Land Use and Land Cover Change Effects on the Value of Ecosystem Services in the Konqi River Basin, China, under Ecological Water Conveyance Conditions

Basin ecosystems are vulnerable to natural resource depletion, ecological damage, and environmental pollution due to their fragile natural environment. Assessing the value of basin ecosystem services (ES) can facilitate informed decision making by policy makers and stakeholders in the context of competing resource use. The Konqi River Basin in China, an arid inland river basin, has suffered from degraded ecosystems due to overexploitation of soil and water resources. In response, the local government launched an ecological water conveyance (EWC) project in 2016 to enhance ecological restoration efforts. This paper analyzes and evaluates the value of ES in the Konqi River Basin based on land use and land cover (LULC) change characteristics before and after EWC in 2013 and 2020, respectively. Remote sensing data and related socioeconomic statistics data are used to assess a typical river basin from three unique locations in the Konqi River Basin, divided into upper and lower reaches. The results show that cropland and unused land are the most important land use types in the upper and lower reaches. The characteristics of ecosystem service value (ESV) changes in the study area are consistent with land use structure changes. The total ESV shows a decreasing trend in the upper reaches from 2013 to 2020, while the lower reaches show an increasing trend. The total ESV increases in the typical river reaches of the Konqi River Basin. Spatially, low-ESV areas are mainly located in ecologically fragile areas that are difficult to develop and use. The sensitivity indexes of the study area are all less than 1, making the results of this study credible. The Moran index shows a significant spatial correlation in the study area, indicating that the distribution characteristics of high-ESV areas are agglomerative. Hot spot areas in the upper reaches show an overall increasing trend, while in the lower reaches, former sub-hot spot areas transform into hot spot areas. Due to data limitations, this study is limited to demonstrating that the value of ES in the area changes due to a combination of EWC policies and other factors. Nevertheless, the analysis shows that EWC policies actively change the ESV of a typical river basin in Konqi. This study can provide a reference for evaluating ESV in inland river basins in the northwest arid region and a scientific basis for the rational development and utilization of water and soil resources in the study area, located in an arid and ecologically fragile area.