4.7 Article

Evaluating combined effects of socio-economic development and ecological conservation policies on sediment retention service in the Qiantang River Basin, China

Journal

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
Volume 286, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124961

Keywords

Sediment retention service; Driving factors; Socio-economic development; Ecological conservation policy; Ecological conservation red line

Funding

  1. Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [LY18G030006]
  2. Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China [2016YFC0503404]

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This study evaluated the dynamics of sediment retention service in a large basin in China, finding that ecological conservation policies played a critical role in improving sediment retention, particularly the Green Project. The results suggest that the emerging Ecological Conservation Red Line policy could significantly reduce sediment export in the future, providing practical guidance for enhancing ecological benefits. Promoting targeted ecological protection policies and sustainable socio-economic plans are crucial for strengthening ecological security in the large basin.
The rapid socio-economic development and various ecological conservation policies in China have significantly affected sediment yield in the large basin. However, how these two aspects of influencing factors jointly drive the dynamics of sediment retention service is still poorly understood, although it is critical to evaluate ecosystem service dynamics and realize the balanced relationships between human activities and aquatic ecosystem health. Integrating the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model and sediment delivery ratio (SDR) model, this study evaluated dynamics of sediment retention service driven by combined factors of socio-economic development and ecological conservation policies. Furthermore, the relative contribution analysis identified contributions of these drivers to sediment dynamics. Results indicated that (1) sediment retention service improved from 2000 to 2015 in the Qiantang River Basin, with a 39.89% reduction in sediment export. (2) Ecological conservation policies played a more critical role in this improvement than socio-economic development. (3) In particular, the Green Project made the major contribution to controlling sediment export among all the drivers, additionally, increasing grain yield (per unit area) benefited sediment retention service because it mitigated the substantial demand for farmland and the excessive deprivation of ecological lands. (4) The emerging Ecological Conservation Red Line (ECRL) policy could reduce sediment export inside the redline regions by 84.13% through future scenario analysis, providing practical guidance for exploring more ecological benefits. Finally, suggestions for formulating targeted ecological protection policies and sustainable socio-economic plans were proposed to promote aquatic ecosystem services and strengthen ecological security in the large basin. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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