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Title Surface mining caused multiple ecosystem service losses in China
ID_Doc 19043
Authors Xiang, HX; Wang, ZM; Mao, DH; Zhang, J; Zhao, D; Zeng, Y; Wu, BF
Title Surface mining caused multiple ecosystem service losses in China
Year 2021
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112618
Abstract China's surface mining greatly supported the rapid socio-economic development; however, there was a scarcity in the systematic understanding of national changes in surface mining changes and associated ecosystem services (ESs) losses, which inevitably affected human well-being and limited sustainable ecosystem management and policy optimization. In this study, we quantified the areal changes in surface mining based on the ChinaCover database and performed further analysis of ES loss from expanded surface mining using multidimensional geospatial data from 1990 to 2015, including MODIS products, meteorological records, and statistical datasets. Our observations reveal that China's surface mining was estimated to be 4746 km2 in 2015 and that Inner Mongolia had the largest surface mining area (28%). Surface mining expanded remarkably from 1990 to 2015, with an increase by 2.7 times after 2000. In particular, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Qinghai had the greatest increases in surface mining area. Rapid expansion of surface mining led to obvious declines in natural habitat area, water retention, net primary productivity, and grain production, and these ES losses showed apparent spatiotemporal variations. China has taken many measures to reclaim the abandoned surface mining sites. Given the rapid expansion of surface mining and related ES loss, China should continue to perform ecological restoration for its sustainability.
Author Keywords Surface mining; Ecosystem services; ChinaCover; Ecological restoration; Sustainability
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000656436600001
WoS Category Environmental Sciences
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology
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