The influence of land urbanization on landslides: An empirical estimation based on Chinese provincial panel data

Gerui Li; Yalin Lei; Huajun Yao; Sanmang Wu; Jianping Ge

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.258

The influence of land urbanization on landslides: An empirical estimation based on Chinese provincial panel data

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Oct 1:595:681-690. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.258. Epub 2017 Apr 11.

Authors

Gerui Li¹, Yalin Lei², Huajun Yao¹, Sanmang Wu¹, Jianping Ge¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Humanities and Economics Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Carrying Capacity Assessment for Resource and Environment, Ministry of Land and Resources, Beijing 100083, China.
² School of Humanities and Economics Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Carrying Capacity Assessment for Resource and Environment, Ministry of Land and Resources, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: leiyalin@cugb.edu.cn.

PMID: 28407585
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.258

Abstract

This study used panel data for 28 provinces and municipalities in China from 2003 to 2014 to investigate the relationship between land urbanization and landslides by building panel models for a national sample and subsamples from the three regions of China and studied the problems of landslide prevention measures based on the relationship. The results showed that 1) at the national level, the percentage of built-up area and road density are respectively negative and positive for landslides. 2) At the regional level, the improvement of landslide prevention measures with increasing economic development only appears in built-up areas. The percentage of built-up areas increases the number of landslides in the western region and decreases the number in the central and eastern regions; the degree of decrease in the eastern region is larger than in the central region. Road density increases the number of landslides in each region, and the degree increases gradually from the west to the east. 3) The effect of landslide prevention funding is not obvious. Although the amount of landslide prevention funds decreases the number of landslides at the national level, the degree of increase is too small. Except in the central region, the amount of landslide prevention funding did not decrease the number of landslides effectively in the western and eastern regions. We propose a series of policy implications based on these test results that may help to improve landslide prevention measures.

Keywords: China; Land urbanization; Landslides; Panel multiple regression.