Land Use Change and Anthropogenic Driving Forces: A Case Study in Yanhe River Basin

Key words: 
•  land use /
• landscape metrics /
• anthropogenic driving force /
• Grain for Green (GfG) policy /
• Yanhe River Basin

Abstract:  Human activities alter land use patterns and affect landscape sustainability. It is therefore very important to investigate the
relationship between land use change and human activities. This study focuses on the detection of changing land use patterns in the
Yanhe River Basin in northern Loess Plateau of China between 1995 and 2008. Landscape metrics were used to analyze the changing land
use patterns and to explore the related anthropogenic driving forces. Results show that: 1) Totally, 186 590 ha of croplands were
converted into alternate land-use types (equivalent to 61.7% of the original cropland area). The majority of cropland areas were found to
be converted into grassland and woodland areas (accounting for 55.9% and 4.9% respectively of the original cropland areas). 2) Both
cropland and woodland demonstrated an increasing fragmentation tendency while grasslands showed a decreasing fragmentation
tendency. 3) Multiple driving forces of land use change were thought to act together to changes in landscape metrics in the Yanhe River
Basin. The anthropogenic driving forces were analyzed from four perspectives: ecological conservation policy, labor force transfer,
industrial development, and rural settlement. The policy of the GfG (Grain for Green) project was the main driving factor which expedited
the conversion from cropland to woodland and grassland. Industrial development was also found to affect land use change through the
direct impact of economic activities such as oil exploration and agricultural production, or through indirect impacts such as the industrial
structures readjustment. Labor force transfer from rural to urban areas was found to follow the industrial structure readjustment and
further drove land use change from cropland to off-farm land use. Establishment of new tile-roofed houses instead of cave-type dwellings
in rural settlements has helped to aggregate the original scattered land-use type of construction.