Virtual built-up land transfers and induced ecosystem service potential loss embodied in China's inter-regional trade

Inter-regional trade can potentially extend the management of resources and induced ecological environmental impacts beyond a region's territory along supply chains. We combined environmental-extended multi-regional input-output analysis and ecosystem services value (ESV) assessment, to identify the remote connections of construction land use and the induced ecosystem services potential loss in inter-provincial trade in China from 2007 to 2017. The findings indicated that the virtual construction land flow increased by 0.774 million ha in the eight regions of China during 2007-2017. The Northeast and the Northwest were net exporters while most of the inflow areas were in the more developed areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta. The net regional flow of ecosystem service potential loss (ESPL) in China increased by 352.64 billion yuan. The spatial heterogeneity of ESV in each province led to differences in the inter-sectoral or inter-regional flow characteristics of ESPL from embodied construction land use. The outflow areas of ESPL were mostly located in the old industrial bases of the Northeast and Northern Coast, which sacrificed their local ecological service value to meet the development needs of Southern Coast, Southwest China and Beijing-Tianjin. The research results help to clarify ecological and environmental responsibility, improve ecological compensation mechanisms and formulate scientific policies for coordinated protection of ecosystem services.