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[Display omitted] • The northwest area of the BTSSCP suffered severe dust-affected zones based on the dust flow trajectory. • The ESs in severe dust-affected areas were relatively poor. • ESs and the dust flow trajectory were integrated to identify ecological governance zones. • Governance suggestions were proposed for the ecological management zone combined with the driving forces. Achieving ecological conservation and governance based on ecosystem services (ESs) can balance regional ecological protection and development, which is of great significance for sustainable development. Existing research has mainly focused on the extraction of priority ecological conservation areas, thereby neglecting to consider the classification and management of ecological engineering areas. To improve regional ecological governance, we combine ESs and dust movement trajectory, using the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project (BTSSCP) as the research object to generate watersheds' ecological governance zones. Six ESs were assessed to determine ecological zones. Trajectory simulation of dust movement, using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and potential source contribution function, was used to determined zones affected by dust. By combining these two aspects, five main ecological governance clusters were identified. We found that: (1) the area with low ESs in the northwest of the BTSSCP suffered from severe dust impacts; (2) slight dust-affected zones were mainly distributed in the eastern of the BTSSCP, and in the area, ESs gradually decreased from south to north; (3) ESs in the region was primarily influenced by natural factors and the influencing factors of ESs vary among different zones. These findings will not only contribute to the overall planning and governance of the BTSSCP, but can offer general guidance for the formulation of targeted ecological protection and restoration measures in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changed land use patterns are the most direct manifestation of ecological engineering implemented by humans, being among the driving factors for changes in ecosystem services (ESs). However, different ecological engineering governance measures can lead to different changes in land use, resulting in corresponding changes to ESs and ecosystem service value (ESV), yet these changes is the content that needs to be clarified. In this study, four kinds of ESs, namely water yield, soil conservation, carbon storage and water purification, were quantified in part region of the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project (BTSSCP). In addition, eight scenarios were simulated according to the land use change caused by engineering management measures, and the ESs and ESV ensuing under these differing scenarios quantified accordingly. The results show that the main land use types in the study area from 2000 to 2020 were cropland and forestland, while during this period land use change mainly consisted of the expansion of grassland (+466.79 km2) and loss of cropland (−2095.27 km2). For different engineering management measures, protective governance will play a greater role in improving ESs than restoration governance. Protecting the existing governance outcomes from degrading can maintain a water yield of 36.85 × 108 m3, soil conservation of 73.72 × 106 t, carbon storage of 89.01 × 106 t, the purified water nitrogen content of 1.21 × 106 t, with the total ESV maintained at 54.237 billion yuan. Moreover, the high-investment counties clearly engage in ecological restoration that provides high ESV. Yet, there are still some counties with high project investment where the gains in ESV are low, such as Luanping county and Pingquan county. Therefore, it should be reasonably distributed based on the existing governance results in the next round of project investment allocation. In the past 20 years, engineering governance measures have significantly improved the ESs in the region. Nevertheless, looking ahead, it remains necessary to strengthen the emphasis on protecting governance outcomes. [Display omitted] • Scenario simulations were run under governance measures for ecological engineering. • Ecosystem service value (ESV) under differing governance measures were simulated. • ESV is higher when ecological protection rather than restoration measures are used. • Project investment vis-à-vis ESV under the different scenarios were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassland is not only an important landscape of the Beijing–Tianjin sandstorm source control project area, but also a significant object of the Beijing–Tianjin sandstorm source control project. By taking the situation in 2000 as the base of comparison and using the established grassland vegetation growth model, the monitoring and evaluation of grassland vegetation dynamic variation in the project area from 2000 to 2010 was conducted based on MODIS 16 days NDVI data. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The comparative result of average growth between each year from 2001 to 2010 and the base year was on the good side in general; the grassland growth was good both in the early and later periods of grassland growth peak season than in the first years of the project implementation, indicating that the implementation of the Beijing–Tianjin sandstorm source project has significantly improved the growth conditions of grassland vegetation; (2) With regard to the annual dynamic variation of grassland growth, the area proportions of the grasslands, of which the average grassland growth was on the good side, fluctuated and increased slightly with the time changes in general. The area proportions of the grasslands, of which the average grassland growth was on the bad side, fluctuated and decreased in general. The area proportions of the grasslands with normal growth showed an increasing overall trend; (3) From the regional perceptive on four zones, including the northern arid grassland desertification control zone, Hunshandake sandy land control zone, the farming-pastoral area of desertified land control zone, and the water conservation zone of Yanshan hills and mountains, except that the grassland growth in the farming-pastoral area of desertified land control zone was bad, the average growth of other three zones was good each year from 2001 to 2010 compared with the base year. (4) In respect of space, the regions with big grassland growth variation in the project area were concentrated in the western and eastern sections of the northern arid grassland desertification control zone and the western section of Hunshandake sandy land control zone. The grassland growth variation in the water conservation zone of Yanshan hills and mountains and the farming-pastoral area of desertified land control zone were relatively stable. On one hand, the conclusions of this paper can evaluate the effectiveness of the project control, on the other hand, it can also provide scientific basics to grassland management departments, facilitate the rational utilization of grassland, and preserve the regional ecological balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]