Land-use/land cover changes and their driving forces around wetlands in Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

The Shangri-La County of the Yunnan Province, SW China, is an economically and ecologically important area. This is especially true for Jiantang that is famous for the Napahai, Bitahai and Shudu Lake wetlands. However, continuing development has threatened the wetland ecosystems and the associated biodiversity in these areas. To better document such changes in land use and their effect on the ecosystem, land use was mapped using a time series of satellite images acquired in 1974, 1993, 2000 and 2012. The results of this survey suggest that forest cover first decreased and then increased. The most obvious changes occurred in cultivated and developed land types, each expanding 1.6× and 17.6×, respectively. Population growth, and previous large-scale deforestation, converting cropland to forest and grassland project, and tourism development were the main socio-economic driving forces. It was also apparent that the rapid development of the tourism industry played a key role in the land-use change, especially after 2000. These data suggest that some regulation to the region's tourism industry and implementation of a sustainable land management policy should be considered to ensure preservation of the Jiantang wetlands.

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