Land Use Changes in Himalaya and Their Impacts on Environment, Society and Economy: A Study of the Lake Region in Kumaon Himalaya, India

The traditional resource use structure in Himalaya has transformed considerably during the recent past, mainly owing to the growth of population and the resultant increased demand of natural resources in the region. This transformation in resource use practices is particularly significant in the densely populated tracts of Himalaya. As a result, cultivated land, forests, pastures and rangelands have been deteriorated and depleted steadily and significantly leading to their conversion into degraded and non-productive lands. These rapid land use changes have not only disrupted the fragile ecological equilibrium in the mountains through indiscriminate deforestation, degradation of land resources and disruption of the hydrological cycle, but also have significant and irreversible adverse impacts on the rural economy, society, livelihood and life quality of mountain communities. It has been observed that the agricultural production has declined, water sources are drying up fast due to decreased ground water recharge and a large number of villages are facing enormous deficit of critical resources, such as food, fodder, firewood and water, mainly due to unabated deforestation. As a result, the rural people, particularly the women, have to travel considerably long distances to collect fodder and firewood and to fetching water. It is therefore highly imperative to evolve a comprehensive and integrated land use framework for the conservation of the biophysical environment and sustainable development of natural resources in Himalaya. The land use policy would help local communities in making use of their natural resources scientifically and judiciously, and thus help in the conservation of the biophysical environment and in the increasing of the productivity of natural resources. The study indicates that conservation of forests and other critical natural resources through community participation, generation of alternative means of livelihood, and employment in rural areas can help increase rural income as well as restore ecosystem services.

Towards a Remote Sensing and GIS-Based Technique to Study Population and Urban Growth: A Case Study of Multan

In recent decades, the migration rates of the large cities of Punjab have been risen up to a considerable level due to the lack of employment opportunities as well as lack of facilities in the rural areas of the province. It has caused an unprecedented and unplanned urbanization across the urban areas of the province. This study has been undertaken to perform fractal analysis about the sprawl in rapidly growing city. GIS and remote sensing data have been used in this study as an emerging technology which is cost effective as well as accurate at the same time. Landsat images have been taken for the study and the sprawl has been calculated with the analysis of the data of each decade for past more than 40 years. It has been observed that the built up area is 47.8 to 141.12 Sq. Km whereas the pattern of urban settlement has been classified as clustered and linear, following the roads network. The temporal population growth also seconded these results. The population growth rate and population density increase, are based on the pixel based extraction of the data from satellite imagery for the period of 2000 to 2014, which is taken as a decision support tool. In 2000, the population of the district increased from 2,071,694 (1981 census) to 2,939,907 and then in 2013, it became 4,384,191 at a rate to 2.93% upturn per annum. Moreover, the study also reveals the extent of the growth of other land uses as well which may be taken as a reference that in an agricultural country like Pakistan, the natural resources are being wasted (by urbanization of the fertile land). There must be some master planning to avoid such things in the other cities as well.

Assessment of ecosystem services value in response to prevailing and future land use/cover changes in Lahore,Pakistan

Land use/cover changes(LUCCs)significantly affect ecosystem services(ESs)and their corresponding monetary value.ESs can be evaluated to analyze the ecological and environmental changes caused by LUCCs.This research aims to estimate variations in the ecosystem services value(ESV)due to LUCCs in Lahore of Pakistan,and to offer information and recommendations to policy-makers concerned with the economic improvement of metropolis areas.We first investigated the historical LUCCs from 1990 to 2019,and then simulated the future land use/cover in 2030 and 2050 based on the CA-Markov model under three scenarios,including business-as-usual(BAU),rapid economic growth(REG),and coordinated environmental sustainability(CES).Subsequently,we evaluated the ESV from 1990 to 2050 and evaluated the historical and potential future ESV changes induced by LUCCs during 1990–2019 and 2019–2050,respectively.The results showed that,land use/cover exhibited an increase in built-up land and decreases in vegetation,water body,and unused land both in the past and future.The net ESV decreased from 58.26 million USD in 1990 to 50.31 million USD in 2019.In 2050,the decrease in ESV is most rapid under the REG scenario(decrease ESV of 7.13 million USD and decrease percentage of 14.18%),followed by the BAU(decrease ESV of 5.61 million USD and decrease percentage of 11.15%)and CES(decrease ESV of 5.18 million USD and decrease percentage of 10.30%)scenarios.For each ecosystem service type,the ESV of waste treatment decreased by 18.37%from 1990 to 2019,followed by soil formation and conservation(17.52%),biodiversity and maintenance(13.23%),climate regulation(11.80%),food production(11.69%),hydrological regulation(11.11%),and aesthetic value(3.07%).These outcomes indicate that continuous land use/cover planning should focus on regenerating aquatic areas and vegetation restoration.

Land Transformation Analysis Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques (A Case Study)

The increasing population and economic activities are putting pressure on the available land resources. Human population and their use of land have transformed the terrestrial biosphere into anthropogenic biomes (anthromes). The present study analyses the urban land use/cover change and land transformation in Srinagar city which is located in the valley of the hill state of Jammu and Kashmir. A change detection analysis was performed to determine the nature, extent and rate of land use/cover change and transformation over 30 years of time period. The results show that the city has expanded significantly at the cost of non built-up land which has decreased in its area. Significantly there was not only the expansion of city area but also there were interchange of land between different land use/cover classes in the study area.

Impact of spatiotemporal land-use and land-cover changes on surface urban heat islands in a semiarid region using Landsat data

Many factors are involved in urban heat island development,such as lack of green spaces,improper choice of building materials,densification,and other human activities.The aim of this research was to quantify the effects of land-use/land-cover(LU/LC)changes on urban land surface temperature(LST)during a 25-year period(1993–2018)for the semiarid Shiraz City in southern Iran using Landsat data(TM,ETM+,and OLI/TIRS)and machine learning algorithms.Five main LU/LC classes,such as orchard,vegetation,bare surface,asphalt cover,and built-up areas,were identified using a support vector machine algorithm.Landsat images were used to retrieve normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)and normalized difference built-up index(NDBI).The results showed that the mean LST over the entire study domain increased considerably between 1993 and 2018,due to urbanization,decrease of green areas,and increasing industrial areas.Built-up areas increased considerably by 25.8%from 80 to 100.6 km^(2) between 1993 and 2018,while vegetation cover decreased dramatically by 69.3%.Mean LST increased from 38.4 to 40.2℃ during the 25-year period with a significant increase of 3.9℃ between 2013 and 2018.In addition,the Urban heat island Ratio Index(URI)displayed a substantial upward trend during the 25-year period.

Identification of habitat controls on northern red-legged frog populations: implications for habitat conservation on an urbanizing landscape in the Pacific Northwest

Introduction: In the Pacific Northwest of North America, research addressing lentic-breeding amphibian populationvulnerability has emphasized aquatic habitats, frequently neglecting terrestrial habitats. Consequently, wetlandprotection and restoration often fails to preserve or restore adjacent uplands required by lentic-breeding amphibians.Inattention to the juxtaposition and connectivity of uplands to wetlands could locally extirpate lentic-breedingamphibians. The objective of this research is to identify the relative importance of juxtaposed terrestrial and aquatichabitats in a lentic-breeding amphibian, the northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora), by evaluating the relationshipbetween its occurrence and abundance with its aquatic and terrestrial habitats. To accomplish this, egg mass countswere used to quantify R. aurora populations in 30 stillwater habitats across an urbanization gradient. Using aGeographic Information System, seven descriptors of aquatic and surrounding terrestrial habitats were measured toevaluate their relationships to R. aurora occurrence and abundance.Results: Rana aurora occurrence and breeding abundance both reflect the forested area around wetland breedingsites and forest connectivity to those sites. Rana aurora breeding abundance also strongly reflects the percent offorested perimeter around wetland breeding sites. The forest habitat most important for R. aurora breeding abundanceseems to be > 200 m from the breeding wetlands. The American bullfrog presence and the two aquatic parametersmeasured, wetland area and vegetated area, were unrelated to R. aurora occurrence and breeding abundance.Conclusions: Area and connectivity of juxtaposed forested terrestrial habitat may represent a basic control on R. aurorapresence and population size. Urban development policies should consider preservation and restoration of uplandforest habitats beyond current fixed-width buffers and wetland habitat area at landscape scales.

Spatio-Temporal Changes of Urban Population and Urban Construction Land in China

This paper first analyzes the general development trend and regional patterns of urban population and urban construction land in China from 1981 to 2009. Then it conducts a quantitative analysis on the coupling state between the growth rate of urban construction land and the urban population growth rate. Considering the status quo of urban development, it proposes that China should maximally optimize the allocation of land resources during the process of urban construction, so as to lessen the confl icts between the supply and demand of construction land.

The Influence of the Two-child Policy on Urbanization in China

Family planning has been China's basic national policy since 1980, but it changed from a onechild policy to a two-child policy at the end of 2015 as which will further stimulate the rapid growth of China's population and have a profound impact on the population structure and land use in China. Based on the forecast of total population change in national and provincial dimensions after the two -child policy, the paper forecasted the spatial pattern of China's population and provincial differentiation over the next 15 years, and discussed the far-reaching impact on the future urban and rural land use and planning. Conclusions as follows: the two-child policy will achieve rapid population growth in the next 5 years, then there will be a stable growth phase;the peak of China's population increase will occur in 2030 with a total population of about 1.55 billion people, which will continue the regional differentiation of urbanization, and urbanization level in southeastern region will remain generally higher than that of the northwest. In addition, population growth brings new demands in urban and rural construction land, therefore, more intensive use of land will be the inevitable choice for the future development for China.

Driving Mechanism of Urban Space Expansion in Luoyang, China

Urban space expansion is the result of the interaction between internal and external forces of the urban. Based on the remote sensing image data of 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, and the social and economic development data, this paper analyzes the driving mechanism of the Luoyang space expansion characteristics and its correlation characteristics. By using urban land use efficiency index, urban expansion elastic index;urban allometric growth index, and grey correlation analysis in 4 times sections and 3 periods. The research results show that the urban space expansion of Luoyang mainly comes from the needs and support of economic development, the coordination between urban space expansion and population development is poor, and urban space expansion effectively attracts the inflow of external funds, and the settlement of migrants, drives the development of the tertiary industry, and increases the local revenue.

Grain Production Driven by Variations in Farmland Use in China:An Analysis of Security Patterns

自从1978年改革开放以来,随着经济的迅速发展,中国的耕地利用格局发生了很大的变化。耕地数量和质量的变化直接导致粮食生产的变动。本文利用来自政府部门的农业统计数据,分析了1978-2004年间中国耕地利用水平的时空动态格局,并通过构建"粮耕弹性系数"来反映耕地利用变化与粮食生产的互动关系。研究结果表明:耕地投入的增加和质量的提升在一定程度上缓解了1978年以来我国耕地资源严重流失给粮食生产安全带来的压力;自改革开放以来,中国耕地利用水平呈现由经济快速发展带来的普遍性提升局面,并随着经济发展程度由东南沿海向内陆递减,耕地利用水平的提升速率也呈现由东南沿海向内陆梯级递减态势。然而,耕地集约利用程度的不断提升,并不一定会带来粮食产量的持续稳定增长。耕地集约利用增长的边际效用递减特性,使得中国粮食生产安全的保障已逐步由耕地集约利用水平的提升转向了耕地面积的保护,由此导致耕地资源的数量成为了左右粮食生产安全的关键,这也为当今中国制定严格的耕地保护目标和战略提供了现实的科学依据。

Urban land expansion and its driving factors of mountain cities in China during 1990–2015

Land expansion of mountain cities in China is not systematically studied yet. This study identified 55 major mountain cities at and above prefecture level, and analyzed the land expansion characteristics and driving forces, based on visually interpreted data from TM images in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015. From 1990 to 2015, total built-up land area of the mountain cities increased by 3.87 times, 5.56% per year. The urban land growth was apparently accelerated after 2000, from 4.35% per year during 1990-2000 increased to 6.47% during 2000-2010 and 6.2% during 2010-2015. Compared to the urban population growth, the urban land expansion rate was 44% higher. As a result, the urban land area per capita increased, but it was still within the government control target, and also was much lower than the average of all cities in China. Urban development policy, changes to administrative divisions, GDP and population growth, and road construction were identified as the major driving forces of land expansion. Terrain conditions were not found a relevance to the urban land expansion rate during 1990-2015, but had a significant impact on the layout and shape, and also probably on the urban land efficiency.

新型城镇化背景下江西省城市人口增长与土地扩张协调性研究

城市人地协调关系是新型城镇化研究的重要内容。基于2001年、2012年城市人口与建成区面积数据,利用数理统计及GIS空间分析方法对江西省城市人地协调关系进行深入分析。结果表明:1)江西省城市人口在空间分布上逐步形成轴带状"核心-边缘"结构、而城市建成区则呈"一轴多核"格局,城市规模的南北差异随着赣南地区城市发展而逐步缩小。2)从城市类型空间分布看,土地扩张型城市主要集中在地级市及其周边县市、交通沿线城市,人口增长型城市则主要为省域边缘县市。3)对江西省人地协调关系进行多视角统计分析得到行政等级体系下市级以上城市土地扩张特征显著,人口规模体系下大中城市呈土地显著增长、中小城市人地相对协调,地形要素下城市类型分布与江西省"平原-丘陵-山区"的地形特征显著正相关。4)在人地关系多视角统计及空间分布基础上立足各类城市发展现状,提出新型城镇化背景下促进江西省城市人地协调发展建议及相关措施。

农业人口转移与城市建设用地增加耦合态势及空间协调特征——以江西省为例

研究目的:本文基于2006-2016年江西省11个地级市的统计数据及相关影像数据,揭示江西省农业人口转移与城市建设用地增加的总体耦合态势及空间协调特征。研究方法:重心模型法与离差系数法。研究结果:(1)2006-2016年,江西省农业人口转移与城市建设用地增加的总体耦合态势呈减弱-增强-减弱的阶段性变化,两者重心移动方向一致性增强,且围绕交通干线由东北往西南,从南昌逐步移向赣中、赣南,到达吉安、赣州市内。期间,农业人口转移重心的聚集程度小于城市建设用地增加的聚集程度,部分年份的城市建设用地增加重心滞后于农业人口转移重心并紧跟其后。(2)江西省农业人口转移与各类建设用地增加在数量与空间配置结构上并不一一匹配,农业人口转移与城市总建设用地增加发展比较协调,与工商用地增加失调最重,与交通绿地广场用地及公共设施用地增加次之,与居住用地增加最轻,且赣北、赣中、赣南失调等级依次递减。研究结论:政府应加快优化各地市产业结构,有序引导农业人口转移,合理增加不同类型城市建设用地。

天津城市用地时空扩展研究

利用中国科学院资源与环境数据中心提供的关于天津市20世纪80年代中期,90年代中期,2000年度3期1∶10万土地利用数据,以GIS为制图和数据提取的分析手段,通过引入城市扩展速度、强度、重心坐标、紧凑度、分维数、弹性系数等指标,研究了天津城市扩展的时空规律,形态特征,与人口、经济发展之间的协调关系以及对周边土地利用的影响。结果表明,天津城市用地扩展的时空分异特征明显,城市核心区扩展依然以西北—东南走向为主要轴向,北运河—海河轴向扩展一直是城市扩展的主轴。改革开放后滨海轴扩展速度也在加快。城市扩展过程中紧凑度数值先降低后稍有增加,空间形态由向着趋于不稳定状态发展而趋向稳定。城市扩展先是远慢于城市人口的增长,后来则大大快于城市人口的增长,出现了城市增长速度与人口增长速度之间不协调现象。面积—GDP弹性系数有上升的趋势,此时段经济的年均变化率远远超过了城市扩展的年均变化率。城市建成区面积的扩展对耕地的影响最大,其次是林地、草地、水域及未利用地等其它土地。

基于效益分析的济南市城市合理用地规模研究

城市用地规模研究是城市社会经济发展战略的基础研究之一,与土地利用效益密切相关。土地利用效益既是衡量土地利用水平的一项重要指标,也是衡量城市规模的基本出发点,它在一定程度上反映了城市的经济发展水平,通过对用地效益的分析能够反映城市土地利用的集约程度。本文以二、三产业产值与城市建成区面积之比作为衡量城市用地效益的指标,通过计算1997-2007年的建设用地与第二、三产业增长弹性系数分析济南市建成区用地规模与用地效益的关系及城市扩张的合理性,并选取广州市、南京市、青岛市、北京市、上海市作为比较对象,通过2000-2007年城市间用地规模与用地效益的关系对比,进一步分析济南市未来城市发展过程中充分合理利用土地的必要性及继续扩大城市规模的可行性。最后运用回归分析方法、增长弹性模型和逻辑斯蒂模型对未来济南市的合理用地规模做出预测。结果发现,济南市未来城市规模为2015年401 km2,2020年450 km2。研究结果可为编制济南市土地利用规划提供参考。

基于地理国情普查数据的泸州市空间扩展监测

基于2014年地理国情普查数据和历史遥感影像,对2010~2014年泸州城市空间扩展进行监测与分析。结果表明,泸州市中心城区由2010年的68.86 km2扩展到2014年的88.51 km2,年均扩展速度为7.31%;中心城区几何重心整体约向北偏西移动0.24 km,扩展模式总体上属于填充型,土地来源以人工堆掘地为主;中心城区紧凑度相对提高约20%,城市几何形状越来越规整;城市用地增长弹性系数为1.16、人口-城市扩展指数为1.31,表明中心城区土地城镇化快于人口城镇化。泸州市在今后的城镇化过程中,应加强空间管制、促进土地集约利用。

基于变异系数的我国城市化地域差异演变研究

利用我国26个省会城市和4个直辖市的市辖区1998~2007年的非农人口和建成区面积统计数据,采用增长率和变异系数等指标对中国的城市化水平格局及地域差异变化进行研究.结果表明：研究期内我国东部城市化水平差异一直明显高于中、西部地区,但东中西部的差异有所缩小;城市化速率呈现明显的地域差异,2003年之前东部城市化速度最快,之后中部城市化速度最大;人口城市化水平明显滞后于土地城市化水平.可见,全国各部城市化水平的差距逐年缩小,然而各区域内部呈现出不同的分化特征.

中国人口城镇化与土地城镇化失调原因分析

随着我国城镇化进程的不断加快,城镇化发展不平衡的情况日益凸显,特别是人口城镇化与土地城镇化的失调已经成为影响我国城镇化发展水平的主要原因之一。运用城镇用地增长弹性系数来衡量我国城镇化的协调程度,并从经济战略、制度缺陷和文化差异等三个方面来分析造成我国城镇化失调的原因,对解决我国人口城镇化与土地城镇化失调问题具有重要的帮助作用。

西宁市城市用地时空扩展研究

根据西宁市1985—2009年的城市用地情况,分别用城市扩展强度和扩展速度指标分析各阶段城市用地扩展特征,利用城市扩展图分析近24 a来城市的主要扩展方向,同时利用扩展弹性系数对用地扩展合理性进行分析。结果表明:城市用地规模不断扩大;不同时期城市用地扩展强度和速度差异很大,且呈波动变化;城市用地扩展和人口增长不协调造成城市建设用地紧张。通过用地扩展影响因素分析,经济增长、人口增长、自然地理环境、交通、政府决策等因素影响着城市扩展的速度和方向。

我国中部6省人口-土地城市化失调特征及空间格局研究

基于Arc GIS和Geo Da软件平台,结合统计学中的变异系数方法,从时间、空间及关联性的视角分析我国中部6省81个地级市2006~2011年人口-土地城镇化失调特征空间格局。结果表明,中部地区城市人口城镇化和土地城镇化发展存在普遍的不协调现象,2006~2011年中部地区81个地级市的人口-土地城镇化变异系数在空间上存在较明显的负的空间自相关,不论是整个中部地区还是各个省份内部,人口城市化和土地城市化失调程度的区域差异明显,2006~2011年,中部地区人口-土地城市化失调区域差异有减小的趋势,失调态势有所改善。