Linking ecosystem services and economic development for optimizing land use change in the poverty areas

For the sustainable development of human beings and society, it is important to conserve the ecosystems and alleviate poverty in the low agricultural productivity or ecologically vulnerable areas. To avoid the decrease in ecosystem services (ES) under the effects associated with reducing poverty, we need to carefully consider the relationship between land use changes and the economic development in economically poor areas. We selected the Lingqiu County as our study area, which is a national impoverished county in China, and analyzed the impact of poverty alleviation efforts on the ecological and economic sustainability in the region through ES evaluation. The results showed that land use change in the Lingqiu County has not changed the ES significantly during 2007-2016. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate (15.81%) during 2001-2016, indicates the effectiveness of the poverty alleviation efforts implemented. The rise in the index of ecological and economic relationship during 2001-2016 (from 0.2389 to 0.3629) maintains in a harmonious coordination situation. Presently, the value of ES has not been converted to market-based benefits, and therefore, it is indispensable to find a marketplace for ES (in an innovative way) to promote the high-quality sustainable development of a local economy.

Automated summary

The study area in Lingqiu County, China, showed that the poverty alleviation efforts had a positive impact on both economic and ecological sustainability from 2001 to 2016. Despite the lack of significant changes in ecosystem services due to land use changes, the GDP growth rate of 15.81% indicated the effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts. The study also highlighted the importance of finding a marketplace for ecosystem services in order to promote high-quality sustainable development of the local economy.