Impacts of “shutting down the wells and reducing the farmland” policy on social-ecological system in arid areas: Evidence from Minqin County, China

IF 7 1区经济学 Q1 DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Habitat International Pub Date : 2025-09-05 DOI:10.1016/j.habitatint.2025.103569

Ruohan Shi , Runyang Li , Jia Chen , Di Zhao , Fei Wang , Xiaowen Zhang , Xinjun Yang

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Abstract

Arid areas are among the most sensitive areas to the impacts and responses of global climate change. It is imperative to implement effective adaptive management strategies to promote the achievement of sustainable development goals for the social-ecological system (SES). However, relatively few studies have focused on the direct impact of adaptive management policies related to social institutions on the social-ecological system. We selected Minqin County, a typical arid area in China, as a case study. Based on policy documents, statistical data and survey data, we employed methods such as partial correlation analysis and difference-in-differences models to analyze the spatiotemporal variations of various factors in the social-ecological system of Minqin County from 2000 to 2020, and to explore the impact of “shutting down the wells and reducing the farmland” policy on this social-ecological system. Results showed substantial ecological improvements post-policy implementation, including increased vegetation cover and carbon sequestration and decreased land desertification. Notably, groundwater mineralization and depth, along with cultivated area, shifted from increasing to decreasing trends following policy implementation. Socioeconomically, the policy significantly influenced agricultural structure, prompting farmers to transition from traditional grain cultivation to economically efficient, low-water-use crops and non-agricultural livelihoods. However, impacts on social factors, such as population density and rural employment, were not significant. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of ecological policy implementation in the context of environmental changes in arid areas and other ecologically fragile areas, providing valuable decision-making references for the sustainable development of global arid areas.

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“封井减田”政策对干旱区社会生态系统的影响——来自民勤县的证据

干旱地区是对全球气候变化的影响和反应最敏感的地区之一。为促进社会生态系统可持续发展目标的实现，实施有效的适应性管理策略势在必行。然而，关注与社会制度相关的适应性管理政策对社会生态系统的直接影响的研究相对较少。我们选择了中国典型的干旱区民勤县作为研究案例。基于政策文件、统计数据和调查数据，采用偏相关分析和差中差模型等方法，分析了2000 - 2020年民勤县社会生态系统各因子的时空变化，探讨了“封井退耕”政策对民勤县社会生态系统的影响。结果表明，政策实施后生态环境得到了实质性改善，包括植被覆盖和碳固存增加，土地荒漠化减少。值得注意的是，随着政策的实施，地下水矿化度和深度以及耕地面积由增加转向减少。在社会经济方面，该政策显著影响了农业结构，促使农民从传统的粮食种植转向经济高效、低用水量的作物和非农业生计。然而，对人口密度和农村就业等社会因素的影响并不显著。本研究旨在探讨干旱区及其他生态脆弱区环境变化背景下生态政策实施的有效性，为全球干旱区可持续发展提供有价值的决策参考。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Habitat International Multiple-

CiteScore

10.50

自引率

10.30%

发文量

151

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Habitat International is dedicated to the study of urban and rural human settlements: their planning, design, production and management. Its main focus is on urbanisation in its broadest sense in the developing world. However, increasingly the interrelationships and linkages between cities and towns in the developing and developed worlds are becoming apparent and solutions to the problems that result are urgently required. The economic, social, technological and political systems of the world are intertwined and changes in one region almost always affect other regions.