The Impact of Land Use Change on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in the Bashang Area of Hebei Province, China

Mengzhu Liu, Leilei Min, Jingjing Zhao, Yanjun Shen, Hongwei Pei, Hongjuan Zhang and Yali Li
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Mengzhu Liu: Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
Leilei Min: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050022, China
Jingjing Zhao: Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
Yanjun Shen: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050022, China
Hongwei Pei: Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
Hongjuan Zhang: Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
Yali Li: Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou 075000, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Land use change is an important scientific issue recognized for its potential to alter ecosystem services (ESs), especially water-related ecosystem services (WRESs). Using the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs (InVEST) model, this study quantified and mapped spatiotemporal variations in land use and corresponding WRESs in the Bashang area of Hebei Province, China (BAHP) to investigate how land use change impacted WRESs by means of scenario analysis, especially, in which a new evaluation indicator, average ecology effect (AEE) was proposed and well applied. The results indicated that woodland expansion (+602.61 km 2 ) and grassland shrinkage (−500.57 km 2 ) dominated the land use change in the BAHP in 2000–2018, which altered local WRESs, including the moderate declines in water purification and water yield, as well as a significant enhancement in soil conservation. In scenario analysis, compared to baseline levels, riparian woodland buffer and planting trees scenarios slightly decreased water yield but strengthened water purification and soil conservation; reclaiming wasteland and integrated development scenarios significantly enhanced soil conservation but lowered water yield and water purification; fertilizer reduction scenario effectively mitigated water deterioration. According to AEE, the riparian woodland buffer (RWB) scenario performed greater than the planting trees (PT) scenario on variations of WRESs per unit area, which differed completely from the results based on total variations. Overall, a multiple-scale indicator for a comprehensive evaluation of ESs should receive more attention.

Keywords: water-related ecosystem services; land use change; InVEST model; scenario analysis; the Bashang area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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