["Safe and just operating space" for the sustainable development of the social-ecological system in the Liangzi Lake Catchment, Hubei Province, China]

Ying Yong Sheng Tai Xue Bao. 2020 Dec;31(12):4206-4214. doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202012.011.
[Article in Chinese]

Abstract

The increases of human activities threaten the health of the earth's ecosystem, and pre-sent a big challenge to regional sustainable development and environment conservation. How to maintain a safe ecological environment together with social and economic development is an important issue for sustainable development. Under the theoretical framework of "safe and just operating space", we integrated lake sediment records, environmental monitoring data, and socio-economic data in Liangzi Lake Catchment, analyzed the status of key eco-environmental processes and achievement degree (the completion of the current value of social basic indicators relative to the target value) of residents' social welfare, and constructed a "safe and just operating space" for the sustainability of local social-ecological system. The results showed that the indicators including freshwater utilization, cultivated land resources, air quality, soil and sediment regulation, and chemical pollution in the catchment had exceeded the environmental ceiling and were at the "dangerous" level, which should be regulated in the future. As for the social welfare, the achievement degree of clean water, sanitation facility, and industrial innovation were relatively low. The per capita GDP was negatively correlated with soil and water conservation and air quality, indicating the negative effects of social and economic development on water, soil, and air. With multi-source environmental data, especially long-term limnological records, we effectively reconstructed the historical environmental change process, revealed the deficiency of environment and residential well-being in local social ecosystem management, which would provide important insights for regional sustainable development.

近年来日益增强的人类活动正逐步威胁着地球生态系统的健康发展,给区域可持续发展及环境保护带来了巨大的挑战。如何在社会经济发展的同时维持安全的生态环境?这是可持续发展研究的一个重要问题。本研究借鉴“安全公正空间”理论框架,以长江中下游地区梁子湖流域为例,综合湖泊沉积记录、环境监测数据和社会经济数据,分析该区域内关键生态-环境过程的现状及居民社会福祉指标达成度(达成度指社会基础指标当前值相对于目标值的完成情况),构建了梁子湖流域社会生态系统可持续发展的“安全公正空间”。结果表明: 梁子湖流域内淡水利用、耕地资源、空气质量、水土保持和化学污染等指标超越了环境上限,处于“危险”状态,未来的环境管理中需重点调控;在社会福祉方面,清洁用水与卫生设施、产业创新维度的达成度相对较低;人均GDP与水土保持和空气质量呈显著负相关,体现了社会经济发展对水、土、气的负面效应。本研究借助多源环境数据,特别是湖泊沉积的长序列数据,有效再现了历史环境变化过程,揭示了流域社会生态系统管理中面临的环境及居民福祉短板,为区域可持续发展提供了重要的参考信息。.

Keywords: Liangzi Lake Catchment; environmental ceiling; lake sediment record; safe and just operating space; sustainable development.

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Ecosystem*
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Humans
  • Lakes*
  • Sustainable Development