scholarly journals Trade-Offs Analysis of Ecosystem Services for the Grain for Green Program: Informing Reforestation Decisions in a Mountainous Headwater Region, Northeast China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4762
Author(s):  
Xiufen Li ◽  
Yichen Tian ◽  
Tian Gao ◽  
Lei Jin ◽  
Shuangtian Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Grain For Green Program ◽  
Regulating Services ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Soil Retention ◽  
Reforestation Program

The effects of forest restoration on ecosystem services and their trade-offs are increasingly discussed by environmental managers and ecologists, but few demonstrations have analyzed ecosystem service trade-offs with a view to informing afforestation choices. Here, we examined how the Grain for Green Program (GGP), an ambitious reforestation program in China, affected ecosystem services. We quantified regulating services and provisioning service in the potential scenarios, which were developed to improve ecosystem services better. The results indicated the GGP drove 14.5% of land-use/land-cover from 2000 to 2015, and all the regulating services increased. Prioritizing reforestations in steep-sloped and riparian farmlands can promote flood mitigation, water purification, and soil retention services by 62.7%, 25.5%, and 216.1% as compared with 2015 levels, respectively, suggesting that the improvements strongly depend on afforestation locations. Driven by the new GGP policy, a high proportion of economic forest increased provisioning service (272.2%), but at the expense of decreases in soil retention (−25.1%), flood mitigation (−11.4%), water purification (−36.6%), and carbon storage (−48.5%). We identified a suitable scenario that would reduce the trade-offs, which associated with afforestation types and their spatial allocation. Identifying priority areas of afforestation types can inform the GGP policy to assure sustainable and broader benefits.

Trade-offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in Karst Area of China Driven by Grain-for-Green Program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Grain For Green Program ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

<p>As an important means regulating the relationship between human and natural ecosystem, ecological restoration program plays a key role in restoring ecosystem functions. The Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP, One of the world’s most ambitious ecosystem conservation set-aside programs aims to transfer farmland on steep slopes to forestland or grassland to increase vegetation coverage) has been widely implemented from 1999 to 2015 and exerted significant influence on land use and ecosystem services (ESs). In this study, three ecological models (InVEST, RUSLE, and CASA) were used to accurately calculate the three key types of ESs, water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), and net primary production (NPP) in Karst area of southwestern China from 1982 to 2015. The impact of GFGP on ESs and trade-offs was analyzed. It provides practical guidance in carrying out ecological regulation in Karst area of China under global climate change. Results showed that ESs and trade-offs had changed dramatically driven by GFGP . In detail, temporally, SC and NPP exhibited an increasing trend, while WY exhibited a decreasing trend. Spatially, SC basically decreased from west to east; NPP basically increased from north to south; WY basically increased from west to east; NPP and SC, SC and WY developed in the direction of trade-offs driven by the GFGP, while NPP and WY developed in the direction of synergy. Therefore, future ecosystem management and restoration policy-making should consider trade-offs of ESs so as to achieve sustainable provision of ESs.</p>

scholarly journals The Grain for Green Program Intensifies Trade-Offs between Ecosystem Services in Midwestern Shanxi, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 3966
Author(s):  
Baoan Hu ◽  
Zhijie Zhang ◽  
Hairong Han ◽  
Zuzheng Li ◽  
Xiaoqin Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Ecological Engineering ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Grain For Green Program ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

Ecological engineering is a widely used strategy to address environmental degradation and enhance human well-being. A quantitative assessment of the impacts of ecological engineering on ecosystem services (ESs) is a prerequisite for designing inclusive and sustainable engineering programs. In order to strengthen national ecological security, the Chinese government has implemented the world’s largest ecological project since 1999, the Grain for Green Program (GFGP). We used a professional model to evaluate the key ESs in Lvliang City. Scenario analysis was used to quantify the contribution of the GFGP to changes in ESs and the impacts of trade-offs/synergy. We used spatial regression to identify the main drivers of ES trade-offs. We found that: (1) From 2000 to 2018, the contribution rates of the GFGP to changes in carbon storage (CS), habitat quality (HQ), water yield (WY), and soil conservation (SC) were 140.92%, 155.59%, −454.48%, and 92.96%, respectively. GFGP compensated for the negative impacts of external environmental pressure on CS and HQ, and significantly improved CS, HQ, and SC, but at the expense of WY. (2) The GFGP promotes the synergistic development of CS, HQ, and SC, and also intensifies the trade-off relationships between WY and CS, WY and HQ, and WY and SC. (3) Land use change and urbanization are significantly positively correlated with the WY–CS, WY–HQ, and WY–SC trade-offs, while increases in NDVI helped alleviate these trade-offs. (4) Geographically weighted regression explained 90.8%, 94.2%, and 88.2% of the WY–CS, WY–HQ, and WY–SC trade-offs, respectively. We suggest that the ESs’ benefits from the GFGP can be maximized by controlling the intensity of land use change, optimizing the development of urbanization, and improving the effectiveness of afforestation. This general method of quantifying the impact of ecological engineering on ESs can act as a reference for future ecological restoration plans and decision-making in China and across the world.

scholarly journals Spatial priorities for biodiversity and ecosystem services considering theoretical decision-makers' attitudes to risk

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Wang ◽  
Hua Zheng ◽  
Stephen Polasky ◽  
Yanxu Long
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Weighted Averaging ◽  
Risk Scenarios ◽  
Soil Retention ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Choosing appropriate spatial priorities for protected areas (PAs) to conserve ecosystem services (ESs) and biodiversity is a challenge for decision-makers under limited land resources, especially when facing uncertain protection consequences or conflicting protection objectives. Attitudes toward risk will influence actions, which will, in turn, impact consequences. To understand how theoretical decision-maker attitudes towards risk impact protection effectiveness for biodiversity and ESs (e.g., water retention, soil retention, flood mitigation, water purification and carbon sequestration) and how this information can be integrated into effective PAs management, we examined Hainan Island as a case study. We used the ordered weighted averaging algorithm to assess the impact of attitude towards risk in PA management. Decision-makers’ attitude towards risk scenarios (from risk-averse and risk-taking) showed higher mean protection effectiveness (2.41–2.85) than existing PAs (2.37), indicating that there is still room for improvement in biodiversity and ESs conservation in existing PAs. In addition, among the seven examined risk scenarios, the higher risk aversion scenario showed the best outcome. In comparison to existing PAs, this scenario improved mean protection effectiveness (20.13%) as well as the protection effectiveness of water retention (24.84%), water purification (11.46%), flood mitigation (8.84%), soil retention (16.63%), carbon sequestration (5.31%), and biodiversity (12.84%). Thus, our research shows that the influence of theoretical decision-makers’ attitudes towards risk could be considered by OWA method which could provide a normative model of what the right choice given theoretical risk attitudes is while selecting priority area for biodiversity and ESs.

scholarly journals Quantifying Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs to Inform Spatial Identification of Forest Restoration

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 563
Author(s):  
Ruida Li ◽  
Ruonan Li ◽  
Hua Zheng ◽  
Yanzheng Yang ◽  
Zhiyun Ouyang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Efficiency Frontier ◽  
Service Trade ◽  
Coastal Hazard ◽  
Trade Offs

Specific forest restoration aims to maximum ecosystem services (ESs); however, the complex trade-offs among ecosystem services pose considerable challenges for fulfilling such goals. Based on forest restoration on Hainan Island, China, we integrated spatially explicit models of ecosystem services and spatial prioritization techniques based on the efficiency frontier between habitat quality and plantation revenue to analyze the impacts of decision-makers’ preferences on optimal configurations of forest restoration. We then investigated the effects of different optimal restoration schemes on water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation. Based on our results, plantation revenue and habitat quality exhibited an obvious trade-off during the process of restoration. Forest restoration patterns also varied with the degree of preference for plantation yield or habitat quality, indicating that understanding ecosystem service tradeoffs can support the optimal selection of forest restoration schemes under different preferences. However, when the values of multiple ecosystem services associated with forest restoration were considered (e.g., water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation), the optimal solution choice varied. Our results suggest the application of the efficiency frontier can deepen quantitative understanding of ecosystem service trade-offs, and the addition of multi-benefit evaluation based on optimal solutions can provide a more detailed and broader picture of forest restoration plans. Integrated efficiency frontier assessment with the valuation of ecosystem services associated with forest restoration provides a quantitative approach for optimal forest restoration, which can be applied in broad forest restoration programs.

Trade-offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in Karst Area of China Driven by Grain-for-Green Program

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Wang ◽  
Xinrong Zhang ◽  
Xiaoming Feng ◽  
Shirong Liu ◽  
Lichang Yin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Grain For Green Program ◽  
Trade Offs

The impact of secondary forest restoration on multiple ecosystem services and their trade-offs

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 ◽  
pp. 248-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yelin Zeng ◽  
Mengmeng Gou ◽  
Shuai Ouyang ◽  
Liang Chen ◽  
Xi Fang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

Valuing a Logging Externality: Loss of the Water Purification Service of Temperate Coastal Rainforests

2017 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 1650032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Knowler ◽  
Ashley Page ◽  
Andrew Cooper ◽  
H. Andres Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Water System ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Traffic Volume ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Trade Offs

In many biodiversity rich watersheds, there is a lack of understanding concerning the trade-offs between timber harvesting and maintaining the watershed’s other ecosystem services, where losses of these services can occur as an externality from timber harvesting. As a result, the potential benefit from an appropriate mix of activities in multiple-use watersheds frequently remains unrealized. Our study provides insight into such trade-offs by estimating the value of a loss in a forest’s water purification/filtration service due to sedimentation caused by logging (the externality). More specifically, we develop a model to quantify the economic impact of increased sedimentation from forest roads on the quality of raw water withdrawn by a municipal water utility. Our approach is novel in several ways. First, we recognize the complex response of the water treatment plant to elevated sedimentation (turbidity) by considering a stochastic environmental influence on water system performance; to accommodate this complexity, we estimate the number of times turbidity exceeds an acceptable threshold by using a count data estimation procedure. Second, we generate alternative time series for turbidity that vary according to assumptions about forest management (logging versus no logging), traffic volume (road use intensity) and aggregate road length. We find that reductions in the economic value of the water purification/filtration service is more sensitive to traffic volume than other considerations but only when the road use is High, as the welfare effect in other cases is modest. Our analysis will be helpful to forest planners who must consider the trade-offs in forest management when timber harvesting can have harmful impacts on important ecosystem services, such as water purification/filtration.

scholarly journals Ecosystem Service Modelling to Support Nature-Based Flood Water Management in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13549
Author(s):  
Nguyet Anh Dang ◽  
Rubianca Benavidez ◽  
Stephanie Anne Tomscha ◽  
Ho Nguyen ◽  
Dung Duc Tran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Economic Values ◽  
Trade Offs

Deltas are among the most productive and diverse global ecosystems. However, these regions are highly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change. Nature-based solutions (Nbs) have been increasingly adopted in many deltas to improve their resilience. Among decision support tools, assessment of ecosystem services (ES) through spatially explicit modelling plays an important role in advocating for Nbs. This study explores the use of the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI) model, a high-resolution model originally developed in temperate hill country regions, to map changes in multiple ecosystem services (ES), along with their synergies and trade-offs, between 2010 and 2018 in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). In so doing, this study contributes to the current knowledge in at least two aspects: high-resolution ES modelling in the VMD, and the combination of ES biophysical and economic values within the VMD to support Nbs implementation. To date, this is the highest resolution (5 by 5 m) ES modelling study ever conducted in the VMD, with ~1500 million elements generated per ES. In the process of trialling implementations of LUCI within the VMD’s unique environmental conditions and data contexts, we identify and suggest potential model enhancements to make the LUCI model more applicable to the VMD as well as other tropical deltaic regions. LUCI generated informative results in much of the VMD for the selected ES (flood mitigation, agriculture/aquaculture productivity, and climate regulation), but challenges arose around its application to a new agro-hydrological regime. To address these challenges, parameterising LUCI and reconceptualising some of the model’s mechanisms to specifically account for the productivity and flood mitigation capability of water-tolerant crops as well as flooding processes of deltaic regions will improve future ES modelling in tropical deltaic areas. The ES maps showed the spatial heterogeneity of ES across the VMD. Next, to at least somewhat account for the economic drivers which need to be considered alongside biophysical valuations for practical implementations of ES maps for nature-based solutions (Nbs) in the upstream VMD, economic values were assigned to different parcels using a benefit transfer approach. The spatially explicit ES economic value maps can inform the design of financing incentives for Nbs. The results and related work can be used to support the establishment of Nbs that ultimately contribute to the security of local farmers’ livelihoods and the sustainability of the VMD.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document