Sustainable land use in the trans-provincial marginal areas in China

Abstract

Because of the influence of administrative jurisdiction, land use in the boundary area of administrative jurisdiction has its particularity. Studying the spatial-temporal change pattern of land use in this region is helpful to optimize the land use pattern, improve and protect the ecological environment quality, and is of great significance to ensure the coordinated development of population, resources and environment. Based on TM satellite remote sensing and four years (1980, 1995, 2000 and 2010) image data, the land use/cover information in the trans-provincial marginal zone of China is extracted. The spatial-temporal characteristics of land use/cover change in the study area in the past 30 years are revealed using land-use temporal-spatial change index, dynamics of land-use change, comprehensive index of land-use level, change in land-use degree, rate of change in land-use and GIS spatial analysis techniques. The future 30 years development trend is predicted by Markov model method. (1) The land use in the interior provincial fringe area of China is mainly trans-provincial marginal zone. Here are dominated by forestland, grassland, and unused land. The most obvious changes are an increase in land for an increase construction land and a reduction of unused land, and there are differences in different regions. Forestland is the main land type in Northeast China. Forestland, cultivated land and grassland are important land types in southeastern China. However, grassland type is seen as unused land and woodland in Qinghai-Tibet area. Unutilized land is the main land type in Northwest China, showing a situation of increasing first and then decreasing. (2) Influenced by environmental conditions and social factors such as population growth, economic development and regional development policies, the land use types in 1980–1995 and 1995–2010 show obvious spatial differentiation characteristics in different zones. (3)From 1980 to 2010, the land use types in the study area have undergone complex transformation. The reduced area of cultivated land, woodland, grassland and water area is larger than the newly increased area, while the reduced area of construction land and unused land is smaller than the newly increased area. (4) By 2030, the increase of construction land area will have a positive effect on the economic and social development of the region. The increase of forestland area will further improve the ecological environment here.