Study On The Relationship Between Ecosystem Services And Human Well-being In Coal Resource-based Cities

The construction of ecological civilization has become a strategic guideline for China’s economic and social development.A good ecological environment is regarded as the most universal well-being of the people.Coal resource-based cities are not only an energy security base and an important support for economic development,but also the main battlefield of ecological civilization construction in China.Therefore,emphasizing the protection of the ecological environment and improving the well-being of local residents is the major path for many resource-based cities,including coal resource-based cities,to realize economic transformation and ecological civilization.A comprehensive and systematic study of the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being in coal resource-based cities is of great theoretical significance not only for enriching and expanding the research in this field,but also for realizing sustainable utilization of ecosystem services and improving human well-being level in coal resource-based cities and other similar cities.This paper constructs a general theoretical analysis framework for ecosystem services and human well-being in coal resource-based cities,indicating that the changes of ecosystem services and human well-being in coal resource-based cities are affected by the law of the life-cycle of coal resources,and at the same time,they interact with each other with dynamic changes in time and space.In the process of the interaction between the two,people always try to adjust their management policies or measures so as to restore and enhance the contribution of ecosystem services to human well-being while stimulating the whole social and economic development,and realize the sustainable development of coal resource-based cities.Based on the theoretical analysis framework,this paper takes Xintai City,a typical coal resource-based city in Shandong Province,as an example for qualitative and quantitative analysis,and draws the following conclusions:(1)The change process of ecosystem service value in coal-resource-based cities is closely related with the socio-economic development.Coupled with the different stages of economic development,the cyclical nature of resource exploitation leads to different levels of economic development and industrial structure,which marks the changing ecosystem service value with different characteristics.Overall,from 1987 to 2017,under the influence of the life cycle law of coal resource-based cities,the value of ecosystem services in Xintai City showed a trend of decrease-increase-a slow decrease.Based on the unique resource dependence of coal resource-based cities and the special ecological constraints of urban development accompanied by the development of resource-based industries,this paper quantificationally analyses the driving forces of the evolution of ecosystem services in Xintai City from three aspects:natural environment,socio-economics and resource-based industries.The results show that the coal resources exploitation,technological factors,transportation development are the driving forces for the evolution of ecosystem services in Xintai City.Among them,the development of economic technology is the dominant factor,and its role in accelerating the evolution of ecosystem services is particularly prominent.(2)Based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment(MA)definition of human well-being factors,combined with the actual situation of local socio-economic development,the quantitative evaluation results of human well-being at the different stages of the life cycle show that the human well-being of Xintai City is affected by the life cycle law of coal resource-based cities and presents phased development features.The response of human well-being to ecosystem services in Xintai City is then studied on three scales,with the following findings:①In terms of time scale,with the change of urban life cycle,the coupling degree between human well-being and ecosystem services has been continuously improved from 1987 to 2017,which has experienced a low-level coupling stage to running-in stage and then to high-level coupling stage.The degree of coordination between the two has also been developing steadily from moderate and even minor imbalance to primary and intermediate coordination,and the level of coordination has been continuously improving,which indicates that the ecosystem services and human well-being in Xintai City have gradually reached an orderly structure.②On the spatial scale,the ecosystem services in Xintai City show a gradual increase in spatial differentiation characteristics,with the low-value areas concentrated in mining subsidence area;the spatial distribution of human well-being is generally high in the middle and low around.The level of human well-being of villages&towns in mining subsidence area is higher than those of non-coal mining subsidence area.By constructing the coordination index of ecological&well-being,the ecosystem services and human well-being of 20 townships in Xintai City during the study period were divided into three spatial relationship models:high-service&low-well-being model(EHW<0.8),service&well-being equilibrium model(0.8≤EHW≤1.2)and low-service&high-well-being model(EHW>1.2),in which both high-service&low-well-being model and low-service&high-well-being model are in unharmonious development of ecology and welfare.③From the perspective of local residents’ perception,this paper finds that the human well-being effect of ecosystem services in coal resource-based cities is closely related to the types of ecosystem services,the governance of mining subsidence areas,the policies of ecological restoration and the individual socio-economic characteristics of beneficiaries,and is subject to the dual constraints of local ecosystems and socio-economic characteristics.As far as Xintai City is concerned,respondents believe that the human well-being effect of regulating service and support service are higher than those of supply service and cultural service in primary services;the human well-being effect of purified air,drinking water supply,waste disposal and food supply in secondary services are higher while the human well-being effect of timber supply,livestock feed supply and religious value are lower.Variables such as the respondents’ residence in or out of the coal mining subsidence area,their age,education level,occupation and income sources have a significant impact on the well-being of ecosystem services.(3)According to the results of land use forecasting,combined with the characteristics of urban development stages and the future urban development planning of Xintai City,the natural growth scenario,ecological protection scenario and economic priority scenario are constructed to analyse the changing trends and the relationship model of ecosystem services and human well-being of Xintai City in the near future(2025)and in the long term(2035).Under the scenario of ecological protection,the value of ecosystem services and human well-being are the largest,and the degree of coupling and coordination between the two is the highest.It shows that this scenario is not only conducive to the protection of the ecological environment of Xintai City,but also conducive to the improvement of the level of residents’ well-being.It is the best development model that Xintai City should choose in the future.Based on the above conclusions as well as from the point of continuously improving the sustainable utilization of ecosystem services and the sustainable development of human well-being in coal resource-based cities in the future,this study puts.forward comprehensive countermeasures and suggestions in three aspects:the management mechanism based on the evolution law of ecosystem services;the dynamic and differentiated management system of ecosystem services and human well-being,and people-oriented sustainable management of ecosystem services in coal resource-based cities.