Analysis and prediction of land use and land cover change: A case study of Minjiang River, China

Scientists have aimed at researching land use and land cover change (LUCC) and analyzing the possible trajectories of land use change in the near future in order to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of these phenomena. This study addresses LUCC in Minjiang River, China, from 1980 to 2008. Based on satellite images, LUCC change was assessed using area of land cover change and land cover change ratio. It is concluded that from 1980 to 2008, farmland, construction, grassland and forest change significantly, because of the development of urbanization, the impact of human activities increased on land use/over change. Afterward, using the CLUE-S model, different scenarios of near-future development in land use pattern are simulated illustrating the effects of implementing spatial polices. Result show that forest, grassland, and farmland take opposite trajectories in the scenarios.