Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation into Land Use Optimization: A Case Study in Huailai County, China

Land use plays a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation, as the reasonable design of land use distribution can positively impact these things. Therefore, research interest in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in land use and management has been growing. However, the adaptation and mitigation strategies have been handled separately at different dimensions and spatial levels. In this study, we presented a modeling framework for land use optimization that integrates climate change adaptation and mitigation, developed the model, and then applied it to Huailai County, wherein environmental and socioeconomic conditions are sensitive to climate change. The regional land use optimization model was combined with a linear programming model and a modified cellular automata model. Subsequently, the climate change adaptation and mitigation constraints, including ecological water demand, spatial suitability, and carbon sequestration, were incorporated into the model. The results indicate that most regions in the study area could adapt to and mitigate climate change with a constant land use pattern, and the land use conversion region under different climate change scenarios was primarily located in the topography transition region. The optimization results also reveal trade-offs between climate change adaptation and mitigation that were manifested with an increase in carbon sequestration and ecological water demand accompanied by decreases in the net income of agricultural production. Thus, it is necessary to simultaneously incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation into land use optimization and management, and the proposed model provides a feasible method to incorporate them and balance their trade-offs in land use pattern optimization at a regional scale.

Intelligent Control of Agricultural Irrigation through Water Demand Prediction Based on Artificial Neural Network

In irrigated areas, the intelligent management and scientific decision-making of agricultural irrigation are premised on the accurate estimation of the ecological water demand for different crops under different spatiotemporal conditions. However, the existing estimation methods are blind, slow, or inaccurate, compared with the index values of the water demand collected in real time from irrigated areas. To solve the problem, this paper innovatively introduces the spatiotemporal features of ecological water demand to the forecast of future water demand by integrating an artificial neural network (ANN) for water demand prediction with the prediction indices of water demand. Firstly, the ecological water demand for agricultural irrigation of crops was calculated, and a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) was constructed for predicting the water demand of agricultural irrigation. On this basis, an intelligent control strategy was presented for agricultural irrigation based on water demand prediction. The structure of the intelligent control system was fully clarified, and the main program was designed in detail. The proposed model was proved effective through experiments.

Long-term analysis of River Tisza water level data with regard to the ecological water demand of floodplain water bodies

One of the main threats of our time is the increasing water demand not only globally, but also locally. These are often met at the expense of ecological water demand, jeopardizing the structural and operational conditions necessary to maintain good ecological status in aquatic and wetland habitats. This is why it is of great importance to explore possible water retention options. In 2019, based on the long-term data series on the water level of River Tisza, we studied the frequency and extent of flooding in the floodplain between Tiszabercel and Gávavencsellő, where there are valuable wetlands, including a ‘sanctuary’-type backwater. This was necessary because recently the floodplains have undergone negative changes. Their water volume has gradually decreased, their valuable wildlife has become rarer, some of them have completely dried out in the autumn and even one of them has burned out. From the analysis of the examined 48-years data, it could be concluded that flooding was relatively frequent in the sampled area, but the extent of water coverage had no significant effect either in space or time. It was also found that only water levels above 700 cm (based on the water meter of Tiszabercel, 98.36 mBf) could adequately ensure that the water bodies are filled up and flushed out. However, there is little chance of this, because of four reasons: (1) water levels of this height are becoming rare; (2) the duration and height of high water levels are mostly short in time; (3) water levels of several water bodies are artificially decreased; (4) the drainage effect of the River Tisza – which has been significantly incised after the river regulation – prevails in the area. Due to all, in the future, there would be a great need to maintain the water levels in the floodplain wetlands as efficiently as possible after the floods – for which we have made specific proposals for the places and methods to preserve the ecologically necessary amount of water.

Study on Ecological Allocation of Mine Water in Mining Area based on Long Term Rainfall Forecast

Based on the mine water produced by mining, in order to improve the ecological environment, the optimal allocation of mine water resources is studied. In order to reduce the uncertainty of the calculation results of ecological water demand, the wolf colony algorithm neural network model is used for long-term rainfall forecast. Combined with the forecast annual rainfall, the ecological water demand is classified and calculated. The results show that the ecological water demand based on rainfall forecast can reduce the allocation of water resources in wet years to ecological aspects, so that the surplus water resources can be used in industries, irrigation and other aspects that can create economic benefits, and improve the utilization efficiency of water resources. The ecological allocation model of mine water based on long-term rainfall forecast can reduce the uncertainty of regional water resources allocation based on rainfall forecast, which has good guiding significance and practical value for the optimal allocation of water resources in arid and water shortage areas.

Calculation of targeted eco-environmental water requirements in a dry inland river: a case study of the Yarkand River Basin, Xinjiang, China

Analysis of eco-environmental water requirements along a dry inland river under extreme drought conditions can provide a theoretical basis for the sustained utilization and management of water resources in arid regions. This paper uses the Yarkand River Basin in Xinjiang, China, as a case study to determine and assess a method to calculate targeted eco-environmental water requirements (TEEWR) for different ranges of ecological protection of inland riparian forests. The proposed method is intended to comprehensively analyze the water resources along arid inland rivers. Specifically, the ranges of ecological protection were gradually expanded at intervals of 1 km (or multiples of the smallest distance) away from the river course while the TEEWR was determined as a function of the ecological water demand of riparian forest vegetation (Yec) and its corresponding river loss (Xloss). The developed method was shown to be feasible for analyzing TEEWR in the Yarkand River Basin and thus provides a novel and effective approach for the rational utilization and management of water resources in inland river basins in arid regions.Article Highlights Zones of ecological protection were gradually expanded at intervals of 1 km (or multiples of the smallest distance) away from the river course on both sides of the dry inland river The targeted eco-environmental water requirement, defined as the ecological water demand of riparian forest vegetation (Yec) and its corresponding river loss (Xloss), was determined for a dry inland river basin The developed methods for calculating targeted eco-environmental water requirements are useful, but have limitations.

Research on ecological water demand of lakes

With the rapid development of social economy, the development and utilization of water resources is increasing, which leads to the increasing importance of ecological water demand in wetland protection. The study of lake ecological water demand can provide theoretical basis for improving the distribution of water resources and ecosystem balance in lake wetland and establish a solid theoretical basis for the sustainable development of lake wetland ecosystem. Based on the analysis and summary of the relevant literature on wetland ecological water demand, this paper expounded the connotation of lake ecological water demandand summarized the calculation method of ecological water demand of lake type wetland in China. In addition,this paper pointed out that the research focus of lake ecological water demand mainly included the application of hydrologicalhydrodynamic- water quality and the research of water demand based on ecological protection target hydrology demand.