Ecosystem Service Loss in Response to Agricultural Expansion in the Small Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China: Process, Driver and Management

Jing Chen, Lingxue Yu, Fengqin Yan and Shuwen Zhang
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Jing Chen: College of Earth Science, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130061, China
Lingxue Yu: Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130012, China
Fengqin Yan: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geography and natural resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Shuwen Zhang: College of Earth Science, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130061, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Converting natural ecosystems to cultivated land, driven by human activities, has been considered a significant driver of limiting the delivery of ecosystem services (ES). The ES loss in the past was mainly caused by agricultural activities that have been taken to meet people’s needs in Northeast China. Quantifying historical declining ecosystem service values is essential to facilitate sustainable development. In this study, remote sensing images were used to investigate the history of cultivated land expansion over the last five decades. Additionally, ES variations caused by agricultural expansion since 1965 were quantified in the Small Sanjiang Plain (SSP), Northeast China. From the results, cultivated land expanded from 3.97% of the total SSP area to 66.40% from 1965 to 2015 (approximately 898.23 million ha), of which paddy field expanded drastically from 0% to 55.93%. Variations in cultivated land resulted in a loss of ecosystem service values by 11,893.85 million dollars, of which 62.98 million dollars were caused by the internal conversion between cultivation during 1965–2015. Agricultural expansion accelerated the export of agricultural products function, while it decreased almost all other functions, especially hydrological regulation and freshwater supply function. For future sustainability of the SSP, some suggestions, such as restoring natural ecosystems, planting trees between cultivated land, coculture systems, and winter-flooding of paddy rice were provided in our study.

Keywords: cultivated land; ecosystem service value; land use change; the Small Sanjiang Plain; remote sensing (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 (2)

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