Reconstruction assessment of historical land use: A case study in the Kamo River basin, Kyoto, Japan

Reconstruction assessment of historical land use can be useful for understanding historical conditions and the impact of long-term land-use change. This study establishes a new method to estimate historical land use based on a set of basic rules generated from the comparison of present land-use and historical documents. This method has been formalized in the paleo-land-use reconstruction (PLUR) program, allowing users to quickly reconstruct historical land use using historical information. The 1843, 1902 and 1927 historical land use conditions were generated using the PLUR model for the Kamo River basin (KRB). Our results show that between 1902 and 1976, three golf courses (Ohara Public course, Kamigamo course and Funayama course) replaced forest land in the KRB. As a result of agricultural development, the area occupied by paddy fields in 1843 was 2.48 km2 less than that in 1902. Urban areas increased from 1843 to 1976, mainly reflecting declining coverage of paddy fields after 1902. The approach presented in this study can be used to support land-use change analyses and reconstruction of paleo-hydrology. This study also provides a discussion of the major drivers of land use change.