Constructing the ecological security pattern of the Daqing River Basin for the high-standard ecological construction of Xiong'an New Area, China

Frequent occurrences of regional environmental problems in recent years have threatened ecological security. To tackle these problems, one of the feasible ways is by building a regional ecological security pattern (ESP). Xiong'an New Area is a new city under construction in China, and the rapid urbanization process has brought ecological pressure. To alleviate it, this study takes water as the ecological medium to couple nature, society, economy, and sustainability to propose a comprehensive framework for constructing ESP from the river basin perspective, including the assessment of ecosystem services (ES) supply areas, identification of ES demand areas, and extraction of river corridors. For the case of the Daqing River Basin, a typical ecological support zone of Xiongan New Area, the ESP was constructed using the InVEST model, spatial inversion technique, and river connectivity assessment model assessing the average from 2000 to 2020. The results revealed the western mountains are high-value areas for ES supply, while the eastern plains are high-value areas for ES demand, showing an opposite pattern. We have identified ES supply areas of 12748.59 km2, ES demand areas of 19625.73 km2, and extracted the river corridors of 3572.98 km. Thus, the ESP characterized by "Two zones-Two cores-Nine corridors" was constructed. Based on a comprehensive understanding of constructed ESP, the concrete river basin protection strategy from ES supply areas, river corridors, and ES demand areas aspects is proposed. Key findings and policy strategy can directly serve the high-standard ecological construction of Xiong'an New Area and promote regional sustainable development.