College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 1;771:144904. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144904. Epub 2021 Jan 29.
Payment for ecosystem services (PES) has become a widely accepted strategy for combining environmental conservation or restoration with socioeconomic development. Understanding the spatial heterogeneity of the effects of PES programs and their influencing factors is necessary for the design and implementation of effective programs. However, few researchers have both distinguished the effects of PES and analyzed their spatial variation simultaneously. Here, we analyzed the spatial differences in the effectiveness of afforestation under China's Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP), a well-known PES program, in the Loess Plateau. The approach is based on remote sensing data and county-level statistical data, which reflects the basic implementation unit of the GTGP. We identified several local and non-local influencing factors: the aridity index, rural non-farm employment, and rural migration improved afforestation effectiveness, whereas the total afforestation degree (the cumulative area of afforestation divided by the total area), vegetation conditions before afforestation, grain production, and investment in fixed assets decreased its effectiveness. Based on our results, we propose several suggestions for improvement: preferring afforestation in humid counties with low vegetation cover, identifying an optimal degree of afforestation, and promoting the transformation of rural livelihoods. Our study provides a general approach to analyze the effectiveness of PES and its spatial variation, thereby providing insights into future PES programs both within China and around the world.
支付生态系统服务（PES）已成为将环境保护或恢复与社会经济发展相结合的广泛接受的策略。了解 PES 计划效果的空间异质性及其影响因素，对于设计和实施有效的计划是必要的。然而，很少有研究人员同时区分 PES 的效果并分析其空间变化。在这里，我们分析了中国退耕还林还草工程（GTGP）下造林效果的空间差异，这是一个著名的 PES 计划，在黄土高原。该方法基于遥感数据和县级统计数据，反映了 GTGP 的基本实施单元。我们确定了几个局部和非局部的影响因素：干旱指数、农村非农就业和农村移民提高了造林效果，而总造林程度（造林面积与总面积之比）、造林前植被状况、粮食产量和固定资产投资降低了造林效果。基于我们的结果，我们提出了一些改进建议：在植被覆盖低、湿度较高的县优先造林，确定最佳的造林程度，并促进农村生计的转型。我们的研究提供了一种分析 PES 效果及其空间变化的一般方法，从而为中国乃至全球未来的 PES 计划提供了见解。
