Evaluation of the eco-geo-environment in the Qaidam Basin, China

Eco-geo-environment quality refers to the degree of the merits of eco-geo-environment, which reflects the suitability of eco-geo-environment for sustainable development of human activities and socioeconomics in a specific time and space. The ultimate purpose of eco-geo-environment investigation and evaluation is to guide human production and life practice. Qaidam Basin, situated in the northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China, possesses a unique ecological environment, complicated geological features, and relatively underdeveloped economy. Evaluation of eco-geo-environment quality could ascertain the ecological background value and support policy makers in making decisions that promote economic development while ensuring the least damage to the environmental resources. However, there is no unified and authoritative evaluation index system to evaluate the quality of the eco-geo-environment. Based on the “Technical Criterion for Ecosystem Status Evaluation (HJ 192-2015)”, we add the eco-geo-environment restriction index and revise the existing Ecological Index formula. Further, we define the eco-geo-environment index to evaluate the quality of the eco-geo-environment. The computed eco-geo-environment index of the Qaidam Basin was found to be 26.088, belonging to the “Poor”. The result suggests that the eco-geo-environment quality of Qaidam Basin is quite fragile. Our results highlight the need for the judicious use of resources and promoting eco-geo-environment protection with a focus on sustainable development. More importantly, our evaluation system contributes to a policy-relevant and solution-oriented template for other similar regional assessments.