Research on the land use and land cover change of Guangzhou city from 1996 to 2004

The study choose Guangzhou city as study area to analysis the temporal and spatial change of land use and coverage change from 1996 to 2004 based on remote sensing images. The main conclusions are listed as follows. First, the areas of cultivated land, woodland, grassland and unused land decreased during the period, while the area of construction land and water area increased. The change rate of construction land is fastest, while the rates of water area and cultivated land take the second order. Second, the land use changes of Guangzhou city have significant spatial difference. From 1996 to 2004, the change rate of unused land in Baiyun District, Huangpu District, Fangcun District, Huadu District and Conghua City are higher than the decrease rate of cultivated land, and in Tianhe District, the rates of cultivated land are the fastest in two periods. It advised that the government should strictly control the approval of construction land to slowing its growth rate. At the same time, the government should take more actions on protect cultivated land.