Evaluation of Mountain Land Ecological Security Based on DPSIR Model and Entropy Weight Method

Kai RAO, Zisheng YANG

Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Development Institute, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming 650221, China

Abstract In the Report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it stated that we must put the ecological safety and green development in the first place. To achieve rural revitalization, ecological livability is the most important factor. Taking Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County (national level poor county) in Jinsha River valley of Yunnan Province as an example, using DPSIR (drivers, pressures, states, impacts, responses) model, this paper established an evaluation indicator system. Besides, using the entropy method, it determined the indicator weight. In addition, it evaluated the land ecological security of Luquan County since the implementation of targeted poverty alleviation policy (2013-2017) using multi-factor comprehensive evaluation method. This study shows that Luquan County has improved its ecological security in the past five years. The ecological status has gone through four stages, from sensitive state to severe state to critical safety to excellent ecology, and the value of the comprehensive index of land ecological security shows a rising trend. Through analyzing the ecological security value of each criterion hierarchy, it obtained the main factors affecting the ecological security of Luquan County. On this basis, it came up with feasible measures and recommendations for studying the ecological security of land in the region, so as to guide the rational use of land and sustainable economic development, provide a reference for the implementation of rural revitalization strategies, and promote the construction of regional ecological civilization.

Key words Land ecological security, Drivers, pressures, states, impacts, responses(DPSIR), Ecological civilization construction, Mountainous county, Jinsha River valley

1 Introduction

In theReportofthe19thNationalCongressoftheCommunistPartyofChina, it stated that we must put the ecological safety and green development in the first place. It is necessary to fully implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and insist on the overall promotion of rural economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction, ecological civilization construction, and party construction[1]. In No.1 document of central government of 2018, it also stated that it is required to promote green development in rural areas and create a new pattern of harmonious development of human and nature. To achieve rural revitalization, ecological livability is the the most important factor. Excellent ecological environment is the greatest advantage and valuable wealth of the rural areas. It is necessary to establish the concepts of respecting nature, complying with nature, and protecting nature, and to achieve the perfect unity of people’s prosperity and ecological harmony. To realize national security and regional security, ecological security is an important prerequisite, and it is closely related to the development of the whole country and the future of the whole nation[3]. Studies both at home and abroad have shown that research on land ecological security mainly includes land ecological security evaluation, land ecological security design, land ecological security early warning,etc. Among them, the most important direction is land ecological security evaluation research.

The key to the reasonable land ecological security evaluation results is whether there is a scientific and reasonable evaluation indicator system. Foreign experts and scholars took land as a composite system consisting of nature, economy, society, and ecology. They used systematic analysis method to decompose a system into many subsystems, and then select appropriate evaluation indicators through each subsystem, and establish an evaluation indicator system[4]. At present, the prevailing evaluation indicator systems for land ecological security evaluation are the "pressure-states-responses" (PSR) evaluation model[5], the "drivers-states-responses" (DSR) model[6], and "drivers-pressures-states-impacts-responses"(DPSIR) model[7]and "social-economic-ecological "evaluation indicator system.

Luquan County is located in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River valley. The ecological environment is extremely fragile and the soil and water loss is serious. It is a typical agricultural county. The rural industrial structure is single and the industrial foundation is weak. Agricultural economic income accounts for more than 70% of the total rural economic output value. Ecological security construction is of great importance to the development of county-wide economy and rural revitalization strategy. Through exploring the social, economic, and ecological situation of Luquan County in the past five years of implementing the targeted poverty alleviation strategy, we analyzed and evaluated the land ecological security problems encountered in the process of social and economic development, and came up with the research area based on the problems and evaluation results. Finally, we came up with some feasible measures and recommendations to ensure the ecological security of land, as well as social and economic development. According to the land use situation in Luquan County, it is feasible to make a targeted long-term planning from two perspectives of regional economic and social development, and it will have a guiding significance for the development of rural revitalization strategies.

2 Establishment of evaluation method and evaluation indicator system

2.1EvaluationmethodanddatasourceThe DPSIR framework model evolved from the PSR model can reveal the relationship between environmental impacts and human activities. Its structure is clear and it provides a basic framework for the study of human activities, resources and the environment, and sustainable development[8]. Based on the analysis of the current status of land use in Luquan County, we selected a DPSIR model suitable for the evaluation method of land ecological security in Luquan County, and selected indicators from five levels: "driving force-pressure-state-impact-response" to establish an evaluation indicator system. The data in this study mainly were mainly selected fromSocialandEconomicStatisticalYearbookofLuquanCounty,LandUseChangeSurveyofLuquanCountyin2017, and the data of poor households in Luquan County in 2013-2017.

2.2EstablishmentoftheevaluationindicatorsystemBased on the connotation of each module of the land ecological security evaluation DPSIR model, combined with the actual conditions of the study area, following the principles of establishing the evaluation indicator system, and combining existing research results, we used a systematic analysis method from five aspects: driving force, pressure, state, impact, and response. In total, we selected 22 indicators to establish an evaluation indicator system for land ecological security in Luquan County. According impact on ecological security Luquan County, indicators were divided into two groups: positive indicators (+) and negative indicators (-), as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Evaluation indicator system for land ecological security of Luquan County

2.3StandardizationofevaluationindicatorsThe dimensions and magnitude of each evaluation indicators are different. Thus, to ensure the feasibility of the study and the availability of the indicators, the original data of the indicators should be standardized first. In this study, we employed the extreme deviation standardization method[9]. The specific standardization formula is as follows:

(1)

(2)

whereMijdenotes the standard value of thejin theith year,Qijdenotes the actual value of thejindicator, min(Qj) and max(Qj) are the minimum and maximum values of thejindicator, respectively.

2.4DeterminationofevaluationindicatorweightThe indicator weight was determined by the entropy weight method[10]. In the ecological security evaluation system, the greater the degree of variation of an indicator value, the more information it provides, the greater the role it plays in ecological security evaluation, and the greater its weight. The formula is as follows:

(3)

where,

(4)

(5)

whereMijdenotes the matrix after standardization of the original data ofjindicator in theith year;Sjdenotes the information entropy of thejindicator;ωjdenotes the weight of thejindicator determined using the entropy weight method. The evaluation indicators were divided into the target hierarchy and criterion hierarchy, and the indicator weight is listed in Table 2.

2.5DeterminationoflandecologicalsecuritylevelBased on the research experience and existing findings of land ecological security, combined with the current situation of Luquan County, under the guidance of the practical principle of hierarchical division, the land ecological security was divided into five levels using the non-equidistant method. The specific standard is listed in Table 3.

Table 2 Results of weight of criterion hierarchy and target hierarchy for land ecological security evaluation

Table 3 Evaluation standard for land ecological security level of Luquan County

2.6CalculationoflandecologicalsecurityvalueIn this study, we used a multi-criteria linear weighted sum model (WSM) to determine the land ecological security index of Luquan County, the formula is as follows:

(6)

whereAdenotes the land ecological security index of the study area, in the range of 0-1;ωjis the weight of thejindicator;Mijis the standardized value of thejindicator in theith year. The ecological security values of each criterion hierarchy and target hierarchy from 2013 to 2017 were calculated as shown in Table 4 and Table 5.

Table 4 Security values of criterion hierarchy of land ecological evaluation system for Luquan County

Table 5 Land ecological security values and state levels in Luquan County

3 Land ecological security evaluation and results analysis

During 2013 and 2017, the overall land ecological security situation of Luquan County showed a fluctuating upward trend, but it declined slightly in 2014. The comprehensive value of land ecological security increased from 0.360 608 66 in 2013 to 0.593 908 105 in 2017, showing that the land use structure in the study area has been more reasonable in the past five years, and the ecological environment security has gradually developed towards the harmonious coexistence of nature and society.

During this period, the overall land ecological security value in Luquan County in 2014 was 0.323 741 048. The ecological environment was in a harsh state (level Ⅰ), the ecological structure has been significantly damaged, and the problem of soil erosion is serious, and the land ecological stability became worse. In 2013, the overall land ecological security value was 0.360 608 66, the ecological environment was in a sensitive state (level II), and ecological problems were more prominent. A large number of poor people living in mountainous areas with bad ecological environments still followed the traditional deforestation and wasteland farming model, and reclamation of the farmland was mainly slope farmland, which, to a certain extent, has aggravated the problem of soil erosion. Since 2014, the government has strengthened policy interventions to protect water resources, established a normalized system for ecological forest supervision, and carried out ecological protection propaganda. The overall land ecological security value of Luquan County in 2015, 2016, and 2017 was 0.523 273 395, 0.457 799 161, and 0.593 908 105, respectively. The state of the ecological environment also rose from the critical security state in 2015 and 2016 (level III) to the excellent state in 2017 (level IV) , showing that the ecosystem self restoration capacity has gradually increased. This is becauseOutlineoftheThirteenthFive-YearPlanforNationalEconomicandSocialDevelopmentofLuquanYiandMiaoAutonomousCountyset forth different requirements from agricultural development, ecological protection, and economic construction. In addition, from the ecological security value of Luquan County in 2017, it can be seen that various objectives of theOutlineoftheThirteenthFive-YearPlanare actively implementing and the effects are satisfactory. Due to the special natural geographical and social environmental factors in the study area, in order to achieve sustained economic growth and ecological environment growth, and to lay a solid foundation for the rural revitalization strategy, it is necessary to strengthen sustainable agricultural development, promote industrial structural transformation, and improve ecological and environmental quality.

From the driving force, pressure, state, impact, and response, it can more intuitively reflect the specific changes of various indicators in Luquan County in 2013-2017 and their impact on the entire land ecosystem. In 2013-2017, the security values of driving force, state, impact, and response showed different levels of increase compared with the initial year, while the security value of the pressure hierarchy were decreased compared with the initial year. In the development process, with the increase of population and the pressure to overcome poverty, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is increasing, soil fertility and land ecology have been destroyed, resulting in a decline in the ecological security value of the pressure hierarchy. Among the five criterion hierarchies, the response security indicator hierarchy has the greatest impact on the comprehensive evaluation of the entire region, followed by the impact indicator hierarchy, the pressure indicator hierarchy, the driving force indicator hierarchy, and the state indicator hierarchy.

The ecological security value of the response hierarchy increased from 0.039 784 076 in 2013 to 0.162 428 018 in 2017. The most influential factors are the proportion of R & D investment fund to GDP (R3) and soil erosion control area (R2). R3increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.093 118 457 in 2017, and the ecological security value of soil erosion control area increased from 0.008 264 075 in 2013 to 0.038 924 282 in 2017. The increase in R & D investment and the enhancement of soil erosion control increased the security value of the response hierarchy.

The ecological security value of state hierarchy increased from 0.103 787 157 in 2013 to 0.109 967 992 in 2017. The factors that had the greatest impact were proportion of cultivated land on steep slopes (S3) and per capita cultivated land (S1). The ecological security value of S3increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.028 916 164 in 2017, while the ecological security value of S3declined from 0.053 724 982 in 2013 to 0 in 2017. The overall security value of the state hierarchy slightly rose. The decline of S3lifted the corresponding security value. However, with the increase of population, the security value decline. Therefore, it is required to strengthen the population control and cultivated land protection, to realize the optimization of overall ecological security.

The ecological security value of impact hierarchy increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.107 615 358 in 2017. The factors that had the greatest impact was per capita net income of farmers (I2) and proportion of tertiary industry (I4). Specifically, the ecological security value of I2increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.041 892 859 in 2017, and the ecological security value of I4increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.030 013 868 in 2017. Accelerating the optimization of the agricultural structure, increasing the net income of farmers, and accelerating the development of the quality and level of the tertiary industry are helpful for increasing the security value of the impact hierarchy.

The ecological security value of the driving force hierarchy increased from 0.095 801 321 in 2013 to 0.124 224 425 in 2017. The most influential factors are the per capita GDP (D2) and incidence of poverty (D4). Specifically, D2increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.034 206 193 in 2017, and the ecological security value of D4increased from 0 in 2013 to 0.036 133 391 in 2017. Economic development and the reduction in the incidence of poverty have contributed to the rise in driving force security value.

The ecological security value of the pressure hierarchy declined from 0.121 236 106 in 2013 to 0.089 672 313 in 2017. The most influential factors are pesticide use (P4) and chemical fertilizer use (P3). Specifically, the ecological security value of P4increased from 0.015 419 469 in 2013 to 0.034 881 848 in 2017, and the ecological security value of P3declined from 0.031 935 978 in 2013 to 0 in 2017. The excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers has reduced the security value of the pressure hierarchy.

4 Conclusions and discussions

At present, in the context of social development, the issue of the concept of ecological development has become an important criterion for the development of various regions. Ecological development is inconsistent with the single goal of pursuing economic development. Ecological development is to realize the requirements that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. Economic development and protection of the ecological environment must be balanced with each other to achieve common development. Since 2013, Luquan County Party Committee and government have attached great importance to ecological security construction, actively carried out industrial transformation, and vigorously promoted poverty alleviation. Through analyzing the results of land ecological security evaluation, we can clearly recognize the current actual situation of ecological security in Luquan County and the important factors influencing the land ecological security. On the basis of the analysis, we came up with the following countermeasures for providing ecological protection for the sustainable land development, and providing strategic references for the next tasks such as rural revitalization and ecological civilization construction.

4.1StrengtheningtheprotectionofcultivatedlandandrationallydevelopingreservedlandresourcesFrom the perspective of the ecological security value of state hierarchy, with the increase of the population, the pressure on cultivated land also increases. At the same time, the overall cultivated land quality in Luquan County is not high, and the area of steep slope cultivated land is relatively large. In addition, Luquan County is a mountainous county, the difference of terrain is large, and the arable land is little. In this situation, it is recommended to (i) arrange permanent basic farmland protection areas, strictly implement the cultivated land protection system, and ensure that the amount of cultivated land will not decrease, (ii) strengthen the protection of cultivated land, and put land use and cultivated land in the same position, (iii) strengthen the management of steep slope cultivated land and the quality of soil and water loss to ensure the soil fertility of cultivated land, (iv) strengthen land remediation efforts, strengthen land reclamation in abandoned industrial and mining sites and relocation sites for poverty alleviation and resettlement sites, rationally protect ecological land such as woodland, waters, and tidal flats, and put the economic construction and ecological protection in the equally important position.

4.2PromotingthedevelopmentofgreeneconomyandachievingthegoalofpovertyalleviationsmoothlyAccording to the trend of the ecological security values of the indicators of the driving force criterion hierarchy, it is concluded that the greatest impact is per capita GDP and the incidence of poverty. Luquan County is a typical agricultural county with a single rural industrial structure and a weak industrial foundation. Agricultural economic income accounts for more than 70% of the total rural economic output value. The development of the agricultural economy has a huge impact on poverty alleviation. Therefore, it is required to vigorously develop large-scale, standardized, scientific and technological ecological agriculture. It is recommended to orient towards market demand, comply with the development thinking of "strengthening the county through developing industries", focusing on the goal of "two no worries and three guarantees", implementing the requirement of "one industry for one township, one product for one village, multiple products for one village, and households having industries", to implement characteristic industrial development projects. On the basis of consolidating and upgrading traditional industries such as grain and tobacco, it is recommended to accelerate the cultivation of specialty industries, combine points with the areas and take multiple measures to increase farmers’ income and get rid of poverty.

4.3UsingchemicalfertilizersandpesticidesscientificallytoreducelandpollutionAccording to the analysis of pressure factors, the security value score of chemical fertilizer use has shown a downward trend because the area of cultivated land has been continuously reducing due to agricultural structural adjustment, construction occupation and natural disasters. In this case, to ensure that regional food production does not decrease, it is bound to increase the use of chemical fertilizers, which becomes a potential risk of land ecosystem degradation. Besides, in the period of poverty alleviation, Luquan County introduced a number of leading enterprises to carry out large-scale management of land. With the increase of capital investment on land, it will bring about an increase in production, but it will also lead to excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the optimal period of fertilization should be considered in agricultural production, and it is recommended to use such fertilizers that are harmless to the soil. For example, it is feasible to use farm manure combined with chemical fertilizers, to reduce the harm to the land. In addition, for the introduced leading agricultural enterprises, it is recommended to issue corresponding fertilizer use system and form an effective monitoring mechanism. For farmers’ markets, pesticide sales outlets, vegetable production bases, and large-scale farmers, it is required to focus on banning of high-toxicity and high-residue pesticides, carry out publicity and training on excessive pesticide residues in agricultural products and strengthen pesticide supervision and management. It is recommended to strengthen the agricultural department’s supervision and management of pesticides, promote farmers’ awareness of the harmfulness of pesticides through policy promotion, use relatively green and environmentally friendly fertility and reduce the use of pesticides, thereby optimizing the ecological environment and jointly promoting agricultural production and the ecological environment.

4.4OptimizingtheindustrialstructureandacceleratingthetransformationofeconomicdevelopmentmodeAccording to the analysis of the ecological security value of the impact hierarchy, the industrial structure directly affects the land use change, which has a significant impact on the land ecological security, mainly reflected in the pressure of the secondary and tertiary industries on the land ecosystem, and the greater the contribution rate of the tertiary industry, the less pressure of secondary and tertiary industries on land ecosystems. The proportion of tertiary industry to GDP in Luquan County increased from 36.9% in 2013 to 47.8% in 2017. In the future development, it is recommended to further adjust the industrial structure, increase the proportion of the tertiary industry, promote the rapid development of tourism, cultural industries and modern service industries, and bring into play the prominent role of the tertiary industry in improving the land ecological security.

Besides, it is recommended to strengthen the support of scientific and technological innovation and technical talents, accelerate the transformation from factor-driven and investment-driven development to innovation-driven development, rely on scientific and technological innovation to accelerate the transformation of economic development methods, tackle the deep-rooted contradictions and problems of economic development, and strengthen the endogenous motivation of county-wide economic development. In addition, it is recommended to accelerate the construction of innovative and entrepreneurial talents, strengthen the innovation and protection of intellectual property rights, and comprehensively promote the construction of regional innovation system with enterprises as the main innovation entity.

4.5Strengtheningecologicalrestorationandenvironmentalprotection,andbuildinganewpatternofruraldevelopment

According to the analysis of the response hierarchy, it is recommended to strengthen land ecological restoration and environmental protection, and attach equal importance to development and protection. Specifically, it is recommended to undertake various responsibilities for different ecological and environmental problems, monitor and promote the management and control of geological hazards and water resources, strengthen waste management, focus on soil pollution to solve typical high-risk polluted sites, cultivate circular economy units for air pollution, and optimize the layout of noisy environmental function zones and urban areas in a timely manner, strive to obtain significant results of comprehensive management of geological disasters and urban and rural ecological environment, so as to realize a new pattern of harmonious coexistence between man and nature and green and environment-friendly economic and social development.