Spatio-temporal Evolution and Factors Influencing the Control Efficiency for Soil and Water Loss in the Wei River Catchment, China

Abstract

With regard to important scientific and policy issues in the Wei River Catchment, much emphasis has been put on the objective assessment of the effectiveness of ecological restoration measures and the analysis of effective ways to promote the efficiency of ecological management. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the present study investigates the measurement of the control efficiency for soil and water loss induced by the Sloping Land Conversion Program and terrace fields, a part of the Water and Soil Conservation Project, in an attempt to detect and quantify indicators of different fields to do so. The applied methods included a Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis model which covers 39 counties over the period of 2000–2015. Then, an exploratory spatial data analysis was conducted to capture the spatial characteristics for the control efficiency of each county. Finally, the geographically weighted regression model was employed to identify the spatial heterogeneity and evolutionary characteristics in the relationship between control efficiency and natural conditions and socioeconomic development in each sample county. Results show that the control efficiency increased from 0.263 to 0.365 during the study period. In addition, the Moran’I indicates that efficiency presented a stable spatial agglomeration but still at a low level, from 0.192 to 0.151. The difference in control efficiency is the result of a combination of multiple factors, of which the most relevant factors often vary among different counties, indicating that regional governments should consider full-scale initiatives. This analytical perspective helps to provide experience and reference for countries facing the same environmental challenges in the world.