Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Yellow River Basin from 1980 to 2015 and Its Impact on the Ecosystem Services

Bo Liu, Libo Pan, Yue Qi, Xiao Guan and Junsheng Li
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Bo Liu: Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Libo Pan: Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Yue Qi: Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Xiao Guan: Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Junsheng Li: Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-23

Abstract: Land use and land cover change is an important driving force for changes in ecosystem services. We defined several important human-induced land cover change processes such as Ecological Restoration Project, Cropland Expansion, Land Degradation, and Urbanization by the land use/land cover transition matrix method. We studied human-induced land cover changes in the Yellow River Basin from 1980 to 2015 and evaluated its impact on ecosystem service values by the benefit transfer method and elasticity coefficient. The results show that the cumulative area of human-induced land cover change reaches 65.71 million ha from 1980 to 2015, which is close to the total area of the Yellow River Basin. Before 2000, Ecological Restoration Project was the most important human-induced land cover change process. However, due to the large amount of cropland expansion and land degradation, the area of natural vegetation was reduced and the ecosystem value declined. Since 2000, due to the implementation of the “Grain for Green” program, the natural vegetation of upstream area and midstream area of Yellow River Basin has been significantly improved. This implies that under an appropriate policy framework, a small amount of human-induced land cover change can also improve ecosystem services significantly.

Keywords: land use and land cover change; Yellow River Basin; human-induced land cover change; ecosystem services; benefit transfer method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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