State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100085 Beijing, China.
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Apr 23;116(17):8623-8628. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1819501116. Epub 2019 Apr 5.
A major challenge in transforming development to inclusive, sustainable pathways is the pervasive and persistent trade-off between provisioning services (e.g., agricultural production) on the one hand and regulating services (e.g., water purification, flood control) and biodiversity conservation on the other. We report on an application of China's new Ecological Development Strategy, now being formally tested and refined for subsequent scaling nationwide, which aims to mitigate and even eliminate these trade-offs. Our focus is the Ecosystem Function Conservation Area of Hainan Island, a rural, tropical region where expansion of rubber plantations has driven extensive loss of natural forest and its vital benefits to people. We explored both the biophysical and the socioeconomic options for achieving simultaneous improvements in product provision, regulating services, biodiversity, and livelihoods. We quantified historic trade-offs between rubber production and vital regulating services, finding that, over the past 20 y (1998-2017), there was a 72.2% increase in rubber plantation area, leading to decreases in soil retention (17.8%), water purification [reduced retention of nitrogen (56.3%) and phosphorus (27.4%)], flood mitigation (21.9%), carbon sequestration (1.7%), and habitat for biodiversity (6.9%). Using scenario analyses, we identified a two-pronged strategy that would significantly reduce these trade-offs, enhancing regulating services and biodiversity, while simultaneously diversifying and increasing product provision and improving livelihoods. This general approach to analyzing product provision, regulating services, biodiversity, and livelihoods has applicability in rural landscapes across China, South and Southeast Asia, and beyond.
将发展转变为包容和可持续的道路面临一个主要挑战，即供给服务（例如农业生产）与调节服务（例如水净化、洪水控制）和生物多样性保护之间普遍存在且持久的权衡。我们报告了中国新的生态发展战略的应用，该战略目前正在正式测试和完善，以便随后在全国范围内推广，旨在减轻甚至消除这些权衡。我们的重点是海南岛生态功能保护区，这是一个农村热带地区，橡胶种植园的扩张导致了大量天然林的丧失及其对人民的重要效益。我们探讨了同时实现产品供给、调节服务、生物多样性和生计改善的生物物理和社会经济选择。我们量化了橡胶生产与重要调节服务之间的历史权衡，发现过去 20 年（1998-2017 年），橡胶种植园面积增加了 72.2%，导致土壤保持能力下降（17.8%）、水净化能力降低[减少氮（56.3%）和磷（27.4%）的保留]、洪水缓解能力下降（21.9%）、碳固存能力下降（1.7%）和生物多样性栖息地减少（6.9%）。通过情景分析，我们确定了一种双管齐下的策略，可以显著减少这些权衡，增强调节服务和生物多样性，同时使产品供给多样化和增加，并改善生计。这种分析产品供给、调节服务、生物多样性和生计的一般方法在中国、南亚和东南亚及其他地区的农村景观中具有适用性。
