ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Spatio-Temporal Disparity of Eco-Environmental
Quality and Its Underlying Causes
in Two Important River Basins Around Beijing,
China
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1
College of Forestry, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, China
2
Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry,
Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing, China
Submission date: 2019-06-29
Final revision date: 2019-09-02
Acceptance date: 2019-10-08
Online publication date: 2020-02-28
Publication date: 2020-04-21
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(4):2771-2781
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ABSTRACT
Objectively evaluating the spatio-temporal changes in regional eco-environmental quality is
an important basis for ecological environmental protection and sustainable development. This paper
presents a first attempt to develop a prototype framework that can assess eco-environmental quality from
the aspect of landscape structure and ecosystem function. We constructed a general index with which to
describe and compare the eco-environmental quality status of two important river basins around Beijing
over the past 30 years. The assessment of this study confirmed that the eco-environmental quality in the
Daqing River Fuping basin and the Luanhe River Shandianhe basin has changed significantly, with
obvious spatial disparity and temporal differences. There were different factors influencing the ecoenvironmental
quality in the two regions, but the changes in forest land and grassland area and their
associated service functions, as a result of human activities, were the main influencing factors in both
basins. The developed framework reflected the spatio-temporal changes in regional eco-environmental
quality of the two basins from 1985 to 2015. The evaluation of the framework can provide a reference
for the ecological planning of the areas around Beijing. Specifically, this framework can be replicated
on different spatial and temporal scales and can represent a new approach for the evaluation of
eco-environmental quality in other regions.