Process and mechanism of arable land change in Hebei Province during the past 50 years

Hebei Province is one of the regions with most densely population, fastest economic growth and most intensive land use in China. The contradiction of land shortage sharpened by high-speed economic development with population growth has become a serious problem, which has restricted regional sustainable development.This paper revealed the basic process, regional differences of change and the gravity center of arable land area according to the long-series statistical data of arable land during the past 50 years. On the basis of the above mentioned, the major driving forces that influence the changes of the arable land are discussed. The research results indicate that there is a trend of obvious fluctuating decrease in arable land area during the last 50 years. The changes of arable land area undergo the process from increase to sharp decrease to gently decrease. The regional disparity of change in arable land area is very notable and the gravity center of arable land area moves to the northeast 49.22 km. Regarding the decrease in arable land, the direct driving forces include adjustments of agricultural structure and reclamation, and indirect driving forces include advance in technology, economic interest and population growth etc.

Effect of coal resources development and compensation for damage to cultivated land in mining areas

The exploitation of coal resources inevitably affects, to different degrees, arable land resources and impacts the socio-economic development in mining areas. Therefore it is of great practical importance to probe the rules of the effect from coal resource exploration on arable land. Suitable and effective measures to compensate for damaged to and loss of arable land resources should be taken on the basis of carrying out green mining and reducing damage to limited arable land resources. We have used GIS in simulating the effect of coal resource exploration on arable land. In light of our simulation of the space-time spectrum, the effect is analyzed. Given the socio-economic development conditions of a mining area, specified rational amounts and opportunities for compensation to arable land in mining areas are explored. Finally, from a policy perspective, relevant proposals for rational arable land resource compensation are proposed to facilitate the coordinated development between coal resource exploitation and socio-economy development in mining areas.