Projected Losses of Ecosystem Services Incurred by Reserve Resources of Cultivated Land Development and Development Priority: A Case Study of Linzhou City in Henan Province, China.

ABSTRACT

The development of reserve resources of cultivated land (RRCL) is a vital way of supplementing cultivated land, and plays a crucial role in ensuring food security. However, if we blindly pursue the quantity of development while ignoring the conservation of the ecosystem, we are likely to waste land resources and destroy the ecological environment. Therefore, it is necessary to address the urgent issue of preventing ecological risks resulting from the development of RRCL and to enhance the actual effect of supplementing cultivated land. Taking Linzhou City in Henan Province as an example, this paper first assessed the tillability of RRCL and estimated the functionality of ecosystem services. Then it projected the losses of ecosystem services incurred by RRCL development, based on which it determined the development priority. The following conclusions were drawn (1) The total area of RRCL in Linzhou City amounts to 8845 hectares. (2) According to the research forecast, the total annual losses of ecosystem services incurred by RRCL development in Linzhou City include water conservation of 776,200 m3, soil retention of 340.84 t, and carbon sequestration and oxygen release of 2311.12 t. Moreover, the total value of losses amounts to RMB 15.7754 million. (3) The ecological losses incurred by RRCL development vary with the different types of land. Overall, the ecological loss derived from reclaimable land is inferior to that of cultivable land, with the average value of ecological loss amounting to RMB 600 and RMB 5300 per hectare, respectively. The ecological loss from the development of class II land is pond < garden land < artificial grassland < artificial forest land < natural grassland < bare land. Moreover, land development should be postponed when the quantity of ecological losses reaches level III or higher. (4) Corrections are made based on the ecological coefficient of the economic potential of RRCL development so as to determine the priority of development. The research findings indicate that the priority of development of eastern towns is higher than that of central and western towns in Linzhou City, with Donggang and Hengshui topping the priority list and Shibanyan, Lingyang, and Chengguan having the lowest priority.