IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i21p9128-d439234.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prioritizing Agricultural Patches for Reforestation to Improve Connectivity of Habitat Conservation Areas: A Guide to Grain-to-Green Project

Author

Listed:
  • Zhouqiao Ren

    (Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China)

  • Wanxin Zhan

    (School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China)

  • Qiaobing Yue

    (School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China)

  • Jianhua He

    (School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China)

Abstract

Landscape connectivity can largely affect the level of biodiversity and it is a key concern in conservation planning. Considering that protected areas (PAs) may become functionally isolated “islands” under rapid land-use change, there is an urgent need to expand and connect protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss and improve PAs effectiveness. The Grain-to-Green Project (GTGP) is the largest reforestation program worldwide with the aim of controlling water and soil loss; however, the opportunities for connectivity gains through GTGP have been widely ignored. Here we provided a three-stage hierarchical framework incorporating soil erosion analysis, cropland suitability analysis and network analysis to prioritize agricultural patches for reforestation under the scheme of GTGP. The potential reforestation patches were identified in the first two stages. Then, four different GTGP strategies were designed, and a set of network metrics were used to determine the best strategy and prioritize patches that significantly enhance PAs connectivity. A typical GTGP region, Wanzhou district (Southwest China), was taken as the study area. We found that: (1) the agricultural patches with high reforestation suitability cover an area of c . 40 km 2 (1% of the study area); and (2) the efficiency of GTGP strategies varies by species, species with intermediate and high mobility benefit more from a strategy that continuously adds reforestation patches close to PAs, while for species with low dispersal ability, the amount of patches added should also be taken into account to decide the appropriate strategy. We conclude that our framework can provide guidance to restore PAs connectivity with limited land resources in the context of GTGP.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhouqiao Ren & Wanxin Zhan & Qiaobing Yue & Jianhua He, 2020. "Prioritizing Agricultural Patches for Reforestation to Improve Connectivity of Habitat Conservation Areas: A Guide to Grain-to-Green Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:9128-:d:439234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9128/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9128/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Xiuhong & Shen, Jianxiu & Zhang, Wei, 2014. "Emergy evaluation of agricultural sustainability of Northwest China before and after the grain-for-green policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 508-516.
    2. Zhou, Decheng & Zhao, Shuqing & Liu, Shuguang & Zhang, Liangxia, 2014. "Modeling the effects of the Sloping Land Conversion Program on terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics in the Loess Plateau: A case study with Ansai County, Shaanxi province, China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 288(C), pages 47-54.
    3. C. R. Margules & R. L. Pressey, 2000. "Systematic conservation planning," Nature, Nature, vol. 405(6783), pages 243-253, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jakub Chromčák & Daša Bačová & Pavol Pecho & Anna Seidlová, 2021. "The Possibilities of Orthophotos Application for Calculation of Ecological Stability Coefficient Purposes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kangas, Johanna & Ollikainen, Markku, 2022. "A PES scheme promoting forest biodiversity and carbon sequestration," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    2. Tamara S. Wilson & Benjamin M. Sleeter & Rachel R. Sleeter & Christopher E. Soulard, 2014. "Land-Use Threats and Protected Areas: A Scenario-Based, Landscape Level Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-28, April.
    3. Auriel M. V. Fournier & R. Randy Wilson & Jeffrey S. Gleason & Evan M. Adams & Janell M. Brush & Robert J. Cooper & Stephen J. DeMaso & Melanie J. L. Driscoll & Peter C. Frederick & Patrick G. R. Jodi, 2023. "Structured Decision Making to Prioritize Regional Bird Monitoring Needs," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 53(3), pages 207-217, May.
    4. Shah, Syed Mahboob & Liu, Gengyuan & Yang, Qing & Casazza, Marco & Agostinho, Feni & Giannetti, Biagio F., 2021. "Sustainability assessment of agriculture production systems in Pakistan: A provincial-scale energy-based evaluation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 455(C).
    5. Wang, Haoluan, 2017. "Land Conservation for Open Space: The Impact of Neighbors and the Natural Environment," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258125, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Eppink, Florian V. & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2007. "Ecological theories and indicators in economic models of biodiversity loss and conservation: A critical review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 284-293, March.
    7. Shirley Saenz & Tomas Walschburger & Juan Carlos González & Jorge León & Bruce McKenney & Joseph Kiesecker, 2013. "A Framework for Implementing and Valuing Biodiversity Offsets in Colombia: A Landscape Scale Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(12), pages 1-27, November.
    8. Iritie, Jean-Jacques, 2015. "Economic Growth, Biodiversity and Conservation Policies in Africa: an Overview," MPRA Paper 62005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Sari, Dwi Amalia & Margules, Chris & Lim, Han She & Widyatmaka, Febrio & Sayer, Jeffrey & Dale, Allan & Macgregor, Colin, 2021. "Evaluating policy coherence: A case study of peatland forests on the Kampar Peninsula landscape, Indonesia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Zhuohui Yu & Shiping Mao & Qingning Lin, 2022. "Has China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Pilot Policy Improved Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-21, September.
    11. Michael A. Wulder & Jeffrey A. Cardille & Joanne C. White & Bronwyn Rayfield, 2018. "Context and Opportunities for Expanding Protected Areas in Canada," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-21, November.
    12. Robert F. Baldwin & Nakisha T. Fouch, 2018. "Understanding the Biodiversity Contributions of Small Protected Areas Presents Many Challenges," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-12, October.
    13. John A. Gallo & Amanda T. Lombard & Richard M. Cowling, 2022. "Conservation Planning for Action: End-User Engagement in the Development and Dual-Centric Weighting of a Spatial Decision Support System," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Phan Thi Thanh Huyen & Dinh Hong Duyen & Truong Quang Ngan & Nguyen Thi Hue, 2023. "Solutions to Promote the Application of Science and Technology of Businesses in Green Agricultural Development in Vietnam," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(7), pages 1954-1963, July.
    15. H. K. Millington & J. E. Lovell & C. A. K. Lovell, 2013. "Using Fieldwork, GIS and DEA to Guide Management of Urban Stream Health," CEPA Working Papers Series WP072013, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    16. Li, Shicheng & Zhang, Heng & Zhou, Xuewu & Yu, Haibin & Li, Wangjun, 2020. "Enhancing protected areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    17. Patricio Sarmiento-Mateos & Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz & Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui & Francisco D. Pineda & María F. Schmitz, 2019. "Designing Protected Areas for Social–Ecological Sustainability: Effectiveness of Management Guidelines for Preserving Cultural Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    18. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Kim, Taeyoung & Larson, Eric R. & Armsworth, Paul R., 2017. "Economies of scale in forestland acquisition costs for nature conservation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 73-82.
    19. Bi Goli Jean Jacques Iritie, 2015. "Economic Growth and Biodiversity: An Overview Conservation Policies in Africa," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(2), pages 196-196, February.
    20. Di Pirro, E. & Sallustio, L. & Capotorti, G. & Marchetti, M. & Lasserre, B., 2021. "A scenario-based approach to tackle trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and land use pressure in Central Italy," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 448(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:9128-:d:439234. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.