Ecological restoration for sustainable development in China

Bojie Fu; Yanxu Liu; Michael E Meadows

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwad033

Ecological restoration for sustainable development in China

Natl Sci Rev. 2023 Feb 21;10(7):nwad033. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwad033. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Bojie Fu^{1

2}, Yanxu Liu², Michael E Meadows^{3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
³ School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
⁴ College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China.
⁵ Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.

Abstract

Facing the need for transdisciplinary research to promote ecological restoration that achieves both social and ecological benefits, research on past restoration efforts that have directly or indirectly contributed to regional or national sustainable development warrants reassessment. Using China as an example, in this review, we address three basic research questions that can be summarized as follows: ecological restoration-of what, for whom and to what purpose? Accordingly, a 'landscape pattern-ecosystem service-sustainable development' co-evolutionary framework is proposed here to describe landscape-scale ecological restoration and its impact on landscape patterns and ecological processes, ecosystem services for human well-being, sustainable livelihoods and socioeconomic development. From the strategic pattern of national ecological security to the pattern of major projects to protect and restore major national ecosystems, the spatial pattern of China's ecological restoration is more geographically integrative. From major function-oriented zoning to systematic ecological protection and restoration, and for the purpose of achieving the Beautiful China Initiative, there are three stages of ecosystem services management: classification, synergy and integration, respectively. The difference in geographic processes should be considered in the key requirements of ecological restoration for China's five national strategies for regional sustainable-development strategies. Deepening understanding of the relationship between humans and nature in different geographical contexts is a scientific prerequisite to support policymaking related to ecological restoration. To promote greater harmony between humans and nature, we propose four important research directions: (i) understanding coupling processes among key components, (ii) identifying ecosystem service flows, (iii) evaluating social-ecological benefits and (iv) supporting adaptive management for regional sustainable development.

Keywords: ecological process; ecosystem services; landscape pattern; policymaking; social-ecological system; sustainable livelihoods.

Publication types

Review