Effects of check dam construction on nearby urban areas: a case study of Shaanxi Province, China

Check dams helps to improve the arable-land quality, agricultural productivity, and ecological environment, and the check dams can also have obvious effects on food production and land use in nearby urban areas. In this study, the statistical yearbook data and remote sensing data from 2000 to 2020 were used to explore the effects of check-dam construction on the food production and land use in local and nearby area in Shaanxi Province. The results show that the construction of check dams has significantly improved the food production per unit of arable land in Yulin from 2000-2020, increasing the rate of the annual food production in Yulin to the total amount of Shanxi Province was increased from 6% to 19%. Hence, Yulin became the main region in Shaanxi province of food production due to the construction of check dams, which had greatly relieved the pressure of food production in Xian, resulting in a reduction of the annual rate of Xi’an to the total amount of Shanxi Province from 18% to 11% during the period of 2000 and 2020. In this period, the dam area of Yulin increases, and Xi’an has the largest net gain in urban construction land among all cities, with 98% of the increase in urban construction land coming from arable land. We found that Yulin is the richest city in the province for land resource reserves due to the construction of check dams, and the new arable land is mainly used to make up for the loss of arable land due to urban expansion in more developed cities such as Xi’an and Xianyang, and to a certain extent promotes the increase of urban construction land. Hence, the construction of soil and water conservation measures, such as check dams, can promote the balance between soil erosion control and urbanization in order to achieve a sustainable development of resources, environment, and economy.