The Evaluation of the Ecological Status of Islands in 2019 Based on Island Ecological Index

Abstract

Islands are not only important strategic space for China’s social and economic development, but also important barrier for ecological security. Evaluating the ecological status of islands is the basis for rational utilization, protection and management. In this paper, 77 islands were selected and the ecological status of each island in 2019 was evaluated according to the evaluation method of Island Ecological Index. The results showed that the majority of evaluated islands were of good ecological status, the ecological status of township-level islands with residents and non-resident islands was significantly better than that of village-level islands with residents, the distribution of Island Ecological Index in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea was similar, and the proportion of islands of good ecological status was higher than that of islands in the South China Sea. Vegetation coverage, natural shoreline retention rate and sewage treatment rate were the main factors affecting the ecological status of islands in 2019. Effective measures should be taken to help improve the ecological status of islands and promote the realization of sustainable development of islands, such as strengthening the investment in ecological protection and construction of village-level islands with residents, rationalizing the use of island resources, optimizing the pattern of protection and development, retaining natural shorelines, improving the sewage treatment capacity and so on.

Keywords

• islands
• island ecological index
• evaluation of ecological status
• correlation analysis