Cultivated Land Change and Its Human Driving Forces Based on RS and GIS in Fuzhou, China

This paper analyzed the characteristics and major human driving forces of cultivated land change in Fuzhou, China, using remote sensing (RS) images, geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis, and socio-economic data. Based on the RS images and GIS spatial analysis, a change matrix was constructed to detect land-use change from 1989 to 2005. The result indicated that paddy fields and dry land decreased enormously. The vast loss of cultivated land in this period mainly was presented in two aspects. On the one hand, cultivated land was largely occupied by construction land. On the other hand, cultivated land was converted internally into other agricultural land-use types for relatively high economic gains. In addition, regression analysis method was used to identify critical factors from human factors related to the change of cultivated land in Fuzhou. The result indicated that population growth, economic development, and benefit driving for rural households were closely related to the rapid decrease of cultivated land in Fuzhou. However, the result of regression analysis also revealed that the increasingly strict land policies of the central government of China failed to play a very positive role in protecting cultivated land and controlling the rapid expansion of urban construction land in Fuzhou. Finally, the paper analyzed the reasons behind the ineffective execution of land policies and proposed next research priorities in protecting cultivated land and controlling the rapid expansion of urban construction land.