Identifying the Spatial Imbalance in the Supply and Demand of Cultural Ecosystem Services

Qinqin Shi; Hai Chen; Di Liu; Tianwei Geng; Hang Zhang

doi:10.3390/ijerph19116661

Identifying the Spatial Imbalance in the Supply and Demand of Cultural Ecosystem Services

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 30;19(11):6661. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116661.

Authors

Qinqin Shi^{1

2}, Hai Chen³, Di Liu⁴, Tianwei Geng³, Hang Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Cooperative Innovation Center for Transition of Resource-Based Economics, Shanxi University of Finance & Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China.
² Research Institute of Resource-Based Economics, Shanxi University of Finance & Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China.
³ College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China.
⁴ School of Culture and Tourism, Ningxia University, Zhongwei 755000, China.
⁵ Institute of Land and Urban-Rural Development, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China.

Abstract

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) are an important part of ecosystem services (ESs). Correctly understanding the supply and demand relationship of CES is the premise of ES sustainable management and helps to improve human well-being. However, the evaluation and mapping of CES supply and demand represents a significant gap in ES research. Using the Shigou Township of Mizhi County in China as an example, in this study, we evaluated CES supply and demand at the village scale. We first considered three aspects of supply potential, accessibility and quality to construct an indicator system of six types of CES supply, including aesthetic (Aest), sense of place (SP), social relations (SR), cultural heritage (Cult), education (Edu) and recreation (Recr) and obtained demand data through a questionnaire. Then, we identified the imbalance in the supply and demand of CES by Z-score standardization based on the quantification of the CES supply and demand. Secondly, bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis was used to identify tradeoffs/synergies on the CES supply side, and chi-square tests were used to identify CES demand differences between stakeholder groups. The results indicated that the supply-demand patterns of CES presented evident spatial differences. The low-supply-high-demand patterns of Aest, SR and Recr accounted for the largest proportions, with values of 33.33%, 33.33% and 30.95%, respectively. The low-supply-low-demand patterns of SP and Cult accounted for the largest proportions, with values of 30.95% and 38.10%, respectively. The low-supply-low-demand pattern of Edu accounted for the smallest proportion (21.43%) and was mainly located in the south of Shigou Township. The southwest, northeast and central areas of Shigou Township were the key regions of tradeoffs/synergies of CES supply. There were significant differences in CES demand for SR, Cult and Edu among stakeholder groups. The results could contribute to optimizing regional ecosystem management and provide effective information for improving the imbalance between the supply and demand of CES.

Keywords: cultural ecosystem services; demand; spatial imbalance; supply; tradeoffs/synergies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Conservation of Natural Resources* / methods
Ecosystem*
Esthetics
Humans
Spatial Analysis

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41971271 and 41871185), the Quality and efficiency improvement project of Shanxi“1331”, the construction project of Cooperative Innovation Center for Transition of Resource-based Economics, Shanxi University of Finance (grant number JINJIAOKE[2021]NO.4).