The Importance Of Ecosystem Services Inoasis-desert Ecotone And Its Impact On Farmers' Well-being

Ecosystem services represent the benefits human populations derive,directly or indirectly,from ecosystem functions,which have a close and complex linkage with human well-being.From the 21 st century,in the context of sustainable development,the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being has become a concerned topic of ecology and geography.The oasis-desert ecotone ecosystem,as the connecting zone between oasis ecosystem and desert ecosystem,play an important role in ecosystem services and ecological security of arid zone,and have an important contribution to human well-being in the area.At present,under the disturbance of arid climate and human activities,the oasis-desert ecotone ecosystem in northwest China have changed obviously.On the one hand,Oasis has been expanding,artificial oasis gradually replaced the natural oasis.on the other hand,some ecological questions have occured in the ecotone of desert and oasis,such as biodiversity reduction and land degradation.There are threatening the social-economic-ecological sustainable development of the oasis and the humans' well-being living in this area.Therefore,it is necessary to study the importance and change of oasis-desert ecotone ecosystem and its impact on human well-being.At present,there are relatively few studies on this subject.What are the services that the oasis-desert ecotone ecosystem provides mainly to human? What's the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being in oasis-desert ecotone? How have the ecosystem services and human well-being changed in the past decade? This paper selected Shapotou,which is located at the connecting zone of Zhongwei oasis and Tengger Desert,to study the above problems.Trying to provide a scientific reference for understanding the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being.First of all,based on the theory of ecological economics and well-being geography,this paper established the relational framework between ecosystem services and human well-being in oasis and desert ecotone.Secondly,this papertaked Shapotou as an example,through the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods,social cognition and value assessment methods,assessed the ecosystem services and farmers' well-being respectively.Finally,this paper analyzed the impact of ecosystem services on the farmers' well-being.The results show that:(1)The total value of the ecosystem services in the Shapotou Oasis-Desert ecotone ecosystem is 295 million yuan in 2015.There is a coherence between the perceivability of different stakeholders and the Experts' acknowledged opinion about the importance of the oasis-desert ecotone ecosystem.They both think wind-breaking and sand-fixation is the most important service provided by the Shapotou oasis-desert ecotone.The importance of ecosystem services is summarized as follows: Wind-breaking and sand-fixation >Gas regulation >Soil formation and protection>Water quality regulation >Landscape recreation>Sense of place >Food supply>Water supply>Raw materials>Disease regulation.(2)From 2005 to 2015,the desert governance and tourism development in the oasis-desert ecotone of the Shapotou have increased the three services provided by the ecosystem,such as wind-breaking and sand-fixation,water supply and landscape recreation.At the same time,the rapid development of industry and agriculture in this region has negatively affected the five services capacity of Shapotou oasis-desert ecotone ecosystem,such as soil formation and protection,food supply,gas regulation,water quality regulation and disease regulation.(3)Human well-being consists of basic material needs,health and safety needs,social needs and spiritual needs.Through the investigation on the farmers' cognition of well-being,it is found that the concern of farmers in the Shapotou oasis-desert ecotone is still at the lower level of human well-being,such as the basic material needs,health and safety requirements.And yet,farmers pay little attention on higher levels of human well-being,such as social and spiritual needs.(4)Ecosystem services have the greatest impact on the living water,agricultural irrigation,cultivated land area and quality,environmental safety and leisure and recreation of farmers in the Shapotou oasis-desert ecotone.Other aspects of farmers' well-being,such as income,food security,housing,social relations and subjective well-being are less affected by ecosystem services.