Land cover change during a period of extensive landscape restoration in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

Angela M Cadavid Restrepo; Yu Rong Yang; Nicholas A S Hamm; Darren J Gray; Tamsin S Barnes; Gail M Williams; Ricardo J Soares Magalhães; Donald P McManus; Danhuai Guo; Archie C A Clements

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.124

Land cover change during a period of extensive landscape restoration in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Nov 15:598:669-679. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.124. Epub 2017 Apr 25.

Affiliations

¹ Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia. Electronic address: angela.cadavid@anu.edu.au.
² Ningxia Medical University, 692 Shengli St, Xingqing, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, PR China; Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. Electronic address: Yurong.Yang@qimrberghofer.edu.au.
³ Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Hengelosestraat 99, 7514 AE Enschede, Netherlands. Electronic address: n.hamm@utwente.nl.
⁴ Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia; Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. Electronic address: u5624503@uds.anu.edu.au.
⁵ School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Main Dr & Outer Ring Road, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia; Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia. Electronic address: t.barnes@uq.edu.au.
⁶ School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. Electronic address: g.williams@sph.uq.edu.au.
⁷ School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Main Dr & Outer Ring Road, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia; Children's Health and Environment Program, Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4101, Australia. Electronic address: r.magalhaes@uq.edu.au.
⁸ Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. Electronic address: Don.McManus@qimrberghofer.edu.au.
⁹ Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, PR China. Electronic address: guodanhuai@cnic.cn.
¹⁰ Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia. Electronic address: director.rsph@anu.edu.au.

PMID: 28454039
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.124

Abstract

Environmental change has been a topic of great interest over the last century due to its potential impact on ecosystem services that are fundamental for sustainable development and human well-being. Here, we assess and quantify the spatial and temporal variation in land cover in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), China. With high-resolution (30m) imagery from Landsat 4/5-TM and 8-OLI for the entire region, land cover maps of the region were created to explore local land cover changes in a spatially explicit way. The results suggest that land cover changes observed in NHAR from 1991 to 2015 reflect the main goals of a national policy implemented there to recover degraded landscapes. Forest, herbaceous vegetation and cultivated land increased by approximately 410,200ha, 708,600ha and 164,300ha, respectively. The largest relative land cover change over the entire study period was the increase in forestland. Forest growth resulted mainly from the conversion of herbaceous vegetation (53.8%) and cultivated land (30.8%). Accurate information on the local patterns of land cover in NHAR may contribute to the future establishment of better landscape policies for ecosystem management and protection. Spatially explicit information on land cover change may also help decision makers to understand and respond appropriately to emerging environmental risks for the local population.

Keywords: Earth observations; Environmental change; Geographic information systems; Land cover change; Remote sensing.