Assessment of Land Use and Ecosystem Services Change in the Ecologically Transitional Zone

Rapid land-use change has taken place in many ecologically transitional zone of China over the last two decades due to rehabiLitation measures. In this paper, land-use change and ecosystems services value dynamics were investigated by the combined use of satelLite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). The results show the significant decrease in barren land mainly due to conversion to grassland. Agricultural land´s decrease associated with conversions to grassland and forest land. We determined that the total value of ecosystem services in study area increased and conclude that future land-use poLicy formulation sHould give precedence to the conservation of these ecosystems based on rigorous environmental impact analyses. Such assessment outcomes are essential for the prevention of land degradation and adjustment of agricultural structure to promote sustainable use of land in the ecologically transitional zone.