The veracity of land evaluation is tightly related to the reasonable weights of land evaluation fac- tors. By mapping qualitative linguistic words into a fine-changeable cloud drops and translating the uncertain facto...The veracity of land evaluation is tightly related to the reasonable weights of land evaluation fac- tors. By mapping qualitative linguistic words into a fine-changeable cloud drops and translating the uncertain factor conditions into quantitative values with the uncertain illation based on cloud model, and then, inte- grating correlation analysis, a new way of figuring out the weight of land evaluation factors is proposed. It may solve the limitations of the conventional ways.展开更多
In recent years, there has been increasing research interests in differentiating the relative importance of climate factors and human activities in impacting vegetation dynamics. In this study, based on residual trend...In recent years, there has been increasing research interests in differentiating the relative importance of climate factors and human activities in impacting vegetation dynamics. In this study, based on residual trend method, we used MOD13A3(MODIS vegetation index product), MCD12Q1(MODIS land cover product) and meteorological datasets to differentiate the relative importance of climate factors and human activities in impacting vegetation dynamics during 2000–2015 in the Otindag Sandy Land, northern China. Results show that during the study period(2000–2015), the overall vegetation condition had improved in the Otindag Sandy Land. The driving forces of vegetation dynamics differed spatially in the whole study area over the study period. The area with vegetation degradation solely resulted from human activities accounted for 8.23% of the study area, while the area with vegetation degradation resulted from others(including climate factors and combination of climate factors and human activities) occupied 1.53%. The area with vegetation recovery benefitted from human activities occurred over 26.02% of the study area; the area benefitted from climate factors accounted for 23.69%; and the area benefitted from both climate factors and human activities occupied 37.74%. All in all, impacts of climate factors and human activities on vegetation dynamics varied at the county/city/banner scales and locality-specific measures should be adopted to protect the environments.展开更多
This research systematically analyses land-use map of Changsha city in different periods of time. The spatial form and structural evolution was analysed by studying indices such as city land-use structure proportion, ...This research systematically analyses land-use map of Changsha city in different periods of time. The spatial form and structural evolution was analysed by studying indices such as city land-use structure proportion, expansion intensity, economic flexibility, population flexibility, changing compactness index and so on. The dynamic mechanism of urban land expansion has been discussed by integrating the regional social economy development situation and many aspects such as the physiographical surrounding, population and economic development, traffic infrastructure, planning and regional development tactic and system innovation. The research indicates that the urban land expansion speed and intensity have steadily increased in Changsha from 1949 to 2004. The expansion form has been from a single external expansion to a combination form of external and internal expansion, from a circular or linear continuous form to a blocky or agglomeration shape. Overall, the urban land expansion of Changsha city is a phasic, diversified and complex process. And no matter what the stage is, it is an organic system containing multiple speed, pattern and shape, which are driven by multiple impetuses. The dominant feature at different stages was highlighted because of the balance and fluctuation between different forces, and the existing urban land border and shape have resulted from the joint efforts of these phasic forces.展开更多
With the continuous progress of new-type urbanization in Karst mountain area, how to correctly deal with the relationship between urban economy and land use are attracting much attention. Based on the land-use change ...With the continuous progress of new-type urbanization in Karst mountain area, how to correctly deal with the relationship between urban economy and land use are attracting much attention. Based on the land-use change data, this paper analyzes the characteristics of land use change and its driving factors in Guiyang with the method of land-use dynamic analysis, land utilization and factor correlation analysis. We get the following results:(1) the change of land use was obvious during 2004 and 2012. The area of arable land and other land were decreased, the rate of decrease are 3.89% and 8.24%. In the meantime, a series of construction land and forest area increased a lot, the rate of increase are 3.89% and 8.24%.(2) The integrated land use dynamic degree of two research stages(2004-2009 and 2009-2012) were decreased from 2.12% to 0.34%, this suggests dynamic changes of land tend to be stable.(3) Four kinds of Land use class have a great contribution to the index of land use degree respectively. The composite index of land use degree rose from 229.58 to 247.19 during 2004 and 2012; the land use is still in the development stage.(4) Economy, population, transportation and policy guidance are the main drivers of land use change.展开更多
In order to more clearly understand the relevance of the forestry land distribution and the terrain factors,basic information was given in this paper on the reasonable utilization of forest resources in mountainous ar...In order to more clearly understand the relevance of the forestry land distribution and the terrain factors,basic information was given in this paper on the reasonable utilization of forest resources in mountainous areas and the ecological environment protection.Based on the registration overlay analysis of high resolution aerial,satellite photograph and 1∶10 000 topographic map by making use of geostatistics of ArcGIS9.3,different photo color referred to different types of vegetation landscape,acquired factor data in small classes of woodland with visual interpretation in small classes of woodland and field research,and the correlation between forestry land and topography factors were discussed.It was shown that:in areas of low elevation and low slope where human beings were highly involved,all sorts of forestry land were distributed,which meant evolution and slope had little effect on forestry land,and that in those areas where human activities were lessened little by little with high elevation and high slope,kinds of forestry land decreased accordingly.Furthermore,the irrigated paddy fields were the main types of forestry land on the elevation of 1 200 m and slope above 35°.Differences among kinds of forestry land were comparatively indistinct from the perspective of slope.展开更多
Anthropogenic activities have altered land cover in Lake Baringo Catchment contributing to increased erosion and sediment transport into water bodies. The study aims at analyzing the spatial and temporal Land Use and ...Anthropogenic activities have altered land cover in Lake Baringo Catchment contributing to increased erosion and sediment transport into water bodies. The study aims at analyzing the spatial and temporal Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LULCC) changes from 1988 to 2018 and to identify the main driving forces. GIS and Remote Sensing techniques, interviews and field observations were used to analyze the changes and drivers of LULCC from 1988-2018. The satellite imagery was selected from SPOT Image for the years 1988, 1998, 2008 and 2018. Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI 5.3) was used to perform image analysis and classification. The catchment was classified into six major LULC classes which are water bodies, settlement, rangeland, vegetation, farmland and bare land. The results revealed that, between the years 1988-1998, and 1998-2008, water bodies decreased by 2.77% and 0.76% respectively. However, during the years 2008-2018, water body coverage increased by 1.87%. Forest cover steadily increased from 1988-2018. From 1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018, farmland was increased by 21.11%, 3.21% and 1.7% while rangeland decreased continuously between the years 1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018 in the order 15.14%, 4.13% and 3.74% respectively. Similarly, bare land also reduced by 1.75%, 1.04% and 0.99% between the years 1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018 respectively. The findings attributed LULCC to rapid population growth, deforestation, poor farming practices and overstocking. The results will provide valuable information to the relevant stakeholders to formulate evidence-based land use management strategies in order to achieve ecological integrity.展开更多
In China,institutional factors for the land corruption include:(i)implementation of land policy lacking proper security mechanism;(ii)weak supervision system;(iii)vacancy in supervision due to dual land management sys...In China,institutional factors for the land corruption include:(i)implementation of land policy lacking proper security mechanism;(ii)weak supervision system;(iii)vacancy in supervision due to dual land management system;(iv)corruption of land finance resulted from system of tax allocation;(v)imperfect land management system;(vi)poor coordination between central and local government in land policy;(vii)unreasonable land allocation system;(viii)vacancy in unified procedure and standard of land transfer.In view of these factors,this paper came up with pertinent countermeasures:(i)improving land operation mechanism and establishing sunshine land market;(ii)improving corresponding supervision mechanism and verification system;(iii)taking advantage of the audit system.展开更多
Ecological land(Eco-land) is a basic resource for human beings to survive, and eco-land use is a strategy, a way to manage the land resource. So, ecologically-sustainable land use is essential for human beings to surv...Ecological land(Eco-land) is a basic resource for human beings to survive, and eco-land use is a strategy, a way to manage the land resource. So, ecologically-sustainable land use is essential for human beings to survive. This paper investigates the spatiotemporal characteristics and mechanisms of urban-rural eco-land using a new and innovative integration way based on eco-land change data in China's Loess Plateau(LP) prefecture level cities and explores factors of eco-land change. The spatial difference characteristic of eco-land among different level cities in the LP is that: small cities > big cities > middle cities. From 2009 to 2016, the eco-land in the LP from the perspective of urban-rural areas has changed significantly. Significant differences of urban-rural eco-land were identified among various urban growth types, and all the cities in the LP were further classified into four types based on eco-land change trend, with type A and B cities identified as the vital zone and major zone. Taking the eco-fragile region Loess Plateau(LP) as an example, our results demonstrated that the migrants to cities in LP could relieve ecological pressures and promote restoration of ecological vegetation. We have demonstrated that urbanization and the influence of government policy can be discerned through the quantification of the spatial-temporal change of eco-land and suggest that combining both urban and rural eco-land can support more effective land use decisions and provide theoretical basis for the practical application of urban planning, policy-making and sustainable development. What's more, governments should strive to population mobility and restore vegetation to sustain this fragile ecological environment.展开更多
Based on the questionnaire survey of land transfer in Suixian County and Zengdu District of Hubei Province,this paper analyzes the factors that affect farmers' willingness to transfer land from regional characteri...Based on the questionnaire survey of land transfer in Suixian County and Zengdu District of Hubei Province,this paper analyzes the factors that affect farmers' willingness to transfer land from regional characteristics,individual characteristics of farmers,and household characteristics of farmers. The survey results show that farmers' willingness to transfer land is affected by many factors. And the level of regional economic development,farmer's age,educational level,family population and income are the important factors influencing farmers' land transfer.The key factor influencing the willingness to transfer out land is farmers' high reliance on land security function,and the main reasons for farmers' land transfer-in lie in low agricultural comparative benefits and immature land transfer market.展开更多
Taking Huang-Huai Plain as an example,evaluation index system is established from four aspects,including the resources condition,the social and economic condition,the agricultural science and technology condition,and ...Taking Huang-Huai Plain as an example,evaluation index system is established from four aspects,including the resources condition,the social and economic condition,the agricultural science and technology condition,and the disaster resistant and sustainable production condition.Correlation coefficient method and expert consultation method are used to determine the weight of evaluation index.After the standardization of extreme value,weighted sum method and multiple regression method are adopted to evaluate the influencing factors of agricultural land productivity in Huang-Huai Plain,China.Evaluation result shows that agricultural science and technology condition has a lower contribution rate to the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain than that to Henan Province.Resources condition has a higher contribution rate to the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain than that to Henan Province.Both the social and economic condition and the disaster control and sustainable production condition show relatively small contribution rate to the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain.It can be concluded that the main factors affecting the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain are the backward agricultural science and technology level,the poor farmland quality and the farmland infrastructure.Based on this,relevant suggestions are put forward to improve the farmland productivity of Huang-Huai Plain.展开更多
From the perspective of tourism competitiveness,the paper takes 12 island counties of China as the research object,and applies the method of factor analysis to study their competitiveness.The result shows that Putuo a...From the perspective of tourism competitiveness,the paper takes 12 island counties of China as the research object,and applies the method of factor analysis to study their competitiveness.The result shows that Putuo and Dinghai are more competitive while Pingtan and Nan'ao are less competitive.Finally,the 12 island counties are divided into four styles:first-class competitive county (Putuo),seond-class competitive counties (Dinghai,Yuhuan),third-class competitive counties (Chongming,Daishan,Changdao,Changhai and Shengsi),fourth-class competitive counties (Dongshan,Dongtou,Pingtan and Nan'ao) by cluster analysis.The classification of island counties is to clear their relative position,then to promote their development.展开更多
This paper principally focuses on land use dynamics,urban expansion and underlying driving forces in the Natural Wetland Distribution Area(NWDA)of Fuzhou City in the southeastern China.Based on time series Landsat TM/...This paper principally focuses on land use dynamics,urban expansion and underlying driving forces in the Natural Wetland Distribution Area(NWDA)of Fuzhou City in the southeastern China.Based on time series Landsat TM/ETM+imageries and historical data,relationships between urban land expansion and its influencing factors from 1989 to 2009 were analyzed by using an integrated approach of remote sensing(RS)and geographic information system(GIS)techniques.The results showed that built-up land increased from 151.16 km2in 1989 to 383.76 km 2in 2009. Approximately 64.25%of the newly emerging built-up land was converted from cropland(29.47%),forest and shrub (25.78%),water(3.73%),wetland(4.61%),and bare land(0.66%)during 1989 and 2009.With a remarkable decrease in cropland,the proportion of non-agricultural population increased by 23.6%.Moreover,rapid development of infrastructures,facilities,industrial parks,and urban and rural settlements along the Minjiang River resulted in the eastward and southward expansion of built-up land.Additionally,the growth pattern of built-up land in the NWDA is highly correlated with socio-economic factors,including the gross domestic product(GDP),GDP per capita,and structure of industry.As a result,the observed environmental degradation such as loss of cropland and wetland due to heavy pressure of rapid urbanization have greatly impaired the carrying capacity of city.Thus,in addition to scientific and rational policies towards minimizing the adverse effects of urbanization,coordination between the administrative agencies should be urgently strengthened to balance the conflicts between urban development and ecological conservation to make sure the sustainable land use.展开更多
文摘The veracity of land evaluation is tightly related to the reasonable weights of land evaluation fac- tors. By mapping qualitative linguistic words into a fine-changeable cloud drops and translating the uncertain factor conditions into quantitative values with the uncertain illation based on cloud model, and then, inte- grating correlation analysis, a new way of figuring out the weight of land evaluation factors is proposed. It may solve the limitations of the conventional ways.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFA0601900)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41401006)
文摘In recent years, there has been increasing research interests in differentiating the relative importance of climate factors and human activities in impacting vegetation dynamics. In this study, based on residual trend method, we used MOD13A3(MODIS vegetation index product), MCD12Q1(MODIS land cover product) and meteorological datasets to differentiate the relative importance of climate factors and human activities in impacting vegetation dynamics during 2000–2015 in the Otindag Sandy Land, northern China. Results show that during the study period(2000–2015), the overall vegetation condition had improved in the Otindag Sandy Land. The driving forces of vegetation dynamics differed spatially in the whole study area over the study period. The area with vegetation degradation solely resulted from human activities accounted for 8.23% of the study area, while the area with vegetation degradation resulted from others(including climate factors and combination of climate factors and human activities) occupied 1.53%. The area with vegetation recovery benefitted from human activities occurred over 26.02% of the study area; the area benefitted from climate factors accounted for 23.69%; and the area benefitted from both climate factors and human activities occupied 37.74%. All in all, impacts of climate factors and human activities on vegetation dynamics varied at the county/city/banner scales and locality-specific measures should be adopted to protect the environments.
基金Foundation of Education Department in Hunan Province, No.05C451
文摘This research systematically analyses land-use map of Changsha city in different periods of time. The spatial form and structural evolution was analysed by studying indices such as city land-use structure proportion, expansion intensity, economic flexibility, population flexibility, changing compactness index and so on. The dynamic mechanism of urban land expansion has been discussed by integrating the regional social economy development situation and many aspects such as the physiographical surrounding, population and economic development, traffic infrastructure, planning and regional development tactic and system innovation. The research indicates that the urban land expansion speed and intensity have steadily increased in Changsha from 1949 to 2004. The expansion form has been from a single external expansion to a combination form of external and internal expansion, from a circular or linear continuous form to a blocky or agglomeration shape. Overall, the urban land expansion of Changsha city is a phasic, diversified and complex process. And no matter what the stage is, it is an organic system containing multiple speed, pattern and shape, which are driven by multiple impetuses. The dominant feature at different stages was highlighted because of the balance and fluctuation between different forces, and the existing urban land border and shape have resulted from the joint efforts of these phasic forces.
文摘With the continuous progress of new-type urbanization in Karst mountain area, how to correctly deal with the relationship between urban economy and land use are attracting much attention. Based on the land-use change data, this paper analyzes the characteristics of land use change and its driving factors in Guiyang with the method of land-use dynamic analysis, land utilization and factor correlation analysis. We get the following results:(1) the change of land use was obvious during 2004 and 2012. The area of arable land and other land were decreased, the rate of decrease are 3.89% and 8.24%. In the meantime, a series of construction land and forest area increased a lot, the rate of increase are 3.89% and 8.24%.(2) The integrated land use dynamic degree of two research stages(2004-2009 and 2009-2012) were decreased from 2.12% to 0.34%, this suggests dynamic changes of land tend to be stable.(3) Four kinds of Land use class have a great contribution to the index of land use degree respectively. The composite index of land use degree rose from 229.58 to 247.19 during 2004 and 2012; the land use is still in the development stage.(4) Economy, population, transportation and policy guidance are the main drivers of land use change.
基金Supported by National Science and Technology Project(2011BAC09B01 and 2006BAC01A16)Key Natural Science Foundation Project of Chongqing Municipality(CSTC2009BA0002)948 Project of State Bureau of Forestry(2009-4-20)
文摘In order to more clearly understand the relevance of the forestry land distribution and the terrain factors,basic information was given in this paper on the reasonable utilization of forest resources in mountainous areas and the ecological environment protection.Based on the registration overlay analysis of high resolution aerial,satellite photograph and 1∶10 000 topographic map by making use of geostatistics of ArcGIS9.3,different photo color referred to different types of vegetation landscape,acquired factor data in small classes of woodland with visual interpretation in small classes of woodland and field research,and the correlation between forestry land and topography factors were discussed.It was shown that:in areas of low elevation and low slope where human beings were highly involved,all sorts of forestry land were distributed,which meant evolution and slope had little effect on forestry land,and that in those areas where human activities were lessened little by little with high elevation and high slope,kinds of forestry land decreased accordingly.Furthermore,the irrigated paddy fields were the main types of forestry land on the elevation of 1 200 m and slope above 35°.Differences among kinds of forestry land were comparatively indistinct from the perspective of slope.
文摘Anthropogenic activities have altered land cover in Lake Baringo Catchment contributing to increased erosion and sediment transport into water bodies. The study aims at analyzing the spatial and temporal Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LULCC) changes from 1988 to 2018 and to identify the main driving forces. GIS and Remote Sensing techniques, interviews and field observations were used to analyze the changes and drivers of LULCC from 1988-2018. The satellite imagery was selected from SPOT Image for the years 1988, 1998, 2008 and 2018. Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI 5.3) was used to perform image analysis and classification. The catchment was classified into six major LULC classes which are water bodies, settlement, rangeland, vegetation, farmland and bare land. The results revealed that, between the years 1988-1998, and 1998-2008, water bodies decreased by 2.77% and 0.76% respectively. However, during the years 2008-2018, water body coverage increased by 1.87%. Forest cover steadily increased from 1988-2018. From 1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018, farmland was increased by 21.11%, 3.21% and 1.7% while rangeland decreased continuously between the years 1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018 in the order 15.14%, 4.13% and 3.74% respectively. Similarly, bare land also reduced by 1.75%, 1.04% and 0.99% between the years 1988-1998, 1998-2008 and 2008-2018 respectively. The findings attributed LULCC to rapid population growth, deforestation, poor farming practices and overstocking. The results will provide valuable information to the relevant stakeholders to formulate evidence-based land use management strategies in order to achieve ecological integrity.
文摘In China,institutional factors for the land corruption include:(i)implementation of land policy lacking proper security mechanism;(ii)weak supervision system;(iii)vacancy in supervision due to dual land management system;(iv)corruption of land finance resulted from system of tax allocation;(v)imperfect land management system;(vi)poor coordination between central and local government in land policy;(vii)unreasonable land allocation system;(viii)vacancy in unified procedure and standard of land transfer.In view of these factors,this paper came up with pertinent countermeasures:(i)improving land operation mechanism and establishing sunshine land market;(ii)improving corresponding supervision mechanism and verification system;(iii)taking advantage of the audit system.
基金funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2017YFC0504701)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.41130748 and 41471143)the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No 15ZDA021)
文摘Ecological land(Eco-land) is a basic resource for human beings to survive, and eco-land use is a strategy, a way to manage the land resource. So, ecologically-sustainable land use is essential for human beings to survive. This paper investigates the spatiotemporal characteristics and mechanisms of urban-rural eco-land using a new and innovative integration way based on eco-land change data in China's Loess Plateau(LP) prefecture level cities and explores factors of eco-land change. The spatial difference characteristic of eco-land among different level cities in the LP is that: small cities > big cities > middle cities. From 2009 to 2016, the eco-land in the LP from the perspective of urban-rural areas has changed significantly. Significant differences of urban-rural eco-land were identified among various urban growth types, and all the cities in the LP were further classified into four types based on eco-land change trend, with type A and B cities identified as the vital zone and major zone. Taking the eco-fragile region Loess Plateau(LP) as an example, our results demonstrated that the migrants to cities in LP could relieve ecological pressures and promote restoration of ecological vegetation. We have demonstrated that urbanization and the influence of government policy can be discerned through the quantification of the spatial-temporal change of eco-land and suggest that combining both urban and rural eco-land can support more effective land use decisions and provide theoretical basis for the practical application of urban planning, policy-making and sustainable development. What's more, governments should strive to population mobility and restore vegetation to sustain this fragile ecological environment.
基金Supported by Social Science Fund Project of Yangtze University in 2015(2015csy007)
文摘Based on the questionnaire survey of land transfer in Suixian County and Zengdu District of Hubei Province,this paper analyzes the factors that affect farmers' willingness to transfer land from regional characteristics,individual characteristics of farmers,and household characteristics of farmers. The survey results show that farmers' willingness to transfer land is affected by many factors. And the level of regional economic development,farmer's age,educational level,family population and income are the important factors influencing farmers' land transfer.The key factor influencing the willingness to transfer out land is farmers' high reliance on land security function,and the main reasons for farmers' land transfer-in lie in low agricultural comparative benefits and immature land transfer market.
文摘Taking Huang-Huai Plain as an example,evaluation index system is established from four aspects,including the resources condition,the social and economic condition,the agricultural science and technology condition,and the disaster resistant and sustainable production condition.Correlation coefficient method and expert consultation method are used to determine the weight of evaluation index.After the standardization of extreme value,weighted sum method and multiple regression method are adopted to evaluate the influencing factors of agricultural land productivity in Huang-Huai Plain,China.Evaluation result shows that agricultural science and technology condition has a lower contribution rate to the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain than that to Henan Province.Resources condition has a higher contribution rate to the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain than that to Henan Province.Both the social and economic condition and the disaster control and sustainable production condition show relatively small contribution rate to the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain.It can be concluded that the main factors affecting the productivity of Huang-Huai Plain are the backward agricultural science and technology level,the poor farmland quality and the farmland infrastructure.Based on this,relevant suggestions are put forward to improve the farmland productivity of Huang-Huai Plain.
基金supported by a grant from Shandong Social Science Planning Project in 2010 (Grant No:10CJGJ22)Ocean University of China Young Teachers Special Fund Project in 2010 (Grant No:201013070)
文摘From the perspective of tourism competitiveness,the paper takes 12 island counties of China as the research object,and applies the method of factor analysis to study their competitiveness.The result shows that Putuo and Dinghai are more competitive while Pingtan and Nan'ao are less competitive.Finally,the 12 island counties are divided into four styles:first-class competitive county (Putuo),seond-class competitive counties (Dinghai,Yuhuan),third-class competitive counties (Chongming,Daishan,Changdao,Changhai and Shengsi),fourth-class competitive counties (Dongshan,Dongtou,Pingtan and Nan'ao) by cluster analysis.The classification of island counties is to clear their relative position,then to promote their development.
基金Under the auspices of National Science&Technology Pillar Program during the Eleventh Five-year Plan Period(No.2008BAJ10B1)
文摘This paper principally focuses on land use dynamics,urban expansion and underlying driving forces in the Natural Wetland Distribution Area(NWDA)of Fuzhou City in the southeastern China.Based on time series Landsat TM/ETM+imageries and historical data,relationships between urban land expansion and its influencing factors from 1989 to 2009 were analyzed by using an integrated approach of remote sensing(RS)and geographic information system(GIS)techniques.The results showed that built-up land increased from 151.16 km2in 1989 to 383.76 km 2in 2009. Approximately 64.25%of the newly emerging built-up land was converted from cropland(29.47%),forest and shrub (25.78%),water(3.73%),wetland(4.61%),and bare land(0.66%)during 1989 and 2009.With a remarkable decrease in cropland,the proportion of non-agricultural population increased by 23.6%.Moreover,rapid development of infrastructures,facilities,industrial parks,and urban and rural settlements along the Minjiang River resulted in the eastward and southward expansion of built-up land.Additionally,the growth pattern of built-up land in the NWDA is highly correlated with socio-economic factors,including the gross domestic product(GDP),GDP per capita,and structure of industry.As a result,the observed environmental degradation such as loss of cropland and wetland due to heavy pressure of rapid urbanization have greatly impaired the carrying capacity of city.Thus,in addition to scientific and rational policies towards minimizing the adverse effects of urbanization,coordination between the administrative agencies should be urgently strengthened to balance the conflicts between urban development and ecological conservation to make sure the sustainable land use.