Assessment of an ecosystem services promotion measure based on RS and GIS: A case study in Huanghua County

Soil salinization is one of the most prominent ecological problems of coastal plain in Northern China, which has degraded the ecosystem services of the region. This study, taking Huanghua County of Hebei Province in Northern China as a case study area, introduced the technology system and related technologies for subsurface drainage systems with an aim to optimize the ecosystem services of coastal saline-alkali ecosystem. An improved ecosystem services value (ESV) evaluation model was further developed to assess changes of the ESV before and after the ESV promotion measure in this region. The results showed that the implementation of the selected program optimized all of the ecosystem services in Huanhua County, leading to an increase of 4.88×108 Yuan at the total ESV. The farmland and saline-alkali ecosystems increased 4.56×108 Yuan and 0.09×108 Yuan, respectively. We could conclude that this optimized program is proved to be a reliable and stable treatment for the costal plain of Hebei province and it would show a wide application prospects in the future.