Integrating a Spatially Explicit Tradeoff Analysis for Sustainable Land Use Optimal Allocation

To achieve agricultural sustainability, basic land planning would allocate more areas for specific land uses with high ecosystem service values. However, this has always failed because of its low economic interest. Paying farmers would be effective for its implementation. To overcome previous studies’ limitation in spatial display, we developed a novel approach with a spatially explicit land use plan under payment policy. It integrates the tradeoff analysis into a traditional land use optimal allocation system. The land allocation system generates an origin land use scenario. Our method analyzes farmers’ tradeoffs in changing crops by adopting payment policy. Finally, the origin land use map is reallocated. The newly reclaimed region of Yili, China is studied as a representative area. Our tool established a tradeoff curve indicating the adoption proportion of farmers changing other land use types to clover, which is a specific crop with high ecosystem service values, at different payment prices. Areas adopting the payment policy were identified, and corresponding spatial distribution maps of land use re-allocation were generated for the tradeoff curve. Sensitivity analysis validated the robustness of our model. Results demonstrated that our method can provide more spatial and economic information for sustainable land use planning.