Spatial heterogeneity of the driving forces of cropland change in China

By using digital satellite remote sensing data acquired in 1987-1989 and 1999-2000 and GIS combined with the natural and socio-economic data, this paper drew an integrated zonation of the cropland change and its driving forces in China. The results indicated that the cropland change in the study period was constrained by geographical factors and driven by climate change as well as socio-economic system. Moreover, the regional differences of the drivers for cropland change were significant. In the midwest of China, natural condition changes and geographical background were the main constraints and drivers, while in Eastern China, social and economic changes and economic policies were the main driving forces. The cropland loss was nationwide. The dominant factors to cause this decrease included buildup of developing area to attract foreign capital and technologies, changes of industry structure due to urban influence, the change of employment notions thanks to living standard improvement, rapid urbanization due to the expansion of cities and towns, the diminished farming net income partly because of the global warming effects, and the rapid economic growth stimulated by the convenient transportation system. These factors interact and interdepend with each other to cause the cropland loss in China recently. The reasons for the increase of cropland were primarily the cultivation and deforestation by the farmers who want to increase income. This study on the mechnism of LUCC relied on the cropland change integrated classification considering the natural or human factors both inside and outside the region, which provides a new approach to study the integrated regionalization and LUCC mechanism.