Assessing the impacts of ecological-living-productive land changes on eco-environmental quality in Xining City on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China

The Ecological-living-productive land(ELPL) classification system was proposed in an effort to steer China's land pattern to an ecological-centered path, with the development model shifting from a single function into more integrated multifunction land use. The focus is coordinating the man-land contradictions and developing an intensive, efficient and sustainable land use policy in an increasingly tense relationship between humans and nature. Driven by socioeconomic change and rapid population growth, many cities are undergoing urban sprawl, which involves the consumption of cropland and ecological land and threatens the ecological balance. This paper aims to quantitatively analyze the critical effects of ELPL changes on eco-environmental quality according to land use classification based on leading function of ecology, living and production from 1990 to 2015 with a case study of Xining City. Also, four future land use scenarios were simulated for2030 using the Future Land Use Simulation(FLUS) model that couples human and natural effects. Our results show a decrease in productive land(PL) and an increase in ecological land(EL) and living land(LL) in Xining City. Forestry ecological land(FEL) covered the top largest proportion; agriculture productive land(APL) showed the greatest reduction and urban and rural living land(U-RLL) presented a dramatic increase. The eco-environmental quality improved in 1990-2010, mainly affected by the conversion of APL to FEL and GEL. However, the encroachment of U-RLL into APL, other ecological land(OEL) and FEL was the main contributor to the decline in eco-environmental quality in 2010-2015 as well as the primary reason for the increase area of lower-quality. The Harmonious Development(HD)-Scenario, characterized by a rational allocation of LL and PL and a better eco-environment, would have implications for planning and monitoring future management of ELPL, and may represent a valuable reference for local policy-makers.