Toward ecological function zoning and comparison to the Ecological Redline Policy: a case study in the Poyang Lake Region, China

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 30; pp. 40178 - 40191
• Main Authors: Xu, Chen, Yang, Guishan, Wan, Rongrong, Ou, Weixin, Wang, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological effects; Ecological function; Ecological research; Ecosystem degradation; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental degradation; Environmental Health; Environmental impact; Environmental management; Environmental science; Extreme values; Freshwater ecosystems; Freshwater lakes; Land use; Land use management; Sustainable Water–Energy–Environment Nexus; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Zoning; China; Poyang Lake; Vulnerability analysis; Ecosystem services; Ecological Redline Policy; Importance analysis; Ecological function zoning
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-12225-6

Faced with huge environmental problems of ecosystem degradation, “Ecological Redline Policy (ERP)” in China is a new key national-level policy to manage different land use functions in accordance with development and environmental limits. As the water–land complex ecosystem with the largest freshwater lake, wetland natural reserves and ecological importance in China, Poyang Lake Region (PLR) is selected to quantify and map multiple ecosystem services, investigate the ecological function zoning as part of research on ecological zoning control and major ecological source areas to illustrate and address the implementation of this strategy based on the importance and vulnerability analysis of ecosystem services. According to ecological function zoning results, extremely important, highly important, medium important and important zones respectively account for 26.1%, 28.1%, 17.4% and 28.4% of the total area. With an area of 5422.2 km 2 , the extremely important zone is 1010.6 km 2 larger than the ERP. Moreover, 81.6% of the ERP is located in the extremely important zone. By discussing the implications and applications of ecological management, this study contributes to the ecological protection of Poyang Lake and provides a foundation for research on ecological function zoning at the regional scale.