Impacts of Coastal Reclamation on Natural Wetlands in Large River Deltas in China

Abstract

Little information is available on the impacts of coastal reclamation on wetland loss in large-river deltas at a regional scale. Using remote sensing data of coastal wetland and reclamation in four deltas in China from 1978 to 2014, we tracked their continuous area changes in four periods: 1978–1990, 1990–2000, 2000–2008, and 2008–2014. The areal relation between wetland loss and reclamation was quantified and used to identify coastal reclamation mode intensity coupled with another three indicators: reclamation rate, accretion rate and land-use intensity of coastal reclamation. The results showed that coastal reclamation driven by economic development reduced, or even reverse the original growth of delta which was determined by the offset between wetland acceleration rate and wetland loss rate. Generally, the area of reclamation showed a positive linear correlation with the area of wetland loss. The findings imply that human activities should control reclamation rate and intensity to alleviate total wetland loss and maintain wetland ‘net gain’. Inappropriate coastal reclamation modes can magnify total wetland loss; therefore, coastal reclamation with a slow increment rate and low impervious surface percent is of great importance for sustainable development in future coastal management.