Ditch control and land reclamation promote vegetation recovery in Loess Plateau

Abstract

<abstract> <p>This study aimed to assess the impact of land consolidation projects and climate change on changes in vegetation in the Loess Plateau during 2012–2021. The study also explored the impacts of human activities and climate change on the ecological quality of the Loess Plateau during this period. The spatial and temporal normalized difference combined meteorological monitoring data, project data, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data that was used to create the vegetation index dataset spanning from 2012–2021. The study discussed and assessed the effectiveness of the project, revealing the following results: 1) A significant increase was observed in the vegetation index of the Loess Plateau region from 2012 to 2021, with an upward trend of 0.0024 per year (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05). 2) Contributions to changes in vegetation attributed to climatic factors and the anthropogenic factors of the ditch construction project were 82.74 and 17.62%, respectively, with climatic factors dominating and the degree of response of the ditch construction project increasing annually. 3) In the Loess Plateau, climatic variables dominated changes in vegetation. However, land consolidation projects in vegetation factors played a key role in changes in vegetation, and the degree of influence was gradually increasing.</p> </abstract>