Resources Science ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (6): 1070-1081.doi: 10.18402/resci.2019.06.06

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of cultivated land transition on ecosystem service value in Shaanxi Province of China

Zhenmin DING(), Shunbo YAO()   

  1. Center for Resource Economy and Environmental Management, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China
  • Received:2018-08-25 Revised:2019-01-04 Online:2019-06-25 Published:2019-06-25

Abstract:

This study developed a panel threshold model to examine the impact of cultivated land transition due to urban expansion and ecological restoration project on ecosystem service value, according to the economic analysis framework based on land use/land cover change derived from remote sensing data of 1990-2015 in Shaanxi Province. Cultivated land transition has moved in two opposite directions driven by urban expansion and ecological restoration policy. Urban expansion affects negatively and significantly on ecosystem service value, but its marginal effect is a function of the rate of forest and grassland coverage. With the implementation of the Grain for Green project, forest and grassland coverage increase can make up for the loss of the ecosystem service value caused by urban expansion. The rate of forest and grassland coverage is captured by the panel threshold model, which indicates that when this rate reaches 87.3%, urban expansion has no significant impact on the ecosystem service value. In 2017, the rate of forest and grassland coverage in Shaanxi Province was 68.83%. Therefore it is essential for the province to further expand the scale of returning farmland to forest (grass) to ensure regional ecological security and meet the needs of ecological civilization construction while ensuring that the basic farmlands remain unchanged.

Key words: cultivated land transition, ecosystem service value, Grain for Green project, urban expansion, panel threshold model, Shaanxi Province