Cultivated Land Protection Research Articles

INFLUENCES OF URBAN EXPANSION ON CULTIVATED LANDS IN CHINA SINCE 1970S

Abstract. Urban expansion has far-reaching influences on cultivated lands, and has a serious effect on grain output and safety. However, relatively little attention has been paid to monitor cultivated land losses through urban expansion over a long timeframe and multi-frequency, especially its differences on national scale systematically. In this work, the characteristics of Chinese cultivated land dynamics were described using annual occupied area per city, contribution rate of cultivated lands to urban expansion and the classification method of basic trend of cultivated land losses. Results indicate that: (1) in the past four decades, large amount of cultivated lands have been occupied during the urban expansion process, and have become the first land source for Chinese urban expansion. (2) Cultivated land loss among municipalities, provincial capitals and other cities was obviously different. The higher of cities’ administrative level was, the more obvious of cultivated land loss in these cities appeared, and the earlier of acceleration loss stage of cultivated lands occurred. (3) Cultivated land loss in five population-size cities was unbalanced, representing obviously different loss process and contribution on urban expansion. The bigger of cities’ population size was, the more obvious of cultivated land loss in these cities appeared, and the earlier of acceleration loss stage of cultivated lands occurred. (4) Cultivated land losses during urban expansion process were imbalanced in China, and were classified into seven trends. (5) Chinese cultivated land protection has been carried out from the awakening stage to the deep implementation stage.

Valuing cultivated land protection: A contingent valuation and choice experiment study in China

This study is to examine the public’s preferences for cultivated land protection in Wenling City of China using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation method (CVM) and a choice experiment method. An empirical comparison of the welfare measures derived from the CVM and CE was conducted. We found that the valid response rate of the CVM was higher than that of the CE, while the CE data produced a higher percentage share of supporting votes for cultivated land protection than the CVM data. The estimation results show that the mean willingness to pay from the CVM is larger than that obtained from the CE, but they are not significantly different. Our results indicate that carefully designed CVM and CE were suitable to value cultivated land protection in China. The study results can contribute to the literature on comparing the willingness to pay estimates derived from the CVM and CE and can help improve our current understandings of local public’s preferences for cultivated land protection.

The Impact of Intensive Utilization of Cultivated Land on Grain Yields: A Case Study of Shandong Province in China

Using time series data of agriculture in Shandong Province during the period from 2000 to 2015, this paper sets up an assessment system of intensive utilization of cultivated land, which has 4 criteria(input intensity, utilization intensity, output effectiveness and sustainability) consisting of 9 indices, comprehensively estimates the level of intensive use of agricultural land with entropy method, and empirically analyzes the impact of intensive utilization of cultivated land on grain yields through the use of a multivariable linear regression model. The results are shown as follows: (1) The level of intensive utilization of cultivated land in Shandong Province has been fluctuating upwards but not significantly progressing. (2) Grain yield per hectare is positively correlated with output effectiveness and utilization intensity, and the contribution of output effectiveness to grain yield per hectare is more than the other. (3) grain yield per hectare is negatively correlated with input intensity and sustainability. Therefore, in the long-term, cultivated land management strategy should be planned to improve the input intensity, to emphasis on the sustainability of farm land and to promote the consciousness of cultivated land protection in order to increase the productivity of grain yields.

Dynamic evolution of landscape spatial pattern in Taihu Lake basin, China

Based on the land-use satellite image datasets of 2000, 2010 and 2015, the landscape index, dynamic change model, landscape transfer matrix and CLUE-S model were integrated to analyze the dynamic evolution of the landscape spatial pattern of Taihu Lake basin. The results showed that the landscape type of the basin was dominated by cultivated land and construction land, and the degree of landscape fragmentation was strengthened from 2000 to 2015, and the distribution showed a uniform trend. From the point of transfer dynamic change, the cultivated land and construction land changed significantly, which was reduced by 6761 km2 (2.1%) and increased by 6615.33 km2 (8.4%), respectively. From the landscape transfer, it could be seen that the main change direction of the cultivated land reduction was the construction land, and the cultivated land with 7866.30 km2 was converted into construction land, accounting for 91.6% of the cultivated land change, and the contribution to the construction land was 96.5%. The trend of dynamic changes of cultivated and construction land in the counties and cities was the same as that of the whole Taihu Lake basin. For Shanghai Central Urban, as well as Pudong District, Lin'an City, Baoshan District, Minhang District, Jiading District and Changzhou City, the area of the cultivated land and construction land changed more prominently. However, compared with the CLUE-S model for the landscape pattern change in 2030, the change of cultivated and construction lands would be the largest in the natural development scenario. Under the ecological protection scenario, the area of grassland would increase and the dynamic degree would reach 54.5%. Under the situation of cultivated land protection, the conversion of cultivated land to construction land would be decreased.

Cultivated land protection policies in China facing 2030: Dynamic balance system versus basic farmland zoning

The Chinese central government launched two principal campaigns to maintain the quantity and quality of cultivated land across the country and to continuously sustain a growing population. Dynamic balance system and basic farmland zoning focus on protecting the quantity and quality of cultivated lands, respectively. Theoretically, two complementary campaigns can effectively protect the quantity and quality of cultivated land. However, these policies protect the quality of cultivated land minimally. Dynamic balance system replaces basic farmland protection system during implementation by transforming from control planning to development planning. The process increases the conversion of high quality cultivated land into industrial and residential uses, with the supplementary of cultivated land with low quality, thereby reducing the protection on the quality of this land. This study adopts Yiwu City as the study case and analyzes the administration efficiency of dynamic balance system and basic farmland zoning. Evidence suggests that the delimitation of permanent basic farmland is a feasible system arrangement. The central government should deal with the relationships among policies to protect the quantity, quality, and ecosystem of the cultivated land. The government can arrange permanent basic farmland zoning as the core system for cultivated land protection and practice grade protection system on basic farmlands to strictly limit their conversion into construction land, which inevitably weakens the dynamic balance system.

An Improved Evaluation Scheme for Performing Quality Assessments of Unconsolidated Cultivated Land

Socioeconomic factors are extrinsic factors that drive spatial variability. They play an important role in land resource systems and sometimes are more important than that of the natural setting. The study aims to build a comprehensive framework for assessing unconsolidated cultivated land (UCL) in the south-central and southwestern portions of Hubei Province, China, which have not experienced project management and land consolidation, to identify the roles of natural and especially socioeconomic factors. Moreover, the study attempts to identify the attributes and indicators that describe the characteristics of the extrinsic factors affecting land spatial variability. Assessment supplement 12 proposed land use indicators on the basis of natural factors using the method of gradation of agricultural land quality (GALQ). The overall level of cultivated land quality (CLQ) in the two study areas is moderate, and this quantity is significantly correlated with topography. Excellent and high-quality UCL are mainly distributed in the south-central plain division of Hubei Province (SCPDHP), whereas lower grades are mainly distributed in the area of the southwestern mountainous division of Hubei Province (SWMDHP). These results suggest that the pattern of small-scale agricultural development depends strongly on the labor force and is the key land use-related factor that limits the improvement of regional CLQ. Such assessments and their findings are essential for the protection of cultivated land and the adjustment of agricultural structure to promote the sustainable use of UCL.

Review of the evolution of cultivated land protection policies in the period following China’s reform and liberalization

Along with the rapid economic and social development that has occurred since 1978, when China adopted a policy of reform and liberalization, the cultivated land area has rapidly decreased. Identifying the best mechanism for protecting cultivated land has attracted much attention from the Chinese government. As a result, a succession of cultivated land protection policies have been devised and promulgated. To better understand these policies, this study reviewed the development of China’s cultivated land protection policies since 1978. The policies developed over four different periods following 1978: (1) 1978–1985, (2) 1986–1997, (3) 1998–2003, and (4) 2004 to the present. During each stage, cultivated land protection policies continually developed and acquired distinct characteristics in response to a succession of varying economic and social contexts. Although China has encountered difficulties and setbacks in implementing policies, and results have been sometimes unsatisfactory, land protection policies have continually improved and now play an important role in managing China’s cultivated land.

Urbanization-induced site condition changes of peri-urban cultivated land in the black soil region of northeast China

The site condition of cultivated land greatly influences the utilization and management of cultivated land resources and is an element that is disturbed tremendously by urbanization. Since the rejuvenation of the northeast old industrial base strategy in 2003, urbanization in northeast China has progressed rapidly. The excessive urban sprawl has profoundly changed land use structure in the peri-urban area of the black soil region, and the subsequent site condition changes will impede the full utilization of cultivated land resources. This study used the suburb of Changchun Kuancheng District as an empirical case, and employed a patch-scale site assessment system to analyze dynamic changes in cultivated land site conditions at a typical rural-urban interface of the black soil region from 2004 to 2014. Cultivated land loss and land use changes were prominent in the study area and the land conversion rate was shown to be accelerating. Most of the occupied cultivated land was converted to urban areas such as industrial land or urban settlements. However, a part of the occupied cultivated land was left unutilized, which indicates how the urban sprawl is jeopardizing benefits of both urban development and cultivated land protection. Besides direct occupation of cultivated land resources, urbanization has led to a loss of cultivated land with good site conditions and a deterioration of the site conditions of unconverted cultivated land in the peri-urban area. Urbanization has fragmented peri-urban cultivated land, increased farming distance and brought more frequent anthropogenic disturbances. On the other hand, it has also improved transportation conditions and the local ecological environment. As site condition is believed to be closely related to both cultivated land loss and cultivation abandonment, the deterioration will aggravate the loss of cultivated land resources in a disguised form.

Ecological Land Fragmentation Evaluation and Dynamic Change of a Typical Black Soil Farming Area in Northeast China

Ecological land is a land use category provided with considerable ecological value and a vital indicator reflecting regional eco-environmental quality. However, it has experienced severe fragmentation during the rapid urbanization in China which strongly threatened the regional ecological security, land use pattern and human living environment. Therefore, analysis of spatiotemporal change of ecological land use and ecological landscape pattern is particularly essential. In this paper, a case study was made in Nong’an County, which is a typical black soil farming area located in northeast China facing severe conflicts among cultivated land protection, urban expansion and ecological security. A landscape fragmentation evaluation model was proposed to measure the degree of regional ecological land fragmentation. We also determined the land use change features through the methods of dynamic change information exploration and by performing transfer trajectory analysis during the period from 1996 to 2014. The results showed that the ecological land in Nong’an County has experienced increasing fragmentation during the past 18 years. The statistical results showed that the land transition between ecological land and other land categories was quite frequent, and it especially appeared as a dramatic decline of grassland and severe increase of saline-alkali land. In addition, human interferences especially construction activities and cultivated land occupation were still the dominant factors to the fragmentation of ecological land and the frequent transition among the land use categories. The fragmentation degree showed a downward tendency at the end of the study, which indicated noticeable benefits of land use regulation and land protection policies directed towards land ecological value. This study aims to provide a scientific evaluation model for measuring ecological land fragmentation degree, and figure out the regional land use transition relationships to offer suggestions for decision-making and provide a practical case in a typical region.

Quality Perspective on the Dynamic Balance of Cultivated Land in Wenzhou, China

Cultivated land in China has faced severe challenges in recent years due to rapid urbanization. In 1997, the “cultivated land requisition-compensation balance” policy was implemented by the government to maintain the quantity and quality of cultivated land. Previous studies mainly focused on the quantity changes of cultivated land. In this study, from a quality perspective, we characterized the occupation and compensation of cultivated land in Wenzhou City utilizing remote sensing and geographic information systems during 2005–2010 and 2010–2014. Our results indicated that although the quantity balance of cultivated land has been achieved in Wenzhou, there was a trend of consuming prime cultivated land for urbanization while compensating with less productive land. It was also found that topography, water resources, and accessibility play important roles in cultivated land changes, with urbanization occurring on the eastern coastal plain where high quality lands are prevalent. Less than 60% of the gained lands were under cultivation, with the majority of reclaimed land from forests and coastal areas and located in remote regions. Therefore, we suggest that a “cultivated land protection red line” policy should be implemented to protect the best cultivated lands, while preventing random land reclamation to secure agricultural and environmental sustainability.

基于净生产力生态足迹模型的工业碳排放效应、影响因素与情景模拟

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于净生产力生态足迹模型的工业碳排放效应、影响因素与情景模拟 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201603310591 作者: 作者单位: 浙江大学土地科学与不动产研究所,浙江大学土地科学与不动产研究所,浙江大学土地科学与不动产研究所,浙江大学农业遥感与信息技术应用研究所,中国地质大学(武汉)公共管理学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家重点研发计划重点专项（2016YFD0201200）；浙江省教育厅重点项目（Z201121260） Analysis of the industrial carbon emission effect based on the Net Primary Productivity Model, its influencing factors and scene simulation Author: Affiliation: School of Public Affairs, Institute of Land Science and Property Management, Zhejiang University,School of Public Affairs, Institute of Land Science and Property Management, Zhejiang University,School of Public Affairs, Institute of Land Science and Property Management, Zhejiang University,Institute of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology Application, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University,School of Public Administrations, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:以不同类型城市东营和滨州为例，采用基于净生产力的生态足迹模型测度2005-2014年两市工业碳排放效应，利用弹性系数模型对工业碳排放生态足迹及其影响因素进行对比，通过情景模拟分析了基准和低碳情景下两市的可持续低碳发展潜力。研究结果显示：（1）东营碳排放总量和碳排放强度明显高于滨州，两市的碳排放生态足迹总体上都处于上升趋势，年均增长率分别为12.79%和6.16%，这与两市工业化发展阶段不同有关；（2）2005-2008、2008-2011和2011-2014，东营工业碳排放生态足迹当量主导影响因素组合变化为"耕地面积-土地城镇化率-能源结构系数"转化为"耕地面积-人口规模-能源结构系数"到"耕地面积-人口规模-第二产业比重"；滨州2005-2014年的主导因素组合一直为"人口规模-土地城镇化率-能源结构系数"；（3）通过情景模拟分析2020年东营、滨州的低碳发展潜力：基准和低碳情景下，滨州生态赤字分别为东营的10倍和2.6倍；就"减排"潜力而言，滨州远远高于东营，但实现低碳情景是工业GDP增长从现阶段20.6%骤降到6.5%为代价，对产业结构调整升级要求很高。对东营而言，低碳情景的实现不仅要将能源利用效率提高一倍，更要保证大量重要"碳汇"资源的恢复与重建。 Abstract:At present, there are serious environmental problems caused by global warming, primarily resulting from the interaction of industrial fossil fuel emissions and Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC). According to IPCC reports, the industrial sector is the most important source of fossil fuel consumption, which accounts for 78.75% of the carbon emission to the atmosphere. In China, the annual growth rate of carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion has been 5.2% since 1978, and the future growth trend is difficult to reverse. Moreover, a lack of ecological security in the implementation of the cultivated land balance policy, the principle of "occupying one up one", can easily lead local governments to incorrectly understand infinite cultivated land reserve resources. Thus, to explore how natural resources, industrial development, and restricted cultivated land protection policies affect the ecological pressure of industrial carbon emission in different cities, the present study uses Dongying and Binzhou as examples. Both cities, located in the Yellow River delta, were used to research the ecological pressure of industrial carbon emission based on the Net Primary Productivity Model (NPPM); the elastic coefficient model was applied to analyze changes of influencing factors from 2005 to 2014; and finally, the potential of low-carbon sustainable development using the scene simulation method was measured. Net Primary Productivity (NPP) is employed as a common indicator of biological productivity and the Net Primary Productivity Model (NPPM) can illustrate the interaction between carbon emissions and land carbon sequestration. The following conclusions were reached: (1) carbon emissions and carbon emission intensities of Dongying were significantly higher than that of Binzhou, and the ecological footprint of carbon emissions annually increased by 12.79 and 6.16%, respectively. This is related to the difference of industrial development between the two cities. (2) After analyzing the results of the elastic coefficient model, we found the combination of critical factors of the industrial carbon emission ecological footprint of Dongying changed from a "cultivated land-land urbanization rate-energy structure coefficient" to "cultivated land-population size-energy structure coefficient" to "cultivated land-population size-the proportion of the second industry" from 2005-2008 to 2008-2011 and 2011-2014; that of Binzhou remained a "population size-land urbanization rate-energy structure coefficient" from 2005 to 2014. (3) Through the situational simulation analysis until 2020, we found that under the baseline scenario, the carbon emission ecological deficit of Binzhou was approximately ten times than that of Dongying; under the low carbon scenario, that of Binzhou was only 2.6 times that of Dongying. Regarding the emission reduction potential (the distance between the carbon emission ecological deficit under the baseline scenario and low carbon scenario), the potential of Binzhou was significantly higher than that of Dongying. However, the low carbon scenario of Binzhou is at the expense of a serious slowdown from 20.6 to 6.5% in industry GDP, which needs to forcibly eliminate high energy-consuming enterprises, and economic growth mainly relies on the completion of the third industry. Therefore, there is a very high demand for the readjustment of the industrial structure. Regarding Dongying, the low carbon scenario needs to improve the energy use efficiency by double, and ensure the restoration of large numbers of "carbon sink" resources. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Urban expansion in China and its effect on cultivated land before and after initiating “Reform and Open Policy”

Urbanization in China has expanded at an unprecedented speed since the declaration of “Reform and Open Policy” and presented many challenges. Unbalanced regional development, appearance of super megacities and concomitant problems, and conflicts between urbanization and cultivated land protection are three critical problems that Chinese urbanization has to face. To develop new plans for foreseeable future urbanization in China, it is critical to understand the evolving history of cities across China. This study maps urban expansion of 60 typical Chinese cities based on large amount of remote sensing data and the labor-intensive image interpretation method, in order to understand the history of urban expansion from the 1970s to 2013. Results showed that area of cities expanded 5.23 times compared to their area in the 1970s. Urban expansion in China accelerated three times (1988–1996, 1999–2006, and 2009–2011) and decelerated three times (1997–1998, 2007–2008, and 2012–2013) over the 40 years. The urban area of South China expanded most significantly 9.42 times, while the urban area in Northeast China expanded only 2.37 times. The disparity among different administrative ranks of cities was even greater than (3.81 times) the differences among different regions. Super megacities have been continuously expanding at a fast rate (8.60-fold), and have not shown obvious signs of slowing down. The proportion of cultivated land among the land sources for urban expansion decreased to a small extent in the 1990s, but cultivated land continues to be the major land source for urban expansion. Effective future urbanization needs controlling the expansion scale of large cities and reasonably developing medium and small cities, as well as balancing regional development.

Measurement and scale effect of grain-production dominated zone cultivated land protection externalities under multi-level boundaries

Measurement and scale effect of grain-production dominated zone cultivated land protection externalities under multi-level boundaries

Cultivated land use intensity and its influencing factors of households of different livelihood strategies: A case study of 12 typical villages in Chongqing Municipality

The change of cultivated land use intensity has influenced food security, ecological environment and cultivated land protection. Using 972 valid samples through household survey of 12 typical villages in Youyang county, Wulong county, Wushan county of Chongqing as study cases, we comparatively analyze cultivated land use intensity of households of different livelihood strategies based on the cost of production. And we also compare its internal structure considering comprehensive form of value index and physical form indicators. Then, we analyze the influencing factors of cultivated land use intensity of households of different livelihood strategies by adopting multivariate linear regression model. Finally, the purpose of the study is to provide scientific basis for the governments at all levels to formulate policies for agricultural development. The results are shown in the following aspects.(1) There are great differences in cultivated land use intensity and its internal structure of households of different livelihood strategies, as well as labor intensive degree, capital intensive degree and land use intensity. Ⅲ- 1(natural assets type household) Ⅲ- 2(human assets type household) Ⅱ(basic type household)Ⅰ(missing type household).(2) The study area is experiencing rapid rural labor transfer process and livelihood diversification of farmers is significant. But the livelihood diversification does not necessarily mean the reduction of cultivated land use intensity.(3) Agricultural production subsidies and the proportion of cash crops planting area have significant positive effects on Ⅲ-1. Hence, government policies for agricultural development in the future should focus on the improvement of agricultural production subsidies and the adjustment of the agricultural structure, but the premise is to continue to take effective measures to improve rural infrastructure and create a good platform for agricultural development.

Does cultivated land function transition occur in China?

Land function change has been the focus of scientific research and policy making worldwide. Agricultural development and land use demand at present in China shared common characteristics with the countries such as Japan, South Korea, USA, and European developed countries, which have undergone cultivated land function transition. Whether cultivated land function transition occurred is of significance for land change science and cultivated land protection in China. However, there has been no explicit methodology for cultivated land function change research. This paper firstly presents a methodology by integrating policy development analysis based on the normative connotation of cultivated land function or termed cultivated land function demand and quantitative assessment based on the positive connotation of cultivated land function or termed cultivated land function supply. Then, cultivated land function transition is diagnosed by analyzing cultivated land function change in 1949–2012. Results show that cultivated land function transition overall occurred in 2006. Specifically, the normative cultivated land function or cultivated land function demand fragmented into seven types in 1985 and upgraded in 2004. Total value of the positive cultivated land function or cultivated land function supply turned to rise with an increase from 2.40 to 2.45 as the coefficients of variability (CV) of the value of the seven functions decreased from 2.94 to 2.29 in 2006–2012. The two-year gap between these two aspects of transition mainly resulted from the time lag effects of policy implementation. In the process of the transition, co-ordination and malposition of supply and demand of cultivated land function coexisted with supply lag and function morphology distortion. Considering the transition experiences in the developed countries mentioned above, suggestions on multifunctional cultivated land management are proposed. Moreover, route of land use transition research is discussed.

Scenario Simulation and the Prediction of Land Use and Land Cover Change in Beijing, China

Land use and land cover (LULC) models are essential for analyzing LULC change and predicting land use requirements and are valuable for guiding reasonable land use planning and management. However, each LULC model has its own advantages and constraints. In this paper, we explore the characteristics of LULC change and simulate future land use demand by combining a CLUE-S model with a Markov model to deal with some shortcomings of existing LULC models. Using Beijing as a case study, we describe the related driving factors from land-adaptive variables, regional spatial variables and socio-economic variables and then simulate future land use scenarios from 2010 to 2020, which include a development scenario (natural development and rapid development) and protection scenarios (ecological and cultivated land protection). The results indicate good consistency between predicted results and actual land use situations according to a Kappa statistic. The conversion of cultivated land to urban built-up land will form the primary features of LULC change in the future. The prediction for land use demand shows the differences under different scenarios. At higher elevations, the geographical environment limits the expansion of urban built-up land, but the conversion of cultivated land to built-up land in mountainous areas will be more prevalent by 2020; Beijing, however, still faces the most pressure in terms of ecological and cultivated land protection.

The evaluation of degraded land by application of the contingent method

Industrial activities in the Czech Republic have brought into existence many degraded and contaminated sites. Such areas are not suitable for farming, building or recreation purposes. The necessary reclamation is typically very expansive. In this study, the contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to estimate the public’s willingness to pay for soil reclamation, and also to find out the desire of habitants to live in a good environment with respect to soil quality, and generally to improve the publics awarness of soil protection. This study can help to improve understanding of the local public willingness to pay for reclamation of degradated land protection and can provide useful information for an effective land protection programme. The study was carried out on the locality of Březové Hory – a part of the old mining town Příbram. The chosen locality was used for the placement and storage of residual material after mining, but also includes different soils, which have been transported here as useless material. After the reclamation of a part of the locality, a forest park has been established. A random questionnaire survey was conducted with local resident and as well as holiday makers. The results of the survey indicated that protection of cultivated land was important to the local public. The mean willingness to contribute to reclamation of degraded and contaminated lands in Březové Hory was expressed as the following amount of money: 36.64 CZK (1.4 €) per habitant. The findings calculated suggested that the costs of reclamation of landfill soils on Březové Hory totaled 1528 CZK/m<sup>2</sup>. The results of the survey also showed that the willingness to pay increased according to the dependence on income, the gender and also residential address of respondents. The results have not confirmed the dependence on education. In order to increase the hypothetical willingness to pay, an increase of public awareness of soil degradation and harmful effects on the environment is necessary. Furthermore, it was shown that the market valuation of land can not be used for soil protection purposes.

Construction land expansion and cultivated land protection in urbanizing China: Insights from national land surveys, 1996–2006

The remarkable construction land development in urbanizing China has been rarely investigated within the context of the multi-track urbanization process and its relationship with farmland protection has remained vague because of the lack of accurate and reliable data. To fill these gaps, this research analyzed systematic data from the 1996 land survey and the land use change surveys that were conducted annually in the subsequent decade. Driven mainly by the widespread establishment and continuous expansion of economic development zones (EDZs), construction land in China expanded by 2.04 million hectares in 2001–2006, which was approximately twice of that in the previous half-decade. Cities have not grown faster than towns until recently. In rapidly urbanizing China, rural construction land did not shrink but expanded rapidly, especially in the western provinces with a decreasing rural population. Spatially, the eastern coast has maintained its leading position in the construction land distribution and expansion in China; however, the inland regions have contributed an increasing share of national land development. Land survey data did not support the prevailing view that closely connected farmland loss with construction land growth, but showed that only less than 20% of the lost farmland was converted to construction sites. Moreover, this farmland was occupied mostly by EDZs, followed by transportation and rural settlements, whereas the most frequently criticized city and town expansion contributed the least. In this sense, the real challenge of urbanization to farmland protection lies not in the necessary growth of urban areas, but in the irrational expansion of rural settlements that carry increasingly fewer people. Chinese land polices that aim to control construction land growth and prevent cultivated land loss were proved to be a double failure. The control–protection relationship is not simply “control for protection,” as claimed in official discourse; rather, farmland protection is also a slogan and excuse used by the government to restrain the excessive land expropriation in the urban fringe to avoid or mitigate farmland degradation, urban land waste, and social unrest. After reexamining the Chinese urbanization model dominated by the massive floating population and strict and rigid control over urban expansion, we call for more efforts to develop a trans-regional linkage between urban and rural construction land management, which may be a reasonable and effective means for sustainable land development in China.

A spatial panel statistical analysis on cultivated land conversion and chinese economic growth

The conflict between cultivated land protection and economic development has become increasingly acute in recent years. Despite, intensive researches made on this conflict, little attention has been paid to the spatial correlation of variables. In view of this, the paper introduces the spatial panel regression model to estimate, and test whether the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land conversion conforms to Kuznets curve. Research results show that the area of converted cultivated land in China exhibits strong spatial auto-correlation; the spatial panel model with time effect and fixed effect is more stable and significant than conventional panel mode, and that the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land conversion agrees with the inverted U-shape of Kuznets curve, with inflection point occurring when average per capita GDP reaches ¥31330.93 (calculated at comparable price of 1999). On the basis of analysis, it is suggested that the government, with a view to developing economy alongside protecting cultivated land, should attach more importance to land use and planning in the future, pay more attention to the spatial correlation of cultivated land planning in adjacent areas and make greater efforts to increase the input–output ratio of land.

The Use of Choice Experiments to Value Public Preferences for Cultivated Land Protection in China

Effective programs and policies for cultivated land resource protection are often the focus of government policy-makers and researchers. Here we use survey data from Wuhan City, Hubei, China to attempt to apply a choice experiment for assessing main stakeholder preferences for cultivated land resource protection based on the hypothesis of market and policy. According to the basic principle of choice experiments, the area of cultivated land, quality of cultivated land, cost of cultivated land protection and cultivated land ecological landscape were included as attributes in the experimental design. Surveys were undertaken on two main stakeholders groups (farmers and urban residents). Our results show strong divergence between farmers and urban residents regarding protecting attributes. We then analyzed and compared welfare changes affected by different attribute combination programs. The result of this study provides theoretical and decision-making support for farmland protection funds and agricultural subsidy systems.