Gong Jiali, Li Hongbo, Yang Heping
Accepted: 2024-10-23
The identification of ecological restoration areas in territorial space is a crucial aspect of the ongoing project for ecological protection and restoration, in order to implement the ideology of ecological civilization in the new era. Currently, research on ecological restoration areas in territorial space is mostly based on the identification of ecological security patterns, without sufficient consideration of regional characteristics. This paper incorporates ecological vulnerability assessment to improve the methodological framework for identifying ecological restoration areas in territorial space. Using the Wuhan metropolitan area as a case study, it explores new pathways for enhancing ecological environment protection in mega-city regions. The MSPA, MCR model, and circuit theory were employed to construct an ecological security pattern consisting of “ecological source-ecological corridor-ecological node”. Based on the VSD model, a comprehensive evaluation index system was established, with 16 influencing factors derived from nine levels including human activities, socioeconomic factors, and natural conditions, focusing on exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The ecological vulnerability of the study area in 2010 and 2018 was assessed. Finally, the ecological restoration areas were identified by integrating the results and targeted restoration and protection measures were proposed. 1) A total of 10 ecological source areas were identified, covering a total area of 14 761.9 km2. They were mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin, northeastern Huanggang City, and southeastern Huangshi City. There were 45 ecological corridors, including 17 important corridors and 28 general corridors. There were 19 ecological pinch-points and 7 ecological barriers, mainly concentrated in the northern, central, and southern parts of the Wuhan metropolitan area. 2) The ecological vulnerability of the study area showed potential fragility and mild fragility in both 2010 and 2018. The proportion of potential fragile areas decreased by 12.85%, while mild fragile areas increased by 4.49%. The proportion of extremely and highly fragile areas was relatively small, but it grew from 12.44% to 16.89%. Overall, the ecological environment was relatively favorable. 3) A total of four ecological restoration areas were identified, covering a total area of 3 779.7 km2. These areas include ecological landscape reshaping zones that require the creation of high-quality blue-green ecological spaces, integrated corridors zones that require coordinated implementation of ecological corridor construction along the routes, artificial restoration zones that require strengthened ecological restoration of industrial and mining abandoned lands, and industrial transformation zones that require a commitment to green development and industrial transformation. This study breaks through the previous practice of only relying on ecological security patterns for identifying ecological restoration areas. By incorporating ecological vulnerability assessment, the identification of ecological restoration areas in territorial space becomes more comprehensive. This contributes to the coordinated development of regional economy and ecological environment protection in metropolitan area.