A Study On The Well-being Of The Elderly In Rural Areas Around Big Cities Based On Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services and human well-being have become a hot topic in geography,ecology and sociology.The report to the 19 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China called for accelerating institutional reform to promote ecological progress and creating a new pattern of modernization in which man and nature develop in harmony.It is very important to continuously improve people’s wellbeing while improving the environment.Humans can benefit from the services provided by ecosystems,but some groups are severely affected by the uneven service delivery of ecosystems.Especially,the interests and pursuit of the elderly,a special vulnerable group in rural areas around big cities,deserve more attention.Therefore,it is of practical significance to pay attention to ecosystem services and the wellbeing of the elderly in rural areas around big cities for rational ecological decision-making and promoting the management of ecosystem services and the well-being of the elderly in rural areas to achieve a good state.This study focuses on the rural areas around Xi’an city and takes the elderly as the research object.Firstly,on the basis of relevant theoretical reading and literature review,the ecosystem service value of the study area was calculated and its spatial characteristics were grasped.Secondly,based on the actual situation in the study area and the theoretical basis,to construct the well-being evaluation index system of the rural elderly.Based on this system,a questionnaire was designed to select typical villages in 9 counties around Xi’an city.After entering the villages,semi-structured interviews were conducted randomly among the elderly on the roadside to obtain basic data.Thirdly,using critic weight method and IPA analysis method to explore the wellbeing of the elderly in rural areas,and then analyze the spatial differences and obstacles affecting the wellbeing of the elderly in rural areas;Finally,the coordination between the wellbeing of the elderly and ecosystem services in rural areas around Xi’an city was grasped by combining the value evaluation of ecosystem services.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)From the point of ecosystem services space,the value of ecosystem services in the surrounding counties of Xi’an was higher in the south and lower in the north,but the difference was not obvious from east to west.High value mainly gathered in some counties along the north Qinling(Huyi county and lantian county).Low concentration at the area along the mainstream of Jing-Wei River(Jing river and Weihe river).The ecosystem service space around Xi’an has significant differentiation in the north-south direction.(2)From the formation of the well-being evaluation index system,this paper mainly focuses on the concept of well-being and the interests and pursuit of the elderly,and constructs an index system from five dimensions: production and life quality,economic status,health and medical treatment,social relations and family relations,spiritual and cultural satisfaction.After testing,the reliability and validity of the data obtained from the questionnaire are good.In the index system obtained by screening,the compactness between index and corresponding dimension is robust.The data obtained are suitable for measuring the level of well-being under this framework.(3)As for the wellbeing of the elderly in the surrounding countryside of Xi’an,there are some differences in the comprehensive well-being level among counties,and the composite index fluctuated around 0.5.The evaluation index of the five wellbeing dimensions is ranked as medical treatment and health > spiritual and cultural satisfaction > production and life quality > social relations and family relations > economy status.In terms of spatial characteristics,the comprehensive well-being level of the elderly in the rural areas around Xi’an in the north-south direction is higher than that in the east-west direction.The comprehensive wellbeing level of the elderly in the rural areas along the Jing-Wei River is higher than that along the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains,which is opposite to the spatial difference in the value of ecosystem services.(4)From the perspective of the coordinate relationship between ecology and wellbeing,there is a disharmony between the wellbeing of the rural elderly and ecosystem services in most counties.The areas with high service and low wellbeing are greatly affected by cities,and the ecology-wellbeing status develops bilaterally in a positive direction on the whole.The disharmony is mainly caused by the failure of some subtle wellbeing conditions to match the superior ecosystem service functions.The areas with low service and high wellbeing are distributed along the mainstream of Jing-Wei River.The satisfaction of basic material life level makes the comprehensive wellbeing level of the rural elderly in this region significantly higher,but the unsatisfactory performance of ecosystem services makes the disharmony between ecology and wellbeing more embarrassing.