecting biodiversity and supporting sustainable agriculture. This study focuses on 2538 nature reserves in 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions and 4 municipalities directly under the central government in mainland China. Integrating GIS spatial statistics, imbalance index, and geodetector models, we reveal critical insights: (1) Pronounced spatial inequity is observed, where a small number of eastern provinces dominate the total reserve count, highlighting significant regional disparities in ecological resource allocation. The sparse kernel density in western regions, indicating sparse reserve coverage. The Standard Deviation Ellipse highlights directional dispersion and human-ecological conflicts in high-density zones. (2) Key sustainability indicators driving reserve distribution include: total water resources, water resources per capita, forest area. (3) The spatial distribution of China’s nature reserves, along with factors such as altitude, river distribution, and transportation infrastructure, plays a crucial role in their development. This research provides theoretical support for the scientific planning and policy-making of nature reserves in China and offers practical guidance for optimizing and adjusting sustainable agricultural development. The study emphasizes the vital functions of nature reserves in maintaining ecosystem balance, enhancing regional climate resilience, and serving as biodiversity reservoirs. This research offers strategic insights for integrating nature reserve spatial planning with sustainable agricultural development policies, providing a scientific basis for optimizing the eco-agricultural interface in China.

Keywords: ecological policy; geospatial analysis; kernel density estimation; biodiversity protection; spatial inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/15/1596/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/15/1596/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:15:p:1596-:d:1709331

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().